Hello.

I’m pleased to let you know we’ve redesigned our Language of Business web site, now accessible at www.bclob.com

The new site is meant to serve as a business portal: we have included business knowledge resources, web site & book recommendations, and, of course, background on my BC courses and our TV, radio and print media outreach.

Finally, please register on the site, so as new content is posted, you’ll receive an email from us.

A huge thanks to my colleagues inside and outside of BC who did the programming, offered suggestions and have supported this overall 2+ year effort.  To say it’s a team efforts would be the understatement of the decade! :-)

Sincerely,

Greg Stoller

Either as a rookie, or as a seasoned professional, Bill Kenney's company, Test My Pitch, gives entrepreneurs real-time feedback on their business presentations.  Bill is one of four guests we filmed today for the next episode of the Language of Business, on Business Communication.

The Language of Business: Continuous improvement for start-ups and established ventures. 

Screen shot reprinted below with permission.

As the #1 person in your company, you’re expected to know it all, except when you don’t.  When do you use a business consultant?

Episode #11 (Using Business Consultants) is now on-the-air. The full 30-minute episode is here, featuring John Thomas, Julie Marcus, Adam Averback and Sean Sanker. Click on their names below for the individual interview segments.

Continuous business improvement for start-ups, and established ventures: The Language of Business.

John Thomas. John Thomas is a Managing Director, and a member of the Global Leadership Team at L.E.K. Consulting. John also heads L.E.K.’s global Aviation & Travel practice and is also active in our Private Equity practice. John has more than 23 years experience in strategy, financial, commercial, operational and organizational consulting to the aviation industry and has worked with most of the leading airlines around the world on a broad range of major issues.  Here's his profile. 
 
Julie Marcus. Julie Marcus provides management direction through market research and business intelligence to executive search firms, Fortune 500 companies and private organizations for competitive intelligence, talent recruitment and executive search on a global level. Click here for her LinkedIn profile. 

Adam Averback. Adam Averback Your Party. Our Excitement. Your Ideas. Our Creativity. Your Guests. Our Talent. Together we’ll make it happen.  Party Excitement brings innovative ideas, outstanding talent and amazing energy to every event. Our goal is to meet and exceed all of your expectations. Here's his business profile. 

Sean Sanker. Sean Sanker Bay State IT offers IT consulting, network and desktop support, and managed IT services both remote, and onsite. We pride ourselves on providing a superior level of IT support extending throughout every facet of your organization. Whether your needs are basic network - desktop support, or you're looking to implement large networks, data backups, disaster recovery, virtual environments, and network monitoring Bay State IT is here to offer a truly comprehensive IT support solution for your business.  You can learn more about Sean on his business profile. 

Communicating well in business is tough, and the subtlest mistakes can immediately derail even the best deals. Whether getting your intended point across is a born talent, or learned over time, all executives can improve—including the most senior ones—if they’re truly willing to be critiqued.  How to effectively communicate, on the next Language of Business.

We debuted our new set today and check out the pictures below.  Filming will occur over the next three weeks and click on the guests' names below for their LinkedIn profiles or company web sites. This episode will air in late March / early April.

Melanie Calzetti-Spahr, who will discuss how to mentor and prep younger employees in the workplace. 

Bill Kenney has begun a new company, Test My Pitch, which provides detailed feedback on presentations. Here's his profile.

Brenda Bence, joining us from Skype in Singapore, will discuss high-level executive leadership / coaching. Here's her profile.

Marjorie Whittaker, who will discuss business communication / training for non-native English speakers. This is her LinkedIn profile.

Dr. Camille Baulant spending this week in Boston and we interviewed her in a special additional segment on the French economy.  This is her LinkedIn profile.

Many thanks to co-founder and co-owner of Party Excitement Entertainment, Adam Averback, who hosted us earlier this morning as we wrapped filming for episode #11 on the use of business consultants.  Our 30-second promo is coming on Monday, with the full episode airing in less than two weeks.  

Picture below reprinted with permission. 

This is some new, exciting research coming out of France, by Dr. Camille Baulant and Dr. Serge Blondel, both of whom will in Boston, in March.  It's a French article but here's the English abstract below.

Croatia joins European Union in 2012: How can Croatia export efficiently in the Global Market?

The main aim of the article is to analyse how Croatia inserts in the world economy. As the world economy changes, the insertion strategy needs to change also. The country can’t any more choose an insertion based on export markets as well as choose an insertion based on internal economy. Nowadays, we know well the limits of the strategy of growth only based on export markets. The paper presents the three main points of the growth strategy of Croatia: tourism exports, industry specialisation and the key role of FDI to finance its growth. On the opposite side, Croatia must be careful because its industrial exports are still highly dependant of price-competitiveness and the high exchange rate policy could damage its exports.

Consultants are often maligned as being expensive, hired guns, who deal with your company at arm’s length.  But, on the flip side, you won’t be a successful entrepreneur with only limited knowledge in a critical business specialty.  "How to best use consultants?" is the topic on the next episode of the Language of Business.

We will be filming this week and next and click on the guests' names below for their LinkedIn profiles or company web sites. This episode will air in mid-Feburary.


John Thomas, is a Managing Director and Partner, and a member of the Global Leadership Team at L.E.K. Consulting. John also heads L.E.K.’s global Aviation & Travel practice and is also active in our Private Equity practice. John has more than 23 years experience in strategy, financial, commercial, operational and organizational consulting to the aviation industry and has worked with most of the leading airlines around the world on a broad range of major issues.
 
Julie Marcus provides management direction through market research and business intelligence to executive search firms, Fortune 500 companies and private organizations for competitive intelligence, talent recruitment and executive search on a global level. 

Adam Averback Your Party. Our Excitement. Your Ideas. Our Creativity. Your Guests. Our Talent. Together we’ll make it happen.  Party Excitement brings innovative ideas, outstanding talent and amazing energy to every event. Our goal is to meet and exceed all of your expectations.

Sean Sanker Bay State IT offers IT consulting, network and desktop support, and managed IT services both remote, and onsite. We pride ourselves on providing a superior level of IT support extending throughout every facet of your organization. Whether your needs are basic network - desktop support, or you're looking to implement large networks, data backups, disaster recovery, virtual environments, and network monitoring Bay State IT is here to offer a truly comprehensive IT support solution for your business.
 

We are here in Beijing, after (fortunately) an uneventful day.

a) All of the connections were smooth, and with the exception of the tug getting stuck in the ice on Newark's tarmac.  All luggage arrived, too.
b) My client came to the airport and we're now safely in the hotel.
c) Just had a great dinner with the students at a local restaurant. $12 / person, including drinks
d) On a lighter note, we saw Dennis Rodman in the Beijing airport, most likely in transit from a recent trip to Pyongyang to train the basketball team.


Slow Internet but I'll try to post as often as I can. We're off to work tomorrow. 

Our two Asian International Consulting Project teams have just sent their reports off to China, capping off six months of intensive consulting for the clients of our partner CCAFM.  We'll be headed to Beijing in two weeks to further refine our work with CCAFM's consultants, and then formally present it to to their clients.  More information is available on this course's web site, and here is the Radio Entrepreneurs interview link which aired earlier tonight about the experience.  We're honored that this is our 10th year working with CCAFM!  Congratulations to our BC MBA and LAW students on a stellar job from start to finish.

What can go wrong usually does, but that doesn’t mean it has to sink your business.  Also, if you believe necessity is the mother of invention, successfully working through risks might actually be beneficial to your business long term.

Episode #9 (Risk Assessment) is now on-the-air. The full 30-minute episode is here, featuring Bill Contente, Robert Goodof, Christopher Mirabile and Scott Allen. Click on their names below for the individual interview segments.

Continuous business improvement for start-ups, and established ventures: The Language of Business.

Bill Contente

As a corporate lawyer and senior partner at Gesmer Updegrove, Bill has provided clients with quality legal advice, practical business guidance and value-added services that drive revenue and increase profitability for 25 years. For hundreds of companies, Bill has negotiated, drafted and closed venture capital financings, angel financings and successful exits, introduced clients to financing sources and “C” level team members, and engaged in strategic discussions to keep clients focused on success. His LinkedIn profile is here. 


Robert Goodof

Bob has worked as a senior equity analyst, covering chemicals, oil and gas, alternative energy, and industrial equities, with special emphasis on in depth fundamentals, valuation frameworks, and mentoring. He was selected Best of the Buy Side 1998 and 2004, and has helped to start and manage the Off Wall Street Energy Symposium, an annual conference of energy executives and public/private investors, in Jackson Hole.  Click here for his LinkedIn profile. 


Christopher Mirabile 

Christopher Mirabile is the co-Managing Director of LaunchPad Venture Group, a venture investment group focused on seed and early-stage investments in technology-oriented companies. Launchpad is the largest angel group in New England and top-three ranked group in the U.S. Christopher is a full-time angel and an active member of the Boston-area angel investing community with more than fifty investments in start-up companies. Click here for more of Christopher on LinkedIn. 


Scott Allen

Scott is the VP and General Manager of MS Walker.  M.S. Walker is a wholesale distributor of wines and spirits based in Massachusetts since 1933. They serve retail stores, restaurants and hotels, and also manufacture their own brands of spirit products, which are marketed in 42 states. Additionally, M.S. Walker acts as a marketing agent for many of its suppliers in all of the New England States, as well as an Agency Importer of select national brands, and also as an Importer of several wine brands from regions around the world.  Here's the company's web site.