North Bay Business Journal

Execution key to economic development

That the North Bay needs a coherent economic development focus no longer seems to be an item to be debated. And while there are different visions of what economic development means, there is an emerging consensus in the North Bay that our approach to regional prosperity will be anchored in a foundation of sustainable business practices and healthy economic growth. This consensus is not a trivial accomplishment in that we are not too far removed from contentious growth versus no-growth debates.

Ask Jen: Recruiting Questions & Answers: Making sure your company hires the right executive

Q. I am the founder and CEO for a $20 million distribution company. Our general manager of five years has informed me that he will be moving out of state in June to be closer to his family. He has recommended the operations manager whom he hired two years ago as his replacement. The problem is that the operations manager is not qualified to be a general manager; he lacks formal education and essential knowledge and experience required to be successful. What are my options?

Lary Kirchenbauer: The dreaded ‘after action report’

Many years ago when we lived in the Midwest, we became very good friends with a young couple down the street. He was a fellow fraternity brother, from another college, but I remember him as a very capable physician with a unique ability to describe complex medical subjects in layman’s language.

Editorial: A rebuke of SEIU

International Service Employees International Union President Andy Stern may have an open invitation to the White House, visiting there 22 times in the first six months of the Obama Administration, more than anyone else, according to visitor logs.

But health care workers are increasingly telling the SEIU to take a hike.

Commentary: Learning how to beat a bad job market

Given the California economy, this state and Sonoma County face a “difficult year ahead” with unemployment expected to remain high through 2010, according to Jerry Nickelsburg, senior economist with UCLA’s Anderson Forecast and speaker at the Sonoma County Economic Development Board’s “State of the County.”

Commentary: Many dangers in Marin energy push

North Bay Leadership Council’s members are committed to cutting greenhouse gas emissions and fighting global warming.
What North Bay Leadership Council’s members don’t support is bad public policy and a lack of fiscal responsibility. NBLC is very concerned that the proposed Marin Clean Energy program is putting ratepayers, taxpayers and county constituents in jeopardy by pressing forward with a program that adds a new bureaucracy, is not accountable to the public or under the oversight of the California Public Utilities Commission, and comes fraught with financial risk at a time when municipalities are facing the worst fiscal crisis in memory.

Al Statz: To be your own boss, consider buying and existing business

So you want to be your own boss — no superiors, no shareholders and no board of directors. Consider the options — work as an independent contractor, start your own company or buy an existing small business. Each option has pros and cons. If you analyze the risks versus the rewards carefully, you’ll learn what many seasoned entrepreneurs have discovered … the scale tips in favor of purchasing an existing business.

Lary Kirchenbauer: Thinking strategically more than just tactical details

I have been working recently with a young CEO-in-waiting who is eager to move into the top spot. He recognizes, however, that his struggle to “think strategically” may be keeping him back. On a tactical level, he is very efficient, discharging the assignments given to him, working his way through his daily action list and dispatching players to their intended destinations.

Brad Bollinger: Chaos from Congress’ estate tax lapse

While Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus and other Democrats in Congress are busy remaking the one-seventh of the U.S. economy that is health care, they left an untold number of American families in chaos by failing to move on what should have been a simple act: extension of the estate tax exemption.

One company’s journey through a turbulent economy

In 2008, after two years of an average 50 percent growth rate, Santa Rosa-based apparel wholesaler Indigenous Designs was moving toward a Series B stock offering to fund new marketing programs and continued growth.