Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[tikay]

No Greenberg?

Which Greenberg - Alan Greenberg, who took Bear-Sterns to bankruptcy? No!

But I've always wanted to read his book, "Memos from the Chairman", which is on my Bucket List.

Good to hear from you just now, welcome home. I dare you to tell that story, about the trip home......

was thinking Hank Greenberg of AIG.

Oh I see now - you whooshed me completely. I thought you were being serious!

Let's stick Mr Greenberg in a seperate category, here's the early nominees:

Hank Greenberg

Robert Maxwell

Richard Branson

Asil Nadir

Peter Clowes.

Bernard Madoff

We'll call it the "All looks well from the outside, but things are not quite what they may seem" Awards.

[tikay]

Steve Jobs - Billionaire twice over from Apple and Pixar

James Dyson - great British designer

Joe Bamford - whose brand name became the product name (JCB)

Joe Bamford - absolutely! How did I forget him? He's in. I drove past the JCB World Parts Centre this afternoon, & went "ping", Joe has to be in. There's an interesting tale about when he & his brother fell out, by the bye, but that's for another day.

James Dyson. Hmm, I thought about him. Genius, end of, & innovative businessman as to how he went about retaling his splendid gear. But more of a genius designer than a businessman. But yes, let's stick him in.

Steve Jobs. No. I don't know why, but no. Paul "Dotcom" Phillips, by the bye, made a small fortune selling his software Company. And a large fortune investing a small slice of the proceeds in Apple Shares. When Steve Jobs fell ill recently, the shares plunged, which says a lot for him - & against him - as a businessman.

I think we might need to have two Lists - "all-time" greats, & contemporary greats.

[tikay]

I beleive JCB has been added to the dictionary as a word

Isnt Rockerfella the richest man of alltime in real terms

Well yes, JCB has become the generic term for hydraulic backhoe excavators. Quite right too.

I don't know much about the Rockerfella (sp?) family.

[tikay]

I managed to get a lot of good business speakers to my conferences - as well as the guru types like Stephen Covey, Michael Porter, Tom Peters, Gary Hamel et al we attracted some truly inspirational and/or 'just very good at what they did' business leaders like Charles Dunstone, Jack Welch, Anita Roddick, Allan Leighton, Val Gooding and many more

Always grated that I never managed to persuade Terry Leahy - I walked up to him after he'd finished speaking at a major retailers conference and we had a conversation that went something like this.

Me " Hello, I'm Glenn and we organise 'The European Conference on Customer Management'......."

I gave him a one minute pitch on how unmissable an opportunity it was for him and how much our audience would relish hearing from him. He paid me full attention, asked his assistant to give me his card so I could wirte with more details and thanked me for my interest in him and his business.

Feeling lucky, I pressed on "Since we've had this brief chat, is it likely that you'll accept our invitation this time ? "

Sir Terry Leahy, smiling and very politely  ........... "No"

Great story.

You mention Tom Peters - he was, in the 80's, in America, the absolute top guro of Management theory, & he charged tens of thousands ($$'s) for lectures, & folks would flock from all over to attend. I was a Member of the American Management Association (AMA) for many years, went to Amereica twice for major Management Courses, & read all his - many! - books. It was inspirational stuff, he was messiah-like, sort of evangelical in the way he spoke/lectured/preached. He was probably a crap, failed, businessman, but he could really talk the talk. I imagine he's retired now.

Of the other names you mention, I would not trust Dunstone an inch, despite his clear vision, & I'd not cross the road to listen to Roddick. In fact, I'd have crossed the road to avoid her. But Jack Welch - now there's a proper man, and he makes O'Leary look second-rate. What a man, what a career! He reserructed GE almost single-handed. His autobiography is an absolute must-read.

As to that Leahy story, it does not surprise me at alll - as DD says, "class act" him. Tesco, under Terry, have been astonishingly successful. They survived one of those periods a few years back wheh the media got on their case - because they were successful. British disease. Since then, they have powered on, & they made some daft profit this year, £3billion or somesuch. Amazing, & something to respect.

In his Annual Report, he stressed that Tesco will expand - build more stores - in the UK in the next 2 years than ever before. And why? Because, in recession, Construction Costs & Capital costs are so much lower. He can build 30% more store space for the same money as he could 3 years ago.

Top man him. I'd love to meet him. Never ruffled, across his brief totally, does his share of Charity work, several NED's, & a personal life untouched by scandal.

He the man.

Tom Peters, even up to around 5 years ago was still tremendous value. Not always 100% consistent & coherent, but totally compelling. As well as our main annual event we ran a couple of 'guru' days with Tom Peters. We could still sell out, the typically small UK hotel venues , with 600 or so paying customers for an event that featured only him for a full day.

We would have him ' in the round' no stage, just him with seating encircling him and enough screens and cameras so wherever you sat, whichever way he faced you could see him in person or on screen. The man is just an incredible professional and was still commanding $80-100,000 for a booking back in 2004.

Speaking of speaker costs it is really quite incredible what they can be paid. Jack Welch was $150,000 for a 2 hour session and he would only be interviewed live on stage rather than just get up and speak at people. We hired Kirsty Wark to interview him. Good days looking back now.

In terms of business leaders to admire there are several less well known names that I would rate alongside most of the big names

Horst Schulze during his time at Ritz Carlton
Herb Kelleher from Southwest Airlines
Fergal Quinn from the Irish supermarket chain
Ricardo Semler of SEMCO, Brazil
John Timpson of Timpsons

This link (although it's lost some formatiting now) carries some details of the events we use to run.... happy days

http://web.archive.org/web/20040328200318/http://ecsw.com/

Good grief - the numbers that Tom Peters & Jack Welch can make in a day! I'd think Welch would be good value. I'm not sure about Peters. Can he walk the walk? He's a great showman, I give him that.

Of that list of 5 nominees you detail, I pick Herb Kelleher, of Southwest Airlines. He "invented" Budget Airlines, & Michael O'Leary admits he owes everything to Kelleher. He actually went across to America & "seconded" Herb for 3 months, to learn his trade. Southwest Airlines, one of the world's best businesses.

[tikay]

branson

nice guy to boot

one of the guys that resuced him after his ballon land in water instead of land later went onto to break his neck

branson helped him out alot


vant think of anything he has failed in

and he owns some trains (must clinch it)

Behave!

Tighty summed it up beautifully, & oh-so subtlety.

Beneath the glitz and the PR rest assured Branson's empire is not founded on completely ethical accounting principles

Now that's beautifully worded. The lines need big wide gaps between them.

[tikay]

branson

nice guy to boot

one of the guys that resuced him after his ballon land in water instead of land later went onto to break his neck

branson helped him out alot


vant think of anything he has failed in

and he owns some trains (must clinch it)

Err, no. Virgin Plastic Trains are poo. And Virgin Group are only Shareholders in Virgin Trains, 49% I think. Wooly Jumper just turns up for the Photo-Shoots. Same with Virgin Atlantic Airlines - just his name these days, not much else.

Virgin sold a High-Street chain recently. It went busto a few months later, bankrupting the new owners.

[tikay]

TESCO   T.E. Stockwell and Albert Cohen

Nooooooo! Close, but no cigar.

JACK Cohen!

When Jack Cohen was knighted in the 1970's I think it was, he became Sir John Cohen which rather tickled me.

That's odd Ralph. John Kirkland's father was "Jack", John is known to his family as "Jack", & John's son was christened Jack. John is married to a Jewish lady, Sheila, & is part Jewish himself - does that explain the Jack & John thing?

[tikay]

Orpey is doing In-Poker with me this week, as Compo is not available. She'll go down well in Manchester, I fancy.

LOL

I'm glad someone spotted it......

[DesD]

...The Show went well tonight - Rich Orford has a great ability to get so close the the line, without quite crossing it, so it's pretty exciting working with him, almost as his straight man....

The suggestion of blow up Michelle dolls might have been a tad over the line, perhaps?

The meeting yesterday was odd - full of senior suits & suitesses, & not one with a tie or suit. My dad would have had a seizure if I'd gone to work without a suit & tie. Times change.

In fairness, most of them wore collared shirts

[tikay]

Not a Howard R Hughes on anyones list?

The chap was a loon a suppose

Lol, no. More myth than reality, & a horrendoius businessman. He built a HUGE aeroplane, you know, but I don't think it ever flew.

[DesD]

Orpey is doing In-Poker with me this week, as Compo is not available. She'll go down well in Manchester, I fancy.

LOL

I'm glad someone spotted it......

sigh, just sigh!

[Robert HM]

Orpey is doing In-Poker with me this week, as Compo is not available. She'll go down well in Manchester, I fancy.

LOL

I'm glad someone spotted it......

sigh, just sigh!

Is that a contented sort of "sigh"?

[DesD]

Orpey is doing In-Poker with me this week, as Compo is not available. She'll go down well in Manchester, I fancy.

LOL

I'm glad someone spotted it......

sigh, just sigh!

Is that a contented sort of "sigh"?

It's a 'think of the paperwork' type of sigh.

[DesD]

Still, Spurs are doing the business so all is good in the world at the moment.   

[77dave]

I beleive JCB has been added to the dictionary as a word

Isnt Rockerfella the richest man of alltime in real terms

Well yes, JCB has become the generic term for hydraulic backhoe excavators. Quite right too.

I don't know much about the Rockerfella (sp?) family.

John Davison Rockefeller (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American industrialist and philanthropist. Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry and defined the structure of modern philanthropy. In 1870, he founded the Standard Oil Company and ran it until he officially retired in 1897.[1] Standard Oil began as an Ohio partnership formed by John D. Rockefeller, his brother William Rockefeller, Henry Flagler, chemist Samuel Andrews, and a silent partner Stephen V. Harkness. Rockefeller kept his stock and as gasoline grew in importance, his wealth soared and he became the world's richest man and first American billionaire, and is often regarded as the richest person in history.[2][3][4][5]

Standard Oil was convicted in Federal Court of monopolistic practices and broken up in 1911. Rockefeller spent the last 40 years of his life in retirement. His fortune was mainly used to create the modern systematic approach of targeted philanthropy with foundations that had a major effect on medicine, education, and scientific research.

His foundations pioneered the development of medical research, and were instrumental in the eradication of hookworm and yellow fever. He is also the founder of both The University of Chicago and Rockefeller University. He was a devoted Northern Baptist and supported many church-based institutions throughout his life. Rockefeller adhered to total abstinence from alcohol and tobacco throughout his life


As a youth, Rockefeller allegedly said that his two great ambitions were to make $100,000 and to live 100 years. Rockefeller died of arteriosclerosis on May 23, 1937, two months shy of his 98th birthday
From his very first paycheck, Rockefeller tithed ten percent of his earnings to his church. As his wealth grew, so did his giving, primarily to educational and public health causes, but also for basic science and the arts

Rockefeller gave $80 million to the University of Chicago under William Rainey Harper, turning a small Baptist college into a world-class institution by 1900. His General Education Board, founded in 1902, was established to promote education at all levels everywhere in the country. It was especially active in supporting black schools in the South. Its most dramatic impact came by funding the recommendations of the Flexner Report of 1910, which had been funded by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching; it revolutionized the study of medicine in the United States. Rockefeller also provided financial support to Yale, Harvard, Columbia, Brown, Bryn Mawr, Wellesley and Vassar.
Despite his personal preference for homeopathy, Rockefeller, on Gates's advice, became one of the first great benefactors of medical science. In 1901, he founded the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research in New York. It changed its name to Rockefeller University in 1965, after expanding its mission to include graduate education. It claims a connection to 23 Nobel laureates. He founded the Rockefeller Sanitary Commission in 1909, an organization that eventually eradicated the hookworm disease that had long plagued the American South. The Rockefeller Foundation was created in 1913 to continue and expand the scope of the work of the Sanitary Commission, which was closed in 1915. He gave nearly $250 million to the foundation, which focused on public health, medical training, and the arts. It endowed Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, the first of its kind. It built the Peking Union Medical College into a great institution, helped in World War I war relief, and it employed William Lyon Mackenzie King of Canada to study industrial relations. Rockefeller's fourth main philanthropy, the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Foundation, created in 1918, supported work in the social studies; it was later absorbed into the Rockefeller Foundation. However, all told, Rockefeller gave away about $550 million.