CEO's Notebook

CEOs from across the country field questions on topics that range from business reading to avoiding layoffs.

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CEO's Notebook

Report from the 1997 Inc. 500 Conference
So you weren't invited to this year's Inc. 500 conference, in Philadelphia? Don't take it personally. The invitation-only conference honors companies that have made Inc.'s annual list of the fastest-growing privately held U.S. companies. What did you miss? Plenty of hobnobbing and lots of celebration. But when you get that many smart businesspeople together, you're sure to pick up new insights as well. Here's a sampling of the collective wisdom and whimsy of this year's speakers and attendees.

BENCHMARK
One big happy family
This year we asked Inc. 500 conference attendees about their priorities and people-management skills. The vast majority felt they treated employees fairly. So who's getting the short end of the stick? Seems as if it's the families of entrepreneurs. Forty-eight percent of the CEOs surveyed admitted to putting their companies ahead of their families. --Stephanie Gruner

What can I do to increase employee participation?
Maybe the problem is your communication style. Ralph Stayer, CEO and owner of Johnsonville Foods, a sausage manufacturer in Kohler, Wis., was trying to encourage employees to take more initiative. So he began listening to himself talk--literally. He started tape-recording his staff meetings. When he listened to the tapes, Stayer heard himself saying distinctly unempowering things, along the lines of "What do you think? Here's what I think." Painful as it was to play back his own words, Stayer says the tape recordings helped him understand and change his management style. --Susan Greco

It gets stressful here. Any suggestions for blowing off steam?

Laura Henderson, president of Prospect Associates, in Rockville, Md., uses toys. That's right: toys. Each staff member regularly contributes inexpensive items, like squeaky toys and fairy wands, to a centrally located bin. Stressed-out staffers at the $14-million consulting company can help themselves or award a plaything to a harried colleague. (Items generally return to the box.) Henderson finds that even she needs to dip into the bin periodically. "One day I was feeling a bit off," she says. "So I found a gold-glittered top hat and a big gold scarf and wore them for the entire day. I know I felt better, and I think other people felt better, too." --Christopher Caggiano

How can I turn the governor into an advertising prop?
One character we'll not soon forget is Jeremy Kraus, one of five young entrepreneurs whom Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge honored at a special awards ceremony. Dapper and articulate beyond his 21 years, Kraus is the founder of Jer-emy's Cookies & Creams, a Philadelphia start-up that makes novelty ice cream. The four other honorees were happy enough just to have their pictures taken with the governor. Not Kraus. When his moment on center stage came, he whipped out several Jeremy's Cookies & Creams baseball caps. The governor gamely donned one. The photo was snapped. Kraus exited in triumph--presumably with a handsome new addition to his marketing materials. --Jerry Useem

How can I avoid layoffs during our slow season?
Lancaster Laboratories, an analytical-services company in Lancaster, Pa., has developed an alternative to seasonal layoffs. Lancaster has an environmental division that is slow from January through March, when winter conditions make it tough to take water and soil samples. Instead of laying off workers, the company has a formal arrangement with a local temp agency to provide about a dozen affected employees with work in the off months. The employees work for the agency but stay on Lancaster's payroll and keep their benefits. Lancaster, which has roughly $35 million in sales, gets back most of the costs from the temp agency. "It's worth it because of the cost of training new people," says Carol Hess, Lancaster's executive vice-president of administrative services. "In 36 years, we've never laid anyone off for lack of work." - -Susan Greco

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