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Steve Speaks with the President of a Consulting Firm, Part 1

Part 1

Steve: Well, this morning I'm meeting with Bob Henderson, who is the president of The Osbourne Group, which I believe is a consulting company, but not a consulting company. Perhaps you could explain, Bob.

Bob: Steve-yes, we are not consultants. I guess that the easiest thing for me to do is explain quickly: we're interim senior managers, which means that we go into a company on a two-three day a week basis, or maybe three or four months, and we actually become part of a management team. We become the Vice President of Human Resources. We become the Vice President of Marketing, and in many cases, we become the general manager of the business. I look after Vancouver; we have offices in Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal, Toronto. Toronto being the head office, and we have a small contingent now in Ottawa. So The Osbourne Group is about eighty individuals, and most of us have had a wide variety of business experience before we got into it.

Steve: So typically, would companies be looking for help in marketing or in human resources? What sorts of areas do you get involved in most?

Bob: Probably more than anything else, we get involved in financial need, because a company, large or small, cannot survive for long if they haven't got someone in charge of finance. So we do place a lot of Directors of Finance or Vice Presidents of Finance in organizations, and then following that, probably marketing. We would go in and become Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Those are the two prominent positions that we'll typically fill. Steve: So if we're talking about finance, do you mean helping them arrange bank financing, or do you mean helping them go to other-what do you call them-venture capitalists, or what kinds of opportunities do you create for them? Bob: We assume the role of Vice President of Finance, or Director of Finance. In other words, we will do whatever the various tasks of the number one man in finance has in his portfolio or his job description.

Steve: Now, typically, what size of companies do you deal with? Are these large companies, small companies?

Bob: They run the full spectrum. We typically are dealing with companies from five to fifty million dollars in annual revenue, but we have been Vice President of Marketing at Weston Foods for over a year in Toronto, in one of their divisions, and that was for a year, year and a half. We have taken over the logistics function of a company that is a Montreal head office called Jescan-multi-, multi-million dollar company-and we were, one of our principals was full-time for two years, looking after a specific role here in their British Columbia operation.

Steve: Now why would a company come to you as an interim manager, rather than trying to hire a full-time manager? Would they not-wouldn't there be a concern that they invest a lot of time in you, in teaching you their business, in a way, and getting used to you or whoever is the interim manager, and then you leave. Bob: That's a good question, Steve. One of the things we bring is a diversity of experience. We also bring total, brutal honesty to the job. We are not aspiring to the next level, we're not trying to become president, on a full-time basis, of the company. Therefore, they get from us very, very direct, non-political recommendations, and that means a lot to them. They get a variety. Our people have very diverse skills, and we'll go in there on an interim basis, and eventually we'll help them choose a full-time successor to us, if you will, in that particular position. Steve: Now, on the marketing side, what kinds of situations do you find? What are the sort of type or experience or knowledge that these companies lack, and what is it that you're able to bring them, insofar as marketing is concerned? Bob: Well, we have people that have had extensive experience in marketing. For example, one of the principals that was with me here in Vancouver for a long time was Vice President of Sales and Marketing for the IBM company for Canada. He had four thousand salesmen under him at one time. That's a unique experience, and he found work quite easily in the Vancouver marketplace for the entire length of time that he was with me. The backgrounds of my people appeal to them. Why we're brought in in the first place, I should mention, is because someone maybe quit, was fired, retired, or got temporarily sick. Those are the reasons, or some of the reasons that they look outside, we'll go in and help them on a very quick, immediate basis, and then they have time to fill the job full-time. Steve: Now, your experts, your managers-typically, what is their background?

Bob: Well, good question. One of my principals that was on the team was the CEO of 7-11 Stores for Canada, and he took it from virtually nothing to six hundred ninety-two stores in Canada, from a base here in Vancouver. We had someone else on the team, who I mentioned, the vice president of the IBM company. Another member of the team was Vice President of Finance for Xerox for Canada at one time. We've had people that were general managers of fairly large companies, trucking companies and logistic companies. Another one was the CEO of Mountain Equipment Co-op for several years. So that I've had a variety of people with some very senior positions, and they didn't want to go back into the corporate world, which involves politics and compromise. They'd rather work with people like them, not full-time, where they aren't involved with political situations. Steve: So are these people very often retired people?

Bob: Yes, they've sometimes been retired and say, "I'm not ready to retire," or they have been let go early for various reasons, because in our society now-which I think is a very foolish premise-but you're considered "over the hill" when you're fifty-five in many organizations, and you're just reaching your peak, in terms of your wisdom and experience and your value to the business and corporate world, and that's a time when companies are saying they want to phase you out and bring in young blood.

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Part 1

Steve: Well, this morning I'm meeting with Bob Henderson, who is the president of The Osbourne Group, which I believe is a consulting company, but not a consulting company. Perhaps you could explain, Bob.

Bob: Steve-yes, we are not consultants. I guess that the easiest thing for me to do is explain quickly: we're interim senior managers, which means that we go into a company on a two-three day a week basis, or maybe three or four months, and we actually become part of a management team. We become the Vice President of Human Resources. We become the Vice President of Marketing, and in many cases, we become the general manager of the business. I look after Vancouver; we have offices in Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal, Toronto. Toronto being the head office, and we have a small contingent now in Ottawa. So The Osbourne Group is about eighty individuals, and most of us have had a wide variety of business experience before we got into it.

Steve: So typically, would companies be looking for help in marketing or in human resources? What sorts of areas do you get involved in most?

Bob: Probably more than anything else, we get involved in financial need, because a company, large or small, cannot survive for long if they haven't got someone in charge of finance. So we do place a lot of Directors of Finance or Vice Presidents of Finance in organizations, and then following that, probably marketing. We would go in and become Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Those are the two prominent positions that we'll typically fill. Steve: So if we're talking about finance, do you mean helping them arrange bank financing, or do you mean helping them go to other-what do you call them-venture capitalists, or what kinds of opportunities do you create for them? Bob: We assume the role of Vice President of Finance, or Director of Finance. In other words, we will do whatever the various tasks of the number one man in finance has in his portfolio or his job description.

Steve: Now, typically, what size of companies do you deal with? Are these large companies, small companies?

Bob: They run the full spectrum. We typically are dealing with companies from five to fifty million dollars in annual revenue, but we have been Vice President of Marketing at Weston Foods for over a year in Toronto, in one of their divisions, and that was for a year, year and a half. We have taken over the logistics function of a company that is a Montreal head office called Jescan-multi-, multi-million dollar company-and we were, one of our principals was full-time for two years, looking after a specific role here in their British Columbia operation.

Steve: Now why would a company come to you as an interim manager, rather than trying to hire a full-time manager? Would they not-wouldn't there be a concern that they invest a lot of time in you, in teaching you their business, in a way, and getting used to you or whoever is the interim manager, and then you leave. Bob: That's a good question, Steve. One of the things we bring is a diversity of experience. We also bring total, brutal honesty to the job. We are not aspiring to the next level, we're not trying to become president, on a full-time basis, of the company. Therefore, they get from us very, very direct, non-political recommendations, and that means a lot to them. They get a variety. Our people have very diverse skills, and we'll go in there on an interim basis, and eventually we'll help them choose a full-time successor to us, if you will, in that particular position. Steve: Now, on the marketing side, what kinds of situations do you find? What are the sort of type or experience or knowledge that these companies lack, and what is it that you're able to bring them, insofar as marketing is concerned? Bob: Well, we have people that have had extensive experience in marketing. For example, one of the principals that was with me here in Vancouver for a long time was Vice President of Sales and Marketing for the IBM company for Canada. He had four thousand salesmen under him at one time. That's a unique experience, and he found work quite easily in the Vancouver marketplace for the entire length of time that he was with me. The backgrounds of my people appeal to them. Why we're brought in in the first place, I should mention, is because someone maybe quit, was fired, retired, or got temporarily sick. Those are the reasons, or some of the reasons that they look outside, we'll go in and help them on a very quick, immediate basis, and then they have time to fill the job full-time. Steve: Now, your experts, your managers-typically, what is their background?

Bob: Well, good question. One of my principals that was on the team was the CEO of 7-11 Stores for Canada, and he took it from virtually nothing to six hundred ninety-two stores in Canada, from a base here in Vancouver. We had someone else on the team, who I mentioned, the vice president of the IBM company. Another member of the team was Vice President of Finance for Xerox for Canada at one time. We've had people that were general managers of fairly large companies, trucking companies and logistic companies. Another one was the CEO of Mountain Equipment Co-op for several years. So that I've had a variety of people with some very senior positions, and they didn't want to go back into the corporate world, which involves politics and compromise. They'd rather work with people like them, not full-time, where they aren't involved with political situations. Steve: So are these people very often retired people?

Bob: Yes, they've sometimes been retired and say, "I'm not ready to retire," or they have been let go early for various reasons, because in our society now-which I think is a very foolish premise-but you're considered "over the hill" when you're fifty-five in many organizations, and you're just reaching your peak, in terms of your wisdom and experience and your value to the business and corporate world, and that's a time when companies are saying they want to phase you out and bring in young blood.