Mail

Readers react to articles from the July issue of Inc., including Mike Hofman's "It Takes All Kinds," Edward O. Welles' "Options, Equity, and Rancor," and Emily Barker's "Size Counts." Plus: Update on Inc. 500 entrepreneur Roy Wetterstrom.

Tweet

Mail

Scorching comments fill the mailbag this month, most of them regarding stories that ran in our July issue. One correspondent suggests that a certain Inc writer may be "dangerously nave." Another is amazed at the "incredible stupidity" of the people we wrote about in an article on stock options. Even the kindest letter of the bunch delivers a barb: a longtime subscriber hopes that a young CEO we profiled "gets a social life." Lest you forget, Inc readers are the pugilists of American business.

Affirmatively unequal
Herb Stokes's controversial quest for diversity, described in senior staff writer Mike Hofman's article " It Takes All Kinds," prompts criticism from reader Ken O'Brien. Stokes, CEO of Alliance Relocation Services, says his hiring policies conform to the letter of the law and that seeking diversity does not constitute discrimination. O'Brien counterargues that Stokes uses race to intimidate his customers.

How in the world did "It Takes All Kinds" get past your staff? A story on a company like Alliance, whose business model includes discriminatory hiring and business practices, is simply not instructive and falls well below the standards of quality that Inc has nurtured over the years. Hiring based on racial discrimination and using the "race card" to nickel-and-dime large customers for contracts just don't cut it anymore. I suggest that your writer is either dangerously nave or consciously attempting to legitimize such unsavory practices. Neither scenario is worthy of your publication. Let Alliance upgrade its practices, and then see if it can compete with thousands of other small enterprises that earn their business through performance.

Ken O'Brien
Chatham, N.J.

In reply, Inc's Hofman E-mailed O'Brien:
Ken, thanks for your note. A few points: You suggest that Stokes's methods won't cut it anymore. But I think Stokes's badge of diversity has very demonstrably won him business. Alliance's clients include Nordstrom, McDonald's, Coca-Cola, UPS, and McGraw-Hill. Brenda Dizer, a procurement manager at Nike, was quoted in my piece supporting that viewpoint. Also, you say my article isn't instructive. I disagree. Knowing why and how corporations award contracts is vitally important to small-company CEOs. I think the pressure on big companies to solicit bids from minority-owned vendors is only growing. Stokes is a poster child for entrepreneurs who reap the rewards of that practice and, therefore, a proper subject for Inc to profile. --Mike

To which O'Brien replied:
Mike, we disagree, but that's OK. I can tell you -- having served as an officer in companies with caps greater than most of the ones you mentioned -- that the practice of using intimidation tactics peaked by the early 1990s. Stokes's formula does not now represent a way one can achieve steady and long-term small-business success. Creating a poster boy for something passÉ is not up to Inc standards. --Ken

Akin to racial profiling?
In the same article, Stokes was quoted as telling a manager at his relocation company that he wanted "a Hispanic in here."

Herb Stokes of Alliance Relocation Services makes an excellent case study of what is wrong with American business today. When hiring, if Stokes tells a manager, "I want a Hispanic in here," that would be discrimination, no matter how you try to twist it. If a police chief said, "Arrest some blacks today," he would be accused of racial profiling and run out of town on a rail.

Randall D. Lofland
Elkton, Md.

Look this way
Stokes also lamented that a vendor sent two white employees to a meeting at Alliance.

I commend Stokes's efforts, and I believe that diversity increases productivity. However, his comments will hurt his credibility. How can a champion of diversity in the workplace insist that he interface only with African Americans?

Scott Segal
CEO
SocioQuake Inc.
Detroit

Trust me
In the July issue, Edward O. Welles uncovered the litigious aftermath of CEO Naveen Jain's recruiting tactics in building his company, InfoSpace. Plaintiffs in several cases have charged that Jain lured key personnel with promises of equity, only to dismiss them once InfoSpace profited from their expertise. Interestingly, this reader does not find Jain blameworthy.

The most interesting aspect of the article " Options, Equity, and Rancor" was not the sleaze and arrogance of InfoSpace's CEO but rather the incredible stupidity of the so-called executives and other employees who apparently never received their options' contracts in writing. For such a basic lapse in business acumen, they don't deserve a thing. Unfortunately, they and their parasitic lawyers will continue to profit -- at the shareholders' expense -- owing to today's unwritten American credo: You're not responsible; someone else is.

 1 | 2  NEXT