Masters of Disaster

Charlie Feld

Founder and CEO
The Feld Group
Dallas, Texas

A successful turnaround has five ingredients: A vision for the company that comes from the top. Time to implement the vision. The talent to carry it off. Money. The will to see it through.

The most important ingredient is the vision. Without that, you're nowhere. Vision is all about focus, really. Most companies have enough time to implement a vision -- more time than they need, actually. In fact, the toughest companies to turn around are the ones that aren't really in trouble. But even if time is tight, too many people have what I call "hurry sickness." They expect to make significant progress quarter to quarter. It just doesn't work that way. You have to plan on taking some pain in the short term. I wouldn't put together a five-year plan for a turnaround. I would put together a five-year direction. But I would put together a two-year plan and then manage the company with those two-year marks in mind.

Most companies that I've seen in crisis have ample talent. And many troubled companies actually do have enough money to move forward: They just might not realize it. A lack of vision -- or a vision without clear priorities -- wastes a lot of money.

Most companies also have the will. What each of those companies needs to do is to look at the business context. What is the current reality? What's going on within the industry? How does the company fit into the industry? What are its labor issues? Where does it stand with regard to technology? Pick your battle -- that's your vision. Then go.

Charlie Feld (charlie.feld@feldgroup.com) is founder and CEO of the Feld Group, a technology and management consulting company that works with companies in turnaround situations. Previously, he has acted as chief information officer and e-leader for Delta Air Lines. The Delta technology team received the 2000 Smithsonian Award for Technology Innovation in Transportation.

Chuck Peck

Chief executive officer
theglobe.com
New York, New York

Get your head around the financials. In the first 60 days, you need to figure out exactly where you stand. You have to decide: Do you have the right business model? The right product mix? What can you afford? When I came to theglobe.com, we were spraying resources at a lot of different initiatives. Sometimes you have to give things up -- even if they show promise. If they dilute the focus, they're not a useful part of a turnaround. But sometimes something that isn't doing as well right now is still very important. Don't just cut a business based on the numbers. Consider its strategy.

And get your head around the sales organization. Sales is king. If you get all of your costs in order, but you don't grow the business, the turnaround won't succeed. You have to make sure that there's a process in place in sales that works. How solid is the process for attracting business? Are there satisfied customers who will come back for more? Do you have a way to build on past sales? Any business's lifeblood is sales and marketing. Marketing puts the ball in play; sales puts the ball away. Your first actions should be to rebuild and reinvigorate sales.

Finally, talk to people. Do in-depth interviews across the organization. Get to know those people, and let them get to know you. You'll be amazed by what you learn.

Chuck Peck (cpeck@corp.theglobe.com) went to theglobe.com from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), where he had served as senior VP of marketing, product, and organizational development. At the AICPA, he led a successful, organization-wide reengineering effort.

Mike Useem

Professor of management and director
Center for Leadership and Change
Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The first thing that you have to do is calm people down. You have to let people know, by your actions and by your words, that you're calm -- and that your company, or your team, or whatever group you're working with, can get through the crisis at hand.

I took a walk recently with a senior member of the U.S. Forest Service in Colorado -- a firefighter who has been in situations where it looks as if all is lost and where the firefighters themselves feel as if they might be trapped. He said that if the whole group starts to panic, he deliberately sits somewhere, pulls out a pack of cigarettes, and smokes one. The slowness of his actions, and the confidence that he displays, help people to catch their breath, literally, and to begin focusing on what they can do -- instead of wasting precious time and energy dwelling on what's wrong.