Proxy voting: owning the firm - a follow up

Speaking of owning the firm, here's a note from Wealth-Bulletin.com, noting that "Investors are more careful with their own money."

You get the gist of the article in the first few sentences, so here's the rest:  firms with family ownership (as defined by Oddo, an investment firm in Paris), perform better than others. :)

Proxy voting: owning the firm

This is a very busy time of year for some, and not just because we’re close to the U.S. federal tax deadline.  Over the past three weeks or so, I’ve received at least 15 information packets through the mail from various firms.  The packets typically include an annual report, a 10-K SEC filing, and a card for voting the shares I hold in the firm.  On top of the mailed packets are the electronic proxies.  Because of the way my investments are structured, some firms send me multiple copies of material – always with a request to complete my proxy.

Instructional Design

Great and enduring leaders are also great and enduring teachers. In organizations, the function is usually called learning, training, development, or some combination of the three. In short, the idea is to equip the team with the knowledge to make both the team and the individual successful.

Delivering quality training is more than simply telling the team to “do what I do and you'll pick it up.” It requires a thoughtful design process that develops the content necessary to make the team successful.

On-boarding well

If you've ever been on a cruise, you know it takes more than a couple of minutes to actually make it from port to actually getting on the ship. It's a long process of the crew making sure you're supposed to be on the ship, you learning what you can and can't do while on board, finding your cabin, learning what do do in an emergency, and so on.

The process of introducing someone new to a team is called “on-boarding.” Sometimes it's written without the hyphen (“onboarding”), and I firmly believe the only reason the powers that be keep the hyphen is to avoid a spell check flag in office documents. :)

Compensation considerations: taxes & discretionary effort

During a very interesting exchange at a recent gathering of business professionals, a conversation around compensation and benefits practices of different firms arose.  We were talking about two specific firms that reward employees in different ways.

The first firm believed in cash compensation based on performance:  if you deliver X, then you receive Y.  Cash compensation is very high for this firm, but minimal additional benefits are paid to employees.

The second firm believed in lower cash compensation, but with a significant benefits package that included insurance, development opportunities, community involvement, and a generous retirement package.

Both firms are successful, and we pondered how the compensation philosophy affected the bottom line....

Dell and the margin

Computer maker Dell (DELL) released 2009 year end and quarterly earnings yesterday. Cash flow from operations increased 106% YOY (that's year-over-year) and the cash conversion cycle improved from -25 days last year to -36 days. On top of that, free cash flow and cash on hand are both on the rise.

So why did the stock price drop 6.65% right after the release?

Professional networking

After I earned my MBA, I joined the Career Services committee of the alumni association.  This year, our focus is to deliver seminars focused on two things:  professional networking and personal performance.  It's how we add value to both the school and alumni - creating a resource where individual can equip themselves for professional success.

The first component of that is called professional networking.  Interesting concept by itself, but we took some time to define it.  Here's what we came up with:

Professional networking is the creation and maintenance of relationships for mutual benefit and advancement, within the context of your own personal and professional goals.