David Feldman's book, Reverse Mergers: Taking a Company
Public Without an IPO, now in its third printing, was published in 2006
by Bloomberg Press (available on http://www.amazon.com).
View David Feldman's reverse merger blog at www.reversemergerblog.com.
Joseph Smith and David Feldman are coauthors of PIPES:
Revised and Updated Edition - A Guide to Private Investments in Public Equity
(Bloomberg Press, 2005) available on http://www.amazon.com.
In the News
David
Feldman is quoted in a Wall Street Journal
article October 23, 2001 in reference
to management of employees after the
September 11 tragedy.
Boss's
Challenge: Soothe Workers, Get the Job
Done
Ever
since Sept. 11, Greg Malever, the chief
executive of Lanta Technology Group,
an Atlanta recruiting company, has tried
to be sensitive to his employees' new
anxieties. But when one employee brought
a TV to the office so that he could
stay tuned to the news all day, Mr.
Malever decided things had gone too
far.
"He just plugged it into the wall and
pulled up the rabbit ears," Mr. Malever
recalls. Other staffers started gathering
around the employee's desk to watch.
"I marched over to his office and told
him to turn it off," Mr. Malever says.
"Enough is enough."
Still, Mr. Malever's warning didn't
stop Jimmy Stroud, the employee, from
keeping up with the news. "I switched
to the Internet," he says. Mr. Malever,
in turn, didn't make a fuss, figuring
"at least it wasn't a group thing."
He adds: "I wanted to get past it and
move on and do some work."
Managers these days are walking a tightrope
as they try to respond to distraught
and distracted workers while still making
sure that business gets done. Employees
who are preoccupied with daily anthrax
scares and FBI alerts or are uneasy
about working in skyscrapers are having
difficulty being productive. Others
fear doing things that were routine
just a few weeks ago, such as opening
mail or getting on planes or even elevators.
Immediately after the attacks, many
bosses adopted a softer management style,
allowing their staff time to grieve,
spend time with their families, or volunteer
to help victims of the attacks. But
as the economic slowdown deepens and
the threat of terrorism becomes a staple
of American life, managers feel pressured
to keep employees focused on work.
David Feldman, managing partner
of Feldman & Associates, a midtown
Manhattan corporate-law firm, still
allows jittery workers latitude -- as
long as they get their work done. One
of his dozen or so employees has suffered
from periods of severe anxiety since
last month's attacks and has taken some
time off. That is fine "as long as she
doesn't do it on critical days when
she's needed to be here -- she knows
when those days are," Mr. Feldman says,
adding: "If you care about the long-term
relationship, you can withstand as a
manager the short-term problems and
not pressure an employee for now."
Mr. Feldman also sent a memo to staffers
encouraging them to volunteer with the
relief effort, even on work time, "within
reason of course," he says.
Other managers are grappling with how
to foster innovation and creativity
in employees who feel anxious and depressed.
"Fear is the enemy of creativity," says
Jonathan Bond, co-chairman of Kirshenbaum
Bond Creative Network, a New York advertising
agency. Creativity at the agency "dropped
like a stone" in the days following
Sept. 11, he says. Rather than push
employees to get back to old assignments,
Mr. Bond and his partners encouraged
them to pursue pro bono projects related
to the terrorist attacks, such as a
public-service campaign providing postcards
that can be mailed to New York's police
and fire departments. "That's helped
people recharge," he says.
But after employees heard about the
outbreaks of anthrax they became distracted
again. "Different people have [returned
to] different levels of productivity,"
says Mr. Bond, who favors patience over
bullying or pressuring staff. "I think
you can't pressure people," he says.
"They have to come back when they're
ready."
Like other ad agencies, Kirshenbaum
is facing economic as well as emotional
stress. Mr. Bond estimates that existing
accounts are down 70%, as clients trim
ad budgets, and new accounts have slowed.
Yet the agency, which laid off roughly
20% of its workers in March, currently
has no plans to trim its 260-member
staff, according to Mr. Bond. "It's
not always all about the numbers," he
says. "I think people need emotional
support right now."
Yet calming workers' fears is "going
to take all kinds of interpersonal skills
on the part of managers which they may
or may not have," says Roger Brunswick,
a psychiatrist and management consultant,
who is a principal at Hayes, Brunswick
& Partners in New York. He calls
senior managers "a special group at
risk," because of their tendency to
return to work quickly and to perceive
themselves as unaffected. "If you've
got somebody who just shows no sensitivity
to what's happened, that's a problem."
Some managers acknowledge that they
are so stressed themselves, they are
less willing and able to nurture employees.
On Sept. 11, Jeff Odiorne, the 36-year-old
chairman of Odiorne, Wilde, Narraway
& Partners, a San Francisco advertising
agency, waited anxiously for more than
an hour before learning that his brother
Peter had decided not to take United
Airlines Flight 93, which crashed in
Pennsylvania. Since then, he says, he
has had difficulty concentrating and
hasn't had as much "emotional time"
for employees. "I don't want to hear
a lot of rationale about stuff," he
says. "It's more -- put your head down
and get it done."
Mr. Odiorne's desk is on an open floor
alongside employees who used to line
up five and six deep to speak with him.
Now, he says, they get the information
they need and move on. "In some ways,
it's more efficient," he says, but "it's
made [the office] probably a little
more sterile."
Other executives say their own fears
have prompted them to reorganize assignments.
Brian Cowley, a sales executive at eBay
Inc., San Jose, Calif., is considering
restructuring his sales team to minimize
flying. Since the attacks, he has been
"extremely anxious" about traveling,
he says, and even rewrote his will.
"I've never been like that before. I'm
a bold flier," he says.
When the attacks occurred, Mr. Cowley
was in the midst of hiring several business-development
staffers. At first, he wanted the team
to be based in San Jose so they could
all work together with various eBay
departments in Silicon Valley. Now,
he is considering hiring regional business
development personnel in New York, Chicago
and San Jose so they will not have to
travel so frequently. While that approach
is designed to ease his own fears, he
also thinks subordinates may be calmer
and more productive if their travel
assignments are limited.
To keep employees calm, Sam Travis Ewen,
chief executive of Interference Inc.,
a small "guerrilla marketing" company
in New York, is carefully policing the
language he uses in the office. He now
avoids such common marketing phrases
as "targeting a person" or "hijacking
a campaign." Even the words "guerrilla
marketing" are suspect, he adds. "I'm
using the phrase 'alternative' or 'grass-roots'
marketing a lot more now."
He says he is also encouraging staffers
to spend more time away from work with
loved ones -- "as long as they get their
work done." As a result, he says, "many
people are working harder in a shorter
period of time."
