June 1, 2009

Operations Associates LLC Boosts Executive Team with Return of Original Founders

Operations-Oriented Consulting Firm with “INC.500” Track Record

Greenville, SC – June 1, 2009 (PR NewsWire) – Operations Associates LLC, a niche leader in specialized operational and logistics consulting projects for large industrial, commercial, and government clients, today boosted its leadership and client services team by re-engaging the firm’s original Founders as its new full-time leaders. Operations Associates has distinguished itself in its 16 year history by earning the coveted “Inc 500” standing as one of the fastest-growing companies in America (awarded in year 2000). John Auger and Mike Rigg, both original officers in the “OA” Team when it was founded in 1993, plus Chris Graver, a key partner in the firm, have become the three Managing Partners leading a planned resurgence. The consulting firm has also taken on new institutional shareholders for growth and stability, including Ranger Partners Group LLC of Greenville SC.

John Auger, CEO of Operations Associates, said: “We are seeing an extraordinary moment in American business history, with unprecedented new demands for our types of cost-effective services. Smart and visionary client companies are already rebuilding, anticipating the inevitable upsurge—we are helping them.”  Mike Rigg, a co-founder with Auger, said “Our projects often deliver 10X returns on our fees. We supplement and complement existing senior staff, get the job done, and take our reward on measurable results.”

Operations Associates develops strategies to improve return on invested capital for best in class companies including former clients such as BMW, Procter & Gamble, Lockheed, 3M, BAE Systems (Armor Holdings), Navistar, ASIG (Aircraft Service Intl Group), TUG Technologies, Titleist, CVS, Alcoa, Delphi, Toyota, the I.R.S., FEMA, the Dept of Defense, and many more. Since 1993, the company has performed over 1,100 projects with world-class organizations, and its consultants average over 20 years of experience. Utilizing its experience and expertise in supply chain strategy and management; distribution network analysis; lean manufacturing; and facility design, Operations Associates defines clients’ objectives; develops competitive advantages; and ensures that projects meet milestones and deadlines within budget. The firm has trained thousands of clients’ employees on LEAN initiatives.

Served industrial and governmental sectors include: General Manufacturers, Apparel & Textiles, Distributors, Automotive, Foods & Pharmaceuticals, Printing, Aerospace & Aviation, Chemicals, Dept. of Defense and other major Federal agencies, Financial Services, Private Equity portfolio companies, Energy, Consumer Goods. Specific expertise of Operations Associates includes: Supply Chain Management, Facility Design, Network Analysis (supply chain & manufacturing), Turnarounds and Operational Interventions, Reorganizations, Inventory Rationalization, E-Commerce Order Fulfillment, Due Diligence, Post-Merger Integration Support, Transportation & Simulation Modeling, LEAN Implementations, Material Handling, Quality Engineering & Six Sigma Implementations.

Strategic solutions from Operations Associates have proven over years of actual project results to increase profits through quality and delivery improvements; reduce the cost of goods; improve inventory and space utilization; and streamline operations. The firm has a strong track record of managing and executing projects efficiently. With a long history of repeat clients, OA has further enhanced its service equation by risk-sharing: i.e. predicting the savings to be won from its interventions, and tying its final fees to those financial measures being achieved or exceeded.

Forward Looking Statements: The Company from time to time may discuss forward-looking information. Except for factual historical information, all forward looking statements are estimates by the Company’s management and are subject to various risks and uncertainties that are beyond the Company’s control and may cause actual results to differ materially from management’s expectations. 

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This all adds up (in my mind) to fear a-la-mode. Our world leaders simply do not know what to do and cannot properly respond to Russia’s naked aggression and the world economic crisis at the same time. Does Mr. Putin sense an opening here? What is next on his agenda? Are world leaders unable to challenge Putin’s ambitions? It would seem so, in light of the tepid response to the Georgian fiasco. This all adds up to fear in the minds of the a watching world populace, at least among those who are in a position to assess world events and their impact.

Mr. Johnson hits the nail on the head at the end of the article, writing, “There’s one lesson to be
learned above all others: There is no substitute for prudent, strong
and courageous leadership. This is what the civilized world currently
lacks and must find–soon.”

Pretty tough to argue with. The big problem is, where will the free “civilized” world look to find these leaders? I am afraid that many of the world leadership selection processes have boiled down to politics as usual, including the process in the US. The guy with the most money and the brightest marketing strategy typically wins. The losing party stays disenfranchised as long as the winner stays in office, and the whole bunch refuses to collaborate for the common good. I think a systemic change in selecting leaders is in order. This selection process must stem from limiting their time in office. No fat pensions, no special medical plans, no lifelong political ambitions, and no professional politicians. I believe the free world’s modern political climate is one in which our “leadership” is so out of touch with the common man and so blinded by lifelong political and financial ambition that they simply cannot lead, cannot make long-term decisions for the common good, and are beholden to the money-men that put them into office in the first place.

Having said all this, is there hope for a brighter future? I certainly think there can be hope, but it will, as Mr. Johnson aptly points out, require tremendous courage, not only on the part of the leadership, but also on the part of those who choose them, especially in light of the fear-a-la-mode we are witnessing today.

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I believe business leaders might learn from eight pointers we can take from the high seas when we ask the question, “What 7 things must a Leader DO when confronted with a new situation, a new company, or a new leadership position?” Here are a few thoughts.

#1 Know your Ship. You absolutely MUST know what kind of ship you are on. Imagine a battleship captain running a luxury liner like a warship. Mess hall versus fine dining, battle drills versus excursions. Confused passengers not following orders. The result? Chaos! You must also take into account how big your ship is. Don’t take a small boat across the Pacific Ocean unless you really know your stuff and the boat is properly outfitted! If you are the leader of an organization and you don’t know what kind of ship you are on, do everyone a favor, leave, and find a ship you are familiar with and understand.

#2 Examine Your Crew. Unless you are sailing alone, you had better find out who you can count on to get you through the voyage. Can the crew sail the ship? Can you establish an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect? Are there mutineers among the crew spreading discontent? Will they jump ship at the first sign of trouble? All these can be summed up by assessing the 4 C’s of business relationships: Competence, Character, Chemistry, and Commitment. If any crew member fails on any of these 4 criteria, they have to go, period. This is also true of any new crew members you want to take on-board your ship. A failure in any one area is good enough reason not to invite a crewman on-board.

#3 Look for Rats. On ships (especially in the old days) there are nasty things in the bilge.  If water starts coming in, these nasties seek safety by climbing (or floating) upward. If you see rats in the boat where there shouldn’t be any, look for holes in the hull. Some rats in a business might include negative cash flow, declining profits, excessive employee turnover (or exodus), poor quality, sales erosion, excessive (or mounting) debt, poor morale, or declining forecasts. Once you find a hole, figure out if the pumps can handle the incoming water. If they can, you are OK for the moment, just be sure the pumps don’t fail! (Post a watch on the pumps!) By definition, if the pumps cannot handle the incoming water the boat is sinking, and you must take decisive action to keep the vessel afloat. Patch the holes, get more pumps (not usually an option), set the crew to bailing, put the ship onto a sand bar, if necessary. Do everything you can to prevent the crew (and its captain) from having to abandon ship before it sinks. By the way, if someone asks you to captain a sinking ship, be sure there are adequate life rafts before you accept, and bring your bucket!

#4 Check Your Wake. Are you underway or are you adrift? If the propeller is still turning  you can at least make progress (as evidenced by a wake) assuming you have an intact and functional rudder (namely YOU). If you are adrift, you had better figure out how to get underway again quickly, or your situation will reach emergency status. Captains who are adrift know to quickly toss out the anchor to hold position.  Or, if the water is too deep, they rig a sea-anchor to keep the bow into the wind while being driven backwards.  Perhaps the best indicator of being underway is income. Income provides power to the ship. Income that is stalled or losing steam will ultimately result in the ship going adrift.

#5 Chart Your Position. Where in the world are you, and how deep is the water? This is pretty crucial, especially when sailing in dangerous waters or if you have holes in your boat. Are you close to a reef, sailing in the shallows, or near some rocks?  It’s pretty easy to knock some fresh holes in the boat if you don’t know where you are, and what is around you. Remember the Titanic? Talk about a leadership blunder! Every business has markers that allow the leadership to determine position. Go look at them and act accordingly!

#6 Read the Compass. Where are you headed? Linked intimately to #5, this one seems obvious, but sometimes gets overlooked. Find out quickly. Does the business have a vision or purpose? Is the ship on the correct heading, making way towards it? If so, keep going. If not, quickly make a course correction. Remember, one of the basic elements of leadership is that you must be going somewhere identifiable in order to lead. By the way, be sure your compass is actually working!  A quick glance at the sun or the north star will provide you a quick clue. I call this the one-minute gut check.  Ask, “Does what I think I am seeing pass my sanity-check?”

#7 Respond to the Weather. Ships at sea, especially small ones, always avoid really bad weather whenever possible. Good captains always keep an eye on the weather, and business leaders must keep an eye on external business conditions that could ruin their voyage. Putting into safe harbor, changing course to steer around the storm, or even anchoring temporarily in the lee of an island are all viable alternatives. The recent mess on Wall Street is a great example of leadership ignoring the weather (in this case a perfect storm of excessive bad debt brought on by stupidly poor banking practices, corporate greed, dumb government policy-making, and the general public’s ignorance of the consequences of spending more than they make).

Want to know the most difficult part of this?  As a leader in a new situation or position, you have to do all 7 things virtually at once! The larger the ship, the more challenging the leadership responsibility. Only an experienced captain can handle a ship at sea and expect a successful journey. Good leaders are constantly learning, constantly re-reading the piloting and seamanship book, and constantly watching these 7 signs that indicate how well things are going.

Our two candidates have very little in the way of actual, recent, leadership experience. McCain’s came many years ago as a military officer. As far as I know, Obama has no experience at all as a leader. McCain is a Washington insider, and Obama isn’t. McCain has exerted his influence as a lawmaker by being the contrarian “maverick,” and Obama exerts his influence as a lawmaker with his polished rhetoric. Both claim to be change agents. But, we are not choosing a lawmaker or a figurehead, we are choosing a leader.

To me, in order to be a leader on the scale of the President of the United States, you must be able to influence change by getting many people to follow where you are headed. We, as voters, ought to be able to examine the kinds of actual change a candidate has been able to lead and then project that into what they might be able to lead in the future. Obama has virtually none to point at (by virtue of his inexperience, and McCain by virtue of long involvement in Congress, which is at an all-time low in terms of approval ratings). So, which candidate can fill the role as a leader? In my view, neither candidate has a lot going for him in terms of real executive leadership experience we can point to and try to project into the future. It is going to take a lot more than rhetoric and Washington lawmaking experience to rally the public together to follow our next leader in a direction of real change.

The only guideline I can suggest to all us voters is to apply these four criteria: Character, Chemistry, Competence, and Commitment. These same four are the ones I use in selecting or recommending new employees.
Character: In terms of honesty, intent, motivations, integrity, morals, and ethics.
Chemistry, in terms of who might best galvanize both the Congress and the public toward the common good.
Competence, in terms of who has the best set of LEADERSHIP Skills to accomplish real change.
Commitment, in terms of making good on all the campaign promises they make and staying true to the course they are laying out.

So, where should we be looking for our leaders? The Senate? The House? Should they be attorneys? Career politicians? Honestly, I see the United States as far more than a body of laws. It is more like a (very) large corporation. As such, I would rather have an experienced, successful corporate leader to take the helm than I would an attorney or lawmaker. Unfortunately, we don’t have that option this time around!

Decided yet? May the best man win!

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The recent events on Wall Street and in Washington made me start thinking about other times in our history when something this “big” happened that had the potential to alter the cultural landscape of the country (a “bellwether” event). Oddly enough, I began to think about the bad old days before environmental regulations. I am old enough to remember when the Cuyahoga River (the one that empties into Lake Erie) caught fire in 1969. The river was so heavily polluted, it became flammable and it actually burned, actually numerous times, in 1868, 1883, 1887, 1912, 1922, 1936, 1941, 1948, 1952, and 1969. It took 100 years, but finally, thanks in part to the advent of television and the mainstream media, people became outraged over the unbelievable actions that engendered this egregious event. The 1969 fire was a bellwether event that gave rise to The Clean Water Act of 1972.

Love Canal was another sorry piece of history that highlighted the toxic waste in our landfills that went almost entirely unregulated. This almost unbelievable story came to light in the late ’70′s. A neighborhood, along with a school, had been built atop an old chemical waste dump (an old canal named “Love”) containing some 20,000 tons of chemical waste. The result?  Birth defects, health problems, and the area being declared a federal disaster site by Jimmy Carter. This bellwether event led to the creation of the Superfund system so that these areas could be cleaned up and restored to some level of reasonable safety. It also helped drive a slew of other Environmental Acts that cover air, water, land, and anything else you can think of.

I believe we can establish a link between these two bellwether events and what is happening today on Wall Street. That link is greed. It was greed that allowed companies to look the other way as the Cuyahoga became more and more polluted. It was greed that put the toxic waste into the Love Canal without proper safeguards and limits on development. It is greed (at many levels, from the lenders to the borrowers) that fueled the sub-prime mortgage meltdown.

You see, greed is a character flaw. It is buried inside virtually all of us, and if allowed to flourish, can become an all-consuming fire, as we are witnessing today. Isn’t it interesting that greed, left unchecked, can lead to bellwether events as diverse as Love Canal and Wall Street?

Unfortunately, the answer to this financial bellwether event is the same as it was for the environment. Government intervention and a new Superfund. I think it is obvious that we must support the financial bailout. It’s simply too late to do anything else. The Federal Government is the only financial entity on earth that can handle a mess of this magnitude. Without government intervention, Love Canal (and a host of others) would be a stinking mess today, and the Cuyahoga River would need it’s own fire department. Without intervention, this new event has the potential to usher in another Depression.

Along with our new financial Superfund will come a host of over-the-top regulations, a new Federal bureaucracy, another unending political football match, and another taxpayer burden. It is very much like the environmental mess in the ’60′s and ’70′s.

I believe our cultural landscape will change permanently regarding the regulation of Wall Street and how we manage the organizations that handle the wealth in our great country.  It is a sad day, in my mind, when our collective corporate leadership allows greed to become its governing principle, leading to yet another bellwether of big government.  The people end up with Love Canal and Wall Street. The government gets bigger and our paychecks smaller.

John

Have you ever noticed there seems to be one common denominator in all this writing?

Practically all the writers eventually get around to “balance” and how we must achieve balance to have a happy, fulfilling life (including career, family, self, faith, service, whatever). I have also seen balance defined as something it is not. I read a book recently that defined how to get balance by substituting words like “forward” (used as a verb) and “action.”

The reality is that the word balance itself implies a static state, whereby the items we seek to “balance” are, (I almost hate to say it), balanced. This means they don’t change. Simple, right?

Not so simple. Balance usually refers to how well we juggle time. Time is the great equalizer of balance. We weigh time at work against time at home against time having fun against time staying in shape against time caring for others, and so on. The goal appears to be to try to balance our time so that we keep everyone happy.

Sadly, I have never met a soul in my 51+ years whose life is in balance. Why? Because life happens! As soon as we approach balance (usually for about a nanosecond) something happens.  Wellness turns into illness, unemployment turns into employment, marriage turns into divorce, prosperity turns into bankruptcy and back again, peace turns into parenting! Any one of these somethings can happen in an eye blink.

So much for balance, eh?

If we just look around, we see our society littered with the broken lives of people who have tried to manage this balancing act and fallen on their poor butts. Statistics like a 50% divorce rate, rampant drug addiction, binge drinking, use of porn, bankruptcy, and general misery at work and at home indicates something is NOT WORKING! Perhaps this juggling act is in dire need of being trashed.

I propose new language that might help us escape this insane (nuts) lifestyle of unmet expectations.

I believe the answer lies in viewing life in terms of growth, not balance. I believe that if we learn to expect unbalanced times and seasons in our lives, we can learn to grow despite our unbalanced circumstances. Life can be a victory dance, not a juggling act!

And that victory dance is the focus of the iLEAD Success view of life. For those who study the Bible, I believe this growth concept is biblical. For those who are not familiar with or reject biblical views, it is simply a healthier way of doing life, regardless of your faith persuasion.

Attempting balance just does not work. Never has. Never will. Balance is Nuts . . . Remember, Grow for your life!

John