Jay Sachetti joined Jeff O’Brien, partner at Husch Blackwell and Dyanne Ross-Hanson, president of Exit Planning Strategies talked about the market for mergers and acquisitions, exit planning opportunities for companies that don’t end up for sale and how companies can maximize their eventual sale price during an early October panel at the first Upsize on Tap event at Summit Brewing Co. in St. Paul.
When the state Legislature passed a law requiring employers to provide paid leave and safe time for employees, Justin Bieganek started hearing differing details from friends, colleagues and peers.
business builder management
by Stephen McFarland
FOR ALL THE INFORMATION out there on the C-level officers of a company, I have read nothing about what may be the most important C of all, the CBFO or Chief Brute Force Officer.
True, it may be a title that I dreamed up myself, but the role of CBFO is needed in every company regardless of size, industry, profit status or location. And if you think your CEO or CFO can stand in for the CBFO, forget it.
A couple of months ago, a client of ours awakened me with a pre-dawn call. His company’s computers had been stolen – all of them – and with them all of his company’s vital information.
Clearly, this type of situation cried out for the attention of our CBFO, meeting two essential criteria: It did not fall into the normal day-to-day operations of our company, and it would require the action of someone whose authority could not be questioned and whose orders to staff and vendors would be received as immediate priorities.
While I went into action, dispatching our people to the client’s place of work with back-up computers in hand, it occurred to me that the CEO of a company (in this case, me) might not be the best choice for the designated CBFO.
Any CEO assuming CBFO status might be limiting the company’s success. I couldn’t help but conclude that what is needed in a service company like ours is several CBFOs, in different areas of expertise.
Choosing your CBFOs
You as CEO are ultimately responsible for choosing your CBFOs. In addition to the obvious requirements of technical knowledge, look for leadership, decisiveness and creativity.
A CBFO must have perseverance in spades — that ability to brute force their way through any problem to save the client in their desperate time of need.
Once you’ve designated your CBFOs, you need to consider an array of emergencies. By definition, these are urgent situations, some of which are so far out of the norm that you are likely to dismiss them as silly. Categorize them: 1 – for moderate emergencies (in our case, a part of a critical system going down) to 5 – a total loss (a fire, a theft or widespread sabotage).
Each CBFO then needs a written playbook for each level of emergency and that playbook must include:
1. Names and complete contact information of everyone on the respective CBFO’s team. That means lake home phone numbers, parents’ and in-laws’ numbers, kids’ cell phone numbers.
2. Insurance agents’ information, both your company’s as well as the client’s.
3. Budget guidelines. How much is the CBFO authorized to spend is subjective at best, but there should be a limit specified nonetheless.
4. Crisis communicators: People trained in disseminating the correct information in a timely, honest and ethical manner to the appropriate parties. There is no justification for an event, serious as it may be, to allow a company’s reputation to be put in question due to miscommunication.
5. A written action plan detailing tasks to be taken and by whom in the most conceivable emergencies such as fire and theft. There are inconceivable emergencies as well, but even with these, having a general action plan will be beneficial.
6. Finally, this plan needs to be communicated to the client and updated with reasonable frequency to be truly effective. The client needs to know that the point person in an emergency will not be you, the CEO, but rather the CBFO. It's a good idea to introduce your CBFOs to your clients.
You will still get the urgent call every now and then and you will, no doubt, be involved depending on the emergency.
But your client’s knowing – and your knowing – that a CBFO is prepared to respond will do multitudes for all parties’ peace of mind, not to mention keeping you free to do what you do best: Be the CEO.
[contact] Stephen McFarland is CEO of ORBIT Systems Inc. in Eagan, which provides information technology services to client companies: 651.675.1823; in**@****ts.net; www.orbits.net
