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.
bi***@***pf.com
Who’s in and who’s not was on the agenda at the CEO Roundtable board of directors meeting in March. The board, including Ruth Lane of AllOut Marketing Inc. in Wayzata, meets every other month to consider nominations for inclusion in six CEO groups. The roundtables themselves meet monthly around the Twin Cities to discuss business problems and gain insight from peers.
“It does help to be in a group of peers. You can see a wave,” Lane says. “Being a business owner is lonely, and you find out that everybody else is in the same boat.”
Inductees must be the president or CEO of a company with $3 million or more in annual revenue, and planning for growth (no lifestyle companies need apply). Smaller companies are considered if they have an aggressive growth plan. It costs $1,500 a year to belong, plus a $500 initiation fee. That’s less than some peer CEO groups because CEO Roundtable trains its own facilitators from membership.
Try to make it to: CEO Roundtable hosts quarterly programs, most recently a panel discussion on “worst-case scenarios.” The next one is Oct. 2.
Contact Susan Tucker, 612.990.2566, www.ceo-roundtable.org
“How many of you have been awake, pacing the floor, worrying about your business? Leadership is a lonesome road,” said Dorothy Light, keynote speaker at the annual awards gala April 10 for the National Association of Women Business Owners. “It’s lonely and exhausting, but events like this are exhilarating.”
She spoke to a 500-plus crowd of women business owners who received a pile of awards. Light is a professional speaker and author of Into the Boardroom, which shows women how to get on the boards of directors of corporations.
Light outlined three essential components of leadership: Complexity, commitment and compassion. Business owners must make decisions in an increasingly complex world, Light said. “The complexities lead us to think what’s the worst case, what’s the best case, and then what are we going to do?”
Her best example of commitment is Lance Armstrong, the Tour de France winner who beat cancer. “When his doctors said he was very ill, he got new doctors,” Light said. “It’s that extra push. It’s carrying more than others think is wise, risking more than others think is safe.”
As for compassion, “Your emotion shows to everybody,” Light said. “If you have that you will stimulate others. Leadership is about loving other people.”
Try to make it to: The National Association of Women Business Owners hosts monthly educational meetings: 952.929.7921; in**@******mn.org; www.nawbo-mn.org
Want to take a trip, get a new car, or even upgrade your wardrobe? Phil Domek of Itex Corp. in Minneapolis has a deal for you. He operates the local franchise of a national trading and bartering firm that matches one company’s product or service with another one’s needs, not necessarily directly.
A company that offers something to trade gains credits that can be used toward another good or service on Domex’s exchange. He’s found takers for a fishing boat, charter flights, a Ford Thunderbird, jewelry, and nearly anything else you can think of. Domex was one of many making the rounds at the UpSwing Business Expo April 22.
Sheila Ronning’s UpSwing Business Expo returned to the Prom meeting and conference center in Oakdale for the first time since 1999. Ronning, whose Minneapolis company developed and runs the small-business mini-trade shows, says the space is huge and she was worried about filling it, but she was happy with 120 exhibitors. They pay $175 to $300 for space at the shows, which run from 5 to 7:30 p.m.
Ronning headed east to solidify her presence in the St. Paul side of the metro area, and to stave off would-be competitors. She’s begun a new practice this year, the donation of space at each show to a not-for-profit company, as a way to give back.
Warning: Everyone says the I-94 traffic between Minneapolis and St. Paul is unbearable at rush hour, and they’re right.
Try to make it to: The next UpSwing Business Expo is Sept. 17. Contact Sheila Ronning, 612.818.3344; sr******@*********po.com; www.upswingexpo.com
