Mail

Beauty-queen backlash; lessons from childcare for eldercare; how Adam Hanft is wrong about bankruptcy.

 

Success: More Than Skin Deep

I was pleased to see a successful businesswoman on your June cover and also delighted that the sales story in which she was featured ["Sales: What Works Now"] showcased a number of successful women. I do, however, have one complaint. There was no need for you to flaunt on the front of your magazine that cover subject Erica Feidner was once Miss Vermont. Her success in selling Steinway & Sons pianos was enough for her to make the cover, beauty queen or not. The fact that she was crowned Miss Vermont should have been left as a side note within the context of the story.

Kathryn Young
Concerned female reader and future businesswoman
Sophomore, Asheville High School
Asheville, N.C.

Bring Your Parents to Work

I read with great interest Nadine Heintz's article about the benefits of on-site daycare ["Can I Bring the Kids?" June]. Inc. could follow that up with an article titled, "Can I Bring the Folks?" Everything that holds true for child care holds true for elder care. Adult children having to look after their elderly relatives will be the next care crisis for employees.

A few years ago, MetLife conducted a survey of U.S. companies indicating a $29 billion loss of productivity because of employee turnover, missed days, and reduced workloads relating to elder care. By 2020, 53 million Americans will be 65 and older. Demands on their adult children will continue to rise. The time to prepare is now.

Bruce A. Hurwitz, Ph.D.
Principal
brucehurwitz.com
Cliffside Park, N.J.

Bad Bankruptcy Protection

The solutions proposed by Adam Hanft in his column on bankruptcy ["Why Bankruptcy Is Bad for Business," June] would make matters worse for small companies. Any entrepreneur recognizes that risk is part of the landscape in dealing with and extending credit to large clients. It's the responsibility of company leaders to manage that risk, especially when one customer makes up a significant part of the company's sales. Anyone who read Kmart's quarterlies should have anticipated its bankruptcy and acted accordingly. A government-funded insurance program to help small companies withstand the collapse of large customers is unnecessary and would raise premiums for all small businesses.

Bill Bernstein
Private investor
Nashville

Correction

Last month we described contributor Hillary Johnson as the author of My Mother Dying. Another Hillary Johnson wrote that book, and still another (a Hilary with one l) wrote a more scholarly volume entitled A Practical Approach to Saliva Control. Our Hillary Johnson is the author of a novel, Physical Culture, and a collection of essays, Super Vixens' Dymaxion Lounge. We apologize for our mistake.