News
Thinking About Hiring a Coach — Why Only in Sports?
Reprinted with permission from Blackman Kallick.
Suzanne M. Lane, JD, MBA
Senior Manager, Strategic Services
Blackman Kallick
slane@BlackmanKallick.com, 312-980-3301It's springtime in Chicago, a time of year when Mother Nature provides us with glimpses of the highly coveted summer yet to come. Chicagoans, in particular, are famous for taking advantage of this precious time in order to engage in leisure activities such as softball, golf or tennis. It is not uncommon to hear colleagues discuss how they've employed a tennis or golf coach to help them perfect their game.
I find it interesting that business people, in particular, will employ a coach to help them hone their skills at golf (which they play a handful of times per year); however, when asked about employing a coach to help them hone their managerial or leadership skills in business, I often receive blank stares. So why is hiring a sports coach for their leisure pursuits the dream of most individuals, but not so for business leaders in facing challenges in the "real world"?
I believe the answer lies in three incorrect assumptions that business owners, leaders and managers have convinced themselves must be true. Click here to read the entire article.
Getting Through 2008…and Beyond
Submitted by Barry Cain and David Spitulnik with Blackman Kallick
Let's face it, 2008, and possibly 2009, are going to be challenging at the very least, perhaps even worse if the economic climate continues to turn against us. Economists continue to argue over whether we are in a recession. Independent of their answer, business conditions have, in many cases, already taken a turn for the worse.
So, what should a business owner or CEO do in this environment? One option would be to continue on as before, but to what end? Moving forward without a full understanding of where you want to take your business might not be productive overall and might even be adverse to the long-term interests of your business. Click here to read the entire article.
Separating Long-Term Care Insurance Myths from Realities
Submitted by Allen Schiefelbein with Pearre and Associates and MassMutual
Parents and their adult children can never begin too early to think about their families' potential needs for care in their "golden" years, as the number of people who will be impacted by debilitating diseases such as Alzheimer's is expected to increase to up to 16 million by 2050, according to the Alzheimer's Association, and correspondingly the need for long-term care will increase, as well.
Since I have become Certified in Long Term Care (CLTC), I've seen first-hand the impact the need for long-term care can have on families and caregivers. That's why I've decided to focus my career on educating people about their long-term care needs and protecting their future, beginning with dispelling these common myths about long-term care:
Most people can afford to pay for their own care. Many people think they can liquidate taxable or tax-deferred assets, including retirement plans or annuities, to pay for long-term care costs, but nursing home care averages $206 a day, for a private room, according to a September 2006 MetLife Mature Market Institute study. Click here to read the entire article.
Before You Sell Your Business
Reprinted with permission from Chase and JP Morgan. Submitted by Peter Gillespie and Perry Mangione. How you plan to exit will determine how you need to plan. All business "liquidity events" have tradeoffs. Selling your company for cash provides instant liquidity but immediately exposes you to capital gains tax. Selling the business for stock isn't deemed a capital gain, but it leaves you with a concentrated position in a company you may not control. And, at the outset, regulatory and/or contractual restrictions will almost certainly limit your ability to liquidate that position. An IPO will convert your illiquid shares in a private company into public shares that may be more marketable, but you'll be barred from selling them during an initial "lock-up" period. And if you remain a major shareholder or senior manager of the company, regulatory restrictions may persist beyond the lock-up. Click Here to read the entire article.
Don’t Pin All Your Hopes on One Family Successor
Reprinted with permission from Family Business Magazine. When family business leaders contemplate succession, thoughts usually turn to the next generation of family members. After all, isn't this prerogative one of the principal reasons for owning a family business in the first place? The problem with this line of reasoning is that succession is often viewed as an event, not as a process needing to be nurtured. Too many times, it's allowed to happen by accident or as a passing of a birthright. But it shouldn't be a given that future leadership will stay in the family. Click here to read the entire article.
