Letters

Readers respond to topics and articles from past issues of Inc. magazine.

Was there something in the water this month? Readers couldn't get enough of Bill Gross, entrepreneurial shrinks, and stories about really small companies and what big companies can learn from them. Sure, there were exceptions, but who's complaining?

The Single Guy

Some readers really found something to marvel at in David Whitford's February story " Never Too Small to Manage," about CEO and sole proprietor Michael Bryant. Perhaps that "something" was themselves.

I thought I was the happiest small-business owner in the world until I met my match in Michael Bryant! Thanks for a great article on a consultant who is a legitimate businessperson, not someone "in transition" or laid off. The freedom I had to create a career based on my management skills and desire to help small-business owners and other working parents balance work and family life means not only that my work is very meaningful to me but also that I have something uniquely valuable to offer my clients.

Leslie Godwin
Owner
Parent Support Services
Calabasas, Calif.

As a small-business owner who has been successfully self-employed for 25 years, I found it refreshing to read about someone who isn't focusing on getting bigger and always making more money. Michael Bryant is simply living his dream.

Patricia Clason
Owner
Center for Creative Learning
Milwaukee

Ideal Lab

In February's cover story, " The Start-up Factory," associate editor Jerry Useem profiled Bill Gross and his company Idealab, which spawns and supports 19 different Internet start-ups. A reader responded:

Bill Gross's "dream company" is a modern paradigm. It is people, talent, and time that matter, just as Gross says. He deserves to succeed.

Bruce N. Blake
Manager and Director
Advanced Hybrid Aircraft
Eugene, Oreg.

A Good Review

Stephanie Gruner's " Feedback from Everyone" (Hands On, Evaluations, February) examined 360° performance reviews. One reader embraced the concept:

I wish a 360°-review system were in place where my husband works. Instead, each department is run like a personal fiefdom, with each warring against the other and innuendos flying fast and furious against those who do their job diligently. But with articles like Gruner's, maybe information about the 360°-review system will trickle down.

Angela K. Durden
Owner
Writer4Hire!
Stockbridge, Ga.

Another was more cautious:

You did a great job of addressing the usefulness of 360° performance evaluations, but you gave insufficient warning about the overuse and misuse of such feedback systems. Many executives hear "360°" and immediately jump on the bandwagon. Consequently, some organizations spend thousands of dollars to obtain 360°-appraisal results, only to discover that most of the feedback they receive was nothing more than a duplication of what was already available through other feedback mechanisms, like employee-opinion surveys. Many organizations would be better served by focusing their attention on implementing the action plans that result from existing feedback systems rather than by adopting another measurement tool. Implementation, not measurement, is the point at which most companies drop the ball.

Ann Lemersal
Senior Consultant
HR Solutions
Chicago

Dime Yankee

In " What's in Store for Mobil? Check Your Local 5&10" (Blue Chips, February), Mike Hofman described how Mobil Corp. benchmarked the practices of a tiny store in West Concord, Mass., to learn how its proprietor, Maynard Forbes, mastered customer service. One reader sees a lesson in that for large companies:

In searching for expanded profit margins, large corporations are relying on small businesses to show them genuine customer service in action. Fortune 500 companies have to change their service mottoes to include customer nurturance rather than fancier advertising gimmicks. Without good customer service, there can be no maximized profit margins or stockholder value.

Scott Owen
Systems Accountant
State of North Carolina
Administrative Office of the Courts
Raleigh, N.C.

Advertising Ways

The story about the advertising firm profiled in February's Obits (" Boston Ad Agency Finds Cost of Doing Business Doesn't Add Up," by Phaedra Hise) drew the following response from its subjects:

As the partners of the former ad agency Burnieika Bearfield Emerson, we were flattered that you would find us worthy of an obit in your magazine. However, we wish to go on record as strongly objecting to many of the facts contained in the story. When Hise conducted her interview, it was stated on several occasions that the profit margins given were general industry ranges and not specifically related to our situation. That Hise chose to present information provided to educate her about the industry as our facts is unfortunate. We also object to many statements that leave the reader with the impression that we succumbed to idiotic business practices as we whored ourselves out to make a buck to cover our overhead. The reality of the situation is that we worked hard to build a firm at a time when many other agencies were stumbling along on the brink as well. In the end, we chose to make an intelligent decision to stop before things got worse.

Joseph J. Burnieika
Larry A. Bearfield
Robin Emerson

Editors' Note: Concerned about the issues the partners raised, we checked our reporter's interviews and our fact checker's notes. They both verified that the statements were correctly reported in the story. We never suggested that the company engaged in "idiotic business practices." Instead, the owners fell victim to a common business problem: they lost a very large customer, tried to keep their employees paid, and ultimately couldn't do so profitably.

SHRINK RAP: In his Entrepreneurial Ego columns, psychologist Dr. Steven Berglas regularly draws from his case files to examine the delicate condition of being a company owner. Some readers recognize the symptoms:

In the past eight years, I grew a company from 7 to 50 employees. Now that I've left active management, I give presentations to groups of entrepreneurs about the challenges of growing a company. The chief focus of my presentation is on how an entrepreneur is forced to change his or her management approach as the company grows into a significant enterprise. Much of the leadership approach that was responsible for the company's early success no longer works as the business grows in size and complexity. " The Case of the Entrepreneurial Arsonist" [December 1996] and "The Risk-Averse Entrepreneur" [February] discuss two pitfalls I see all the time. This is real-world stuff! Entrepreneurs who have the self-awareness necessary to see themselves in your writings can benefit greatly.

Ken Saxon
Principal
Chrysalis Capital
Santa Barbara, Calif.

FOCUS: Send Out the Clowns

What would you do if your boss started acting erratically, threatening sales?

My boss decided to try to become a comedian by attending Clown College. We are a sales-driven company and have continual public contact. To our sales team's dismay and horror, my boss practices clowning during company time. The most recent episodes include wearing clown attire at work while selling to customers, and performing a juggling act at this year's holiday party. Are we alone, or has something like this ever happened to others? I am in dire need of advice. How did you handle the situation?

Name Withheld

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