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| | 01/22/2002 |
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| | The overdue DiamondCluster story, part one |
| | January 22, 2002
The May Report
Your inside source on Chicago's high tech community
The May Report: 01/22/2002: The overdue DiamondCluster story, part one.
Ron May: editor, reporter, commentator, and publisher.
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The Scoop section:
-- Of insider stock sales at DiamondCluster
-- Unravelling the Mystery of DiamondCluster: The Structure of Power. The first of a two-part series, by Ron May
____________________
Of insider stock sales at DiamondCluster
From: Name withheld upon request.
To: <ron@themayreport.com>
Subject: DiamondCluster
Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2002 16:09:20 -0500
Ron,
If you print this do not use any of my contact information. When is the DiamondCluster article coming out? There have to be hundreds of DiamondCluster employees and ex-employees waiting to read it.
Check out the latest insider trading data available at Yahoo.com for DTPI. While some of the big Diamond people have been buying a few thousand shares of DTPI at a time over the last year, Ferran Soriano and Javier Rubio from the Cluster side of the house dumped 350,000 shares back in November. If memory serves the date of the sale is about one year from the closing of the Diamond/Cluster merger. I imagine their lockup expired and they sold. The numbers work out to be less then $10 a share even though DTPI slid over $15 recently.
http://biz.yahoo.com/t/d/dtpi.html
Also, DiamondCluster's continuing layoff/furlough program has got to be the most "humane" one that I have seen or heard about over the last 18 months. Offering furlough or severance options with full disclosure like what was in that email last week is pretty much unheard of at other firms, both small and large. I do not know about what happens at the top over at DiamondCluster, but Mel and his team deserve kudos, not criticism, for the way they have been handling downsizing in this recession.
Again, keep this anonymous. Enjoy your work.
____________________
Unravelling the Mystery of DiamondCluster: The Structure of Power. The first of a two-part series, by Ron May
The story of DiamondCluster is a story about the whole being less than the sum of its parts. The key to unravelling the mystery of this firm is identifying how the pieces interact. The basic elements, be they the Intellectual Capital area, the misguided foray into venture capital, the less-than-it's-cracked-up-to-be strategy practice, the shifting compensation structure for the partners, and Mel Bergstein's personal fiefdom mentality, are all fairly easily identified and assigned their share of blame for the firm's current dilemma. The conundrum of Diamond's current fix cannot be solved without piercing the interaction of these elements. My purpose here is to provide a synthesis of what I have been told by several DiamondCluster (hereafter referred to as DCI) employees, including one senior partner who left within the last few months.
One obvious weakness of this exploration is that our sources are generally people who are not satisfied with Mel's style of leadership and his specific directional decisions. Bill Baker of Baker, Nelms & Montgomery, an executive recruiting firm that has placed many people at Diamond, sent a note stating that I was wrong in many facts and that I should call him. That note came in after the publication of the January 9th article about DCI. I have tried several times to reach Baker, but he is not responding. For the record, I would be happy to sit down with Mel in a face-to-face meeting.
Let's start with the style of Mel's governance. He would not be there if he did not have the ability to work with people. As I stated in the last article about Diamond on January 9th, Mel does not stay cloistered in his office, but rather makes the rounds. He does interact, and he meets and greets. But as one person put it to me in the last few days, the rank-and-file may be losing confidence that Mel is leveling with them. If it is good news, he is happy to share it; but if there is bad news, he is nowhere to be found.
One of the many ironies of DCI is that, on the one hand, it appears to inculcate the values of academia--the free and open discussion and debate of ideas, where criticism is an intellectual exercise not taken personally. On the other hand, so much of DCI's ethos is wrapped up in a sense of personal loyalty to Mel. But the contradiction is that Mel's idea of loyalty includes that he and his vision not be challenged or criticized. A number of senior partners have challenged him and as one of them put it to me, "One day he will be your best friend and a friend to your family, and the next day he will turn on you like a shark." To put it mildly, "Mel does not take criticism well." The co-existence of these antithetical forces under one roof is bound to have explosive results.
The Underlying Dynamics of the Power Structure
On a grand strategic level, what is the game being played? This may appear to be a case of reading too much into the mundane thrust and parry of daily life at DCI, but remember, the top people at DCI are, or would like to think they are, strategists. Where better to ply their trade than in their own shop? Mel is "CEO for life" because all employees must sign a proxy giving all of their voting shares to the CEO, who just happens to be Mel. The number of shares owned by Javier Rubio, the head of Cluster, does not matter because he is also proxied over to Mel. The sham vote that is held every year in which all of the North American partners stand in a room and approve Mel's continued rule by a show of hands is "very important to Mel," one person told me, even though it is just a formality. If a partner "has a problem with the vote," Mel asks that he contact him before the meeting. Mel is very concerned with appearances, I was told. He will go out of his way to avert any form of open challenge or dissent. It appears that he wants dissenters to confront him on a one-to-one basis, and not to coalesce.
Here is the key to understanding the way Mel works, according to the former senior partner who called me on Thursday, January 10. Mel can be ousted, but it takes a two-thirds vote of the partners. There are 45 North American and 25 Cluster partners, according to my source, for a total of 70. Actually, that number may be a little lower right now, as of January 22. Another partner, according to Julie Johnsson of Crain's, just left to return to Accenture. "The Cluster group is a wild card," the former partner told me. They are not really integrated into the firm, and he believes that Mel has done this quite deliberately in order to prevent any cohesive opposition from building.
Thus, that leaves the North American partners. The argument advanced by the former partner was that Mel has a strategy to hold on to power, which is different from trying to gain power. It is perforce a defensive strategy, similar to President Clinton's strategy in dealing with impeachment. To stay in office, Clinton needed 34 out of 100 votes in the Senate. In Mel's case, the former partner argued, keeping power is a matter of creating pockets of support that cannot be pried loose. The strategy becomes one of alliances with the weaker, not the stronger, partners. Those are my words, not his, but that was the clear sentiment he expressed. For example, there are two highly paid partners who are responsible for the internal Diamond IT operation. "Where are they going to go?" the former partner asked me; they are certainly not revenue generators.
The Intellectual Capital area constitutes another pocket of support --- very loyal to Mel because Mel has been very loyal to them. Two people who are partners in that group are Chunka Mui and Paul Carroll. Paul is the editor of Context magazine, which is the source of much internal controversy. Carroll is paid $400,000 a year to be its editor. Mel is loyal to Paul partly because Paul wrote him up in the Wall Street Journal years ago, one person told me on Wednesday, January 16.
The blow up over the future of Context magazine came after the Key Officers Committee, made up of the ten most senior partners, voted to discontinue it, and here is where I have heard two versions of the story. (Only two?!) Version one: Mel vetoed that vote. Version two: He said that he would abide by the vote, but then went back on his word. That was when the de facto leader of the opposition, Sandeep Chugani, told Mel that he would seek a two-thirds vote against him, and Mel's response was that Sandeep would have to go. My information is that Sandeep and the other partners who left several months ago are probably going to join forces to start a competing operation. Mel will sue, of course. That is what Al Beedie did when Mel left TSC.
So, let's do the math. If we take the entire group of 70 partners, Mel needs 24 votes to stay in power. Assume that he has half of the 25, that is to say, 12 votes, from the Cluster group. That means he only needs 12 out of the 45 votes from the North American partners to keep the reins. Now, if he has created a few little pockets of support by aligning himself with the weaker and more vulnerable (or non-revenue generating) partners in the North American group, he can get five or six votes right there. This a strategy based not on what is good for the firm, but on what is good for Mel's attempt to hold on to power, the former partner explained.
Is Mel suffering from what the theorist of literary criticism, Harold Bloom, calls "the anxiety of influence"? In other words, is Mel a tragic figure doomed to re-live the life of his "father" figure, Al Beedie, but in the process fated to fail? Is his life a quest to cast off the influence of Al Beedie? That is surely another article, well beyond my capacity to write.
Delusions of McKinsey; or, A Skewed Sense of Priorities
We must put Context magazine into context. The Intellectual Capital area has three components: Context magazine; the Diamond Exchange (known as DX), which are quarterly hobnob meetings between Diamond top executives and various thought leaders at such posh places as the Ritz, the Four Seasons, and Palm Springs; and the book writing operation. In hard dollars the book operation is not as costly as one might think, my sources have told me. Chunka Mui is paid $400,000, but there are only three or four of these guys and the main cost comes with the infrastructure. Mel spares no expense in lavishing support on his favorites in the Intellectual Capital area. This bears on the issue of equitable treatment (fairness): the people in other areas feel that they have been asked to shoulder a disproportionate share of the burden.
In the bubble, a book like "Killer Apps" by Chunka was a key to getting clients and visibility for the firm, but no longer. In the current depressed economy this is a non-revenue generating enterprise, the former partner argued. At this point, he maintained, its primary value is the status that it brings the firm and how it feeds Mel's "delusions of McKinsey."
The infrastructure costs associated with the Intellectual Capital are very high. Referring to Paul Carroll, Context's editor, one person said, "What editor of any magazine is paid $400,000?" The rest of the staff is costly; $3,000 or more may be spent on one article for Context.
The problem with the Intellectual Capital area is that it is a "protected" zone, a hands-off area. Cuts are freely made elsewhere, but not in Intellectual Capital, where the spending totals between $5 million and $10 million a year when the "boat is fully loaded" as the former partner phrased it. He emphasized that this area is something of an island, with its connection to the development of a strategy-based consultancy not clear. He pointed out, for example, that while Chunka Mui is certainly a very smart guy, he is not the sort of person that the firm can put in front of a client for the purpose of strategic consulting."Chunka can give a seminar," he said, "but you can't really put him in front of a client." Another of my sources emphasized that Intellectual Capital was responsible for giving Diamond much of its luster during the heyday of the Internet. Is Mel's unwillingness to sever Diamond's ties to the Intellectual Capital operation due to nostalgia for the good old days that will never return? Or is Mel hoping for a resurgence in strategy consulting in the near future which would again justify the expenditures in Intellectual Capital? In other words, is this a case of misplaced loyalty to what has effectively become deadwood, or is it an intelligent business assessment about the future? To use Flip at Divine as a counter-example, as soon as Flip realized that incubating B2B start-ups was a dead end, he had no qualms about strangling the infants in their cribs. Mel's response is imbued with sentimentality.
However, the Intellectual Capital area is only part of the problem. The other part is Mel's overall envisioning of DCI as a strategy firm, which it is not. There are six bona fide strategy partners, according to the former partner. They are: John Sviokla, a former Harvard Business School professor; Barry Uphoff; Stacy Sachen; David Inns, and Dominic Endicott; the sixth name I am still looking through my notes for. (He told me that he is only referring here to North American partners, not Cluster partners.) These partners, he feels, could be hired by a firm like Booz Allen or McKinsey.
That makes six strategy partners, two internal IT partners, plus two Intellectual Capital partners that I know of, for a total of ten partner votes that Mel can probably count on to retain power. The strategy partners may not be enamored of Mel--I don't know what they think, I have not spoken to them--but he backs their area, even though it is not the core revenue generator for the firm. As a matter of fact, in the last 12 to 18 months, revenue from that area has been dwindling.
In part two, we will look at the "fiefdom of Mel" (the Adam Bergstein story), the shift in partner compensation, and the issue of equitable treatment.
____________________
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____________________
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. COMPANIES & ORGANIZATIONS
1a. Divine: Acquires Northern Light
2. READERS' COMMENTS & RESPONSES
2a. Bob Gerometta responds to the latest jab
2b. Michael Gebert: Speaking of eBay scams... or rather Paypal scam
2c. Jeremey Donovan: A compiled list of startups in various high tech arenas
2d. Dan Limbach: The benefits of Fast Company's Chicago Company of Friends
3. EVENTS
3a. Jan. 28: The return of LOLA
3b. Jan. 29: KNOWJACK networking meeting
3c. Jan. 29: ABWA: "Branding Yourself for Career Success"
An ongoing list of high tech calendar events can be found on the May Report website (http://www.themayreport.com/events/index.html)
THE MAY REPORT STAFF AND CONTRIBUTORS / CONTACT INFORMATION HAS BEEN MOVED TO THE END OF THE ARTICLE FOR YOUR READING CONVENIENCE.
____________________
1. COMPANIES & ORGANIZATIONS
1a. Divine: Acquires Northern Light
Tuesday January 22, 7:31 am Eastern Time
Press Release
SOURCE: divine, inc.
divine Announces Acquisition of Northern Light
Combination Brings Unrivaled Premium Content Offerings and Award-Winning Search Technology
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020122/cgtu026_1.html
CHICAGO and CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Jan. 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- divine, inc., (Nasdaq: DVIN - news), a premier integrated solution provider focused on the extended enterprise, today announced that it has acquired certain assets of privately held Northern LightŪ Technology LLC, a leading provider of search and content integration solutions for enterprises, in an all-stock transaction. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The acquisition of Northern Light's award-winning premium content services, enterprise search technology, and e-commerce transaction engine enhance divine's comprehensive integrated content, collaboration and knowledge solutions for the extended enterprise.
``Those companies that can effectively leverage and apply their external and internal knowledge resources to gain a deeper understanding of their competitors, industry conditions, and developments in their value chain will be positioned to more quickly adjust to evolving market conditions,'' said Andrew ``Flip'' Filipowski, chief executive officer of divine. ``This combination of divine's existing content management and content aggregation solutions, and Northern Light's vast collection of premium content offerings enable divine to offer information-rich solutions for portals, intranets, Web sites and extranets, helping our customers gain a competitive edge.''
Northern Light Technology is a leading provider of premium content, content integration and search solutions for enterprises. Its products include Special Collection (TM), an online business research library of over 70 million pages of full text documents; SinglePoint (TM) Custom Content Integration service; RivalEye, a customized competitive intelligence solution; and the Northern Light Enterprise Search Engine (TM), which features Northern Light's patented classification technology and customizable 17,000-term taxonomy. In addition, Northern Light's fast and flexible e-commerce transaction engine allows micro-payments, subscriptions, coupons, refunds, and aggregation for monthly billing.
The acquisition enhances divine's ability to offer premium content through Northern Light's Special Collection, the largest online desktop business research library with more than 7,100 electronically procured and presented documented sources, including Forbes, Business Week, American Banker, Economist, New York Times, Investext database of equity analyst reports, and key vertical industry publications. In addition, the acquisition of Northern Light strengthens divine's already strong content management and delivery solutions for the publishing and media industry by expanding the number of sources divine can offer and by providing a dramatically improved interface for locating specific content. divine also intends to integrate Northern Light's global search technology across its content management, content aggregation and procurement, customer interaction and collaboration solutions to provide a unified search capability across its applications.
``Merging content with the technologies that find and manage it is a logical next step in the development of content-related applications,'' said Susan Feldman, director of content and retrieval software research at IDC. ``In the past year, divine has acquired content management vendors such as Eprise and Open Market, and information aggregators such as RoweCom and Sagemaker. Search was the missing piece. By closely integrating search and content management with a collection of high-quality information sources, divine offers enterprises a single point of entry into both their internal information sources and the external ones that are strategically necessary to their survival. Integrated solutions enable an enterprise to develop an integrated information strategy based on the particular needs and processes of their organization. Workflow, categorization, tagging, publishing, search, and information analysis can now become one seamless process that builds a strong foundation for knowledge work. divine now has a strong offering that will make other content-related software vendors and content aggregators sit up and take notice.''
Northern Light CEO David Seuss and Senior Vice President of Content Development Robert Nelson join divine in senior positions. Dr. Gregory Whitten, who served as Chief Software Architect of computer languages and office applications during his 19-year career at Microsoft Corp. and is a primary investor in Northern Light, will serve as a technology advisor to divine....
__________
Ron May here. As predicted last Thursday, in this report.
____________________
2. READERS' COMMENTS & RESPONSES
2a. Bob Gerometta responds to the latest jab
From: "Bob Gerometta" <bob_gerometta@2xchange.com>
To: "Ron May" <ron@themayreport.com>
Subject: RE: The Meade/Gerometta connection to SiteVisions
Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2002 16:32:20 -0600
Ron:
Re: "So, how much did they charge themselves for their web site?"
Let's take it from the top.
1. Stephen and I have never taken a salary OR ANY OTHER FORM OF COMPENSATION from SiteVisions. We did work tons of hours trying to acquire customers for it and in so doing, we were able to keep several web developers employed in THIS community. I'm wondering where the problem is in that?
2. We do own a portion of SiteVisions along with other individuals (it's a corporation). It was formed 6 months before we even started on the GBUCS concept. While our full attention has been on making GBUCS successful, the creation of SiteVisions allowed us to fill a niche - we wanted to provide a service to companies who needed websites in the $5 - $30K range.
3. AND - If you or anyone else owned interest in a web development company and you needed to do development work for another company where you had a business interest (GBUCs), what company would YOU hire? I think you must have a ton of small-minded jealous people in your readership - and obviously a bunch with no business experience. If they had - they'd know that our practice is common EXCEPT that most others would have taken a salary from SiteVisions too boot. Stephen and I abandoned any thought of salaried positions @ SV once we started GBUCS.
IN FACT, we are looking for a savvy web development sales person who would like to come on board FOR a GOOD PIECE OF EQUITY to get SV. rolling. Know anyone? Perhaps the person who wrote in has the proper experience, or knows someone who could HELP us. (I doubt it, because anyone who has time enough to take pot shots at us is more interested in tearing down the community than lifting it up.)
It's easy to find fault 'cause nobody's perfect. It's a lot harder to work to make things better. Why don't all of you who are so unhappy get involved in elevating the tech community? Why not try "pitching in" instead of "b***hing". Why not join us at our KnockNOW Wednesday morning breakfast club (the Corner Bakery 360 N. Michigan at Wacker), every Wednesday between 8:00 and 9:30. Perhaps you'll meet someone who can re-inspire you and get you involved in giving back to the community instead of dissing it.
Just think, you could actually INFLUENCE the outcome instead of standing on the sidelines complaining about it! I know, it's a novel idea, but . . .
Bob Gerometta
bob.gerometta@GBUCs.com
____________________
2b. Michael Gebert: Speaking of eBay scams... or rather Paypal scam
Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2002 21:23:38 -0600
Subject: Speaking of Ebay scams... or rather Paypal scam
From: Michael Gebert <mike@michaelgebert.com>
To: The May Report <ron@themayreport.com>
The mention of eBay scams, as well as Enron's collapse in the news, brings to mind another seemingly admired new company whose practices suggest that it may also be a New Economy house of cards about to collapse under scummy circumstances.
Paypal, the widely-used online payment service that handles credit card transactions between eBay buyers and sellers (among many others), has a new policy-- it won't actually pay the credit card money it collects from you unless the recipient has an upgraded account (Business or Premier).
In other words (the words, it seems to me, a prosecutor might use), it takes your credit card charge under fraudulent pretenses, then announces that it won't release the funds to the recipient and also denies you any way to cancel the charge. (Being an online service, of course, it also denies you any way to phone them and ream them out.)
Try pulling that in a real-world retail environment! Talk about an innovative online business model....
____________________
2c. Jeremey Donovan: A compiled list of startups in various high tech arenas
From: "Donovan, Jeremey" <jeremey.donovan@gartner.com>
To: Claire Dolinar <claire@themayreport.com>
Subject: Thanks
Date: Sun, 20 Jan 2002 18:13:34 -0500
Thanks to everyone who submitted names for my latest list of startups in communications semiconductors, networking, storage, and optical components! I have posted the list at http://www.infounity.com.
Regards,
Jeremey Donovan
Vice President & Chief Analyst
Gartner Dataquest
Phone: (773) 667-0612
____________________
2d. Dan Limbach: The benefits of Fast Company's Chicago Company of Friends
From: "Daniel Limbach" <dan@attritiongame.com>
To: <ron@themayreport.com>
Subject: ChiCoF helps members land a book deal in Chicago
Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2002 14:05:37 -0600
Hi Ron,
You've met Jackie Huba and Ben McConnell of Wabash and Lake (www.wabashandlake.com). They recently landed a book deal, and they give the Fast Company group in Chicago credit for connecting them with the publisher, Dearborn Trade. Here's their testimonial.
"Fast Company's Chicago Company of Friends group has been an invaluable source of connections for us. It's how we landed a book deal. In the fall of 2001, one of our posts on the CoF Chicago forum caught the eye of an acquisitions editor at Dearborn Trade. She contacted us to gauge our interest in assembling a proposal for a book that outlines our ideas around customer evangelism. As luck and good timing would have it, writing a book was one of the stated goals of our strategic plan."
"After a few solid months of hard work in assembling a proposal, we have a signed deal with Dearborn, and our book will be published in December as a sales and marketing hardcover. But the story does not end there: We have employed the CoF email discussion list to gather research and feedback for the book. The hundreds of members of this community are thoughtful, articulate and extremely willing to pitch in for something they believe in. The Chicago CoF has been an invaluable source of information, strength and hope."
"While much work remains to complete an engaging manuscript and plan for a successful launch, we are truly gratified and thankful for the CoF. The universe really does conspire to provide what you seek."
As Coordinator of ChiCoF, I invite everyone to come to our meeting this Wednesday night (1/23) and make your own invaluable connections. 5:30 - 8:30pm. 711 W. Monroe, Chicago. 20 lucky people will take home a spankin' new copy of Seth Godin's innovative business book, "Survival is Not Enough." Author and Management Consultant Maureen McCarthy will share the vision of her upcoming book, and we'll break into our signature "Open Space" discussion format. Free admission - donations are accepted for the use of the space.
Register for the group at www.fastcompany.com/cof .
Regards,
Dan
Dan Limbach (847) 875-5691
Win name brand products in a compelling email game DVD players, computer gear, gift certificates, much more
http://www.attritiongame.com
____________________
3. EVENTS
3a. The return of LOLA
DATE: Monday, JANUARY 28, 2002
EVENT: Networking
SPONSORING ORGANIZATION: LOLA (Land of Linkin Association)
LOCATION: BUZZ, 308 W. Erie Street, Chicago, IL
TIME: 6pm (?) -- no time specified in announcement
PRICE: Free. No RSVP needed.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: For more information contact Jonathan King at jon.king@epigraph.com.
LOLA was started in 1997 by a number of local technology entrepreneurs and service providers to foster informal networking among technology leaders in Illinois. A LOLA reunion will be held THE LAST MONDAY OF EVERY MONTH in 2002. The first meeting and every meeting thereafter will be held @ Buzz 308 W. Erie St. located next to Mashed Potato Club. Specials on drinks. We look forward to seeing everyone.
____________________
3b. KNOWJACK networking meeting
DATE: Tuesday, JANUARY 29, 2002
EVENT: Networking
SPONSORING ORGANIZATION: Knowjack
LOCATION: Rio Bravo, intersection of Warrenville and Naperville Roads (just north of I-88), Lisle, IL
TIME: 6pm - 8pm
PRICE: Free
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: The courtesy of a RSVP is requested via the website at www.knowjack.org.
Who's invited: open to all e-commerce & Internet professionals. Dress: As you are. Bring your business cards, not an attitude.
____________________
3c. ABWA: "Branding Yourself for Career Success"
DATE: Tuesday, JANUARY 29, 2002
EVENT: Meeting/networking
SPONSORING ORGANIZATION: American Business Women's Association (ABWA), Chicagoland Express Network
LOCATION: Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, One IBM Plaza, 330 N. Wabash, Suite 2800, Chicago, IL. NEW LOCATION FOR THIS MEETING ONLY!
TIME: 5:45pm - 7:30pm
PRICE: ABWA members: $20 on or before Jan. 25, $25 afterwards. Nonmembers: $30 on or before Jan. 25, $35 afterwards. (Cash or check payable to ABWA Chicagoland Express Network). Price includes catered dinner.
SPEAKER: Carole Nicolaides, President and Founder, Progressive Leadership
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: RSVP by Fri. Jan. 25 to Melinda Sigal, Foundation Chairman: 773-755-2400 or msigal@magicnet.net.
Please arrive early. Everyone entering the building will need to be prepared to sign in at the security desk with a picture ID, prior to taking the elevator to the 28th Floor. Networking will start promptly at 5:45 PM and we must be out of the building by 7:45pm. Members and guests are invited to bring brochures/fliers to share on our "Networking Table." Please note "no-shows" will be charged, as we are charged us for all "yes" RSVPs.
In this interactive session, you will learn how to make a name for yourself in the business world as well as life. You will discover how you are perceived and examine ways to project yourself based on your values and what you want to do with your target clients, employers, and friends. It will help you find and define "perfect" relationships and the people you want to work with and be with, as well as how to communicate effectively with this target audience. The whole self-discovery process will help you ...
* Recognize & develop your individual brand assets (knowledge, skills, training, personality characteristics)
* Build & expand your strengths around your natural talents
* Understand your brand value and what value you offer a future employer. (Would they go out of their way to recruit you?)
* Understand your own values and how those can affect your job search
* Living your brand
Carole Nicolaides of Progressive Leadership helps clients capitalize on their "strengths" and "hidden knowledge". She brings
over 12 years of experience in managing and coaching complex and diverse teams in the high tech and medical industries. Currently she is also authoring "The Coaching Approach to Knowledge Management," and completing her coaching training with Coach University, the leading school in the nation.
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About ABWA: Founded in 1949, The American Business Women's Association is a national association dedicated to providing business training for women of diverse background through education for career advancement and personal development. ABWA is a nonpartisan, nonsectarian and nonprofit organization whose members share a common goal. For more information about the newly forming ABWA Chicagoland Express Network or to attend, contact Melinda Sigal. See ABWA Express Networks: http://www.express-network.org/ or ABWA: http://www.abwahq.org/
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THE MAY REPORT STAFF AND CONTRIBUTORS / CONTACT INFORMATION
Contributors: Jonathan Plotkin: web cartoonist and provocateur; Dan Limbach: Editor of Schmoozemonger.com, and founder of In A World, Inc., "The Idea Petri Dish"; Jeffrey Gilbert: contributing columnist on strategy. Jeffrey is a founder of BLINK, Inc. which, among other things, provides strategic consulting services to startups.
Advertising: Paul May and Mike Rhoades
Executive Assistant: Claire Dolinar
Administrative Asst. Juli Scaro
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773-871-4933 (Fax).
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