How & What Growth-stage CEOs Are Ending 2011 & Planning for 2012

Below is the hyperlink to take the Q4 CEO peers speed-survey, exclusively for growth-stage CEOs. This survey focuses on “How & What Growth-stage CEOs are Ending 2011 & Planning for 2012″

This shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes of a busy CEO’s time–

We here at BSG Team Ventures periodically take the temperature of the markets we serve. The survey is no more than 15 questions, most simple multiple-choice.

These surveys are created and compiled by BSG Team Ventures as a courtesy to our executive ecosystem with the belief that knowledge is power. Aggregated peer-provided knowledge is “actionable power.”

To compare how you’re feeling a year later with the survey results from Q4 2010, titled “CEOs Plan for 2011”, go to http://www.bostonsearchgroup.com/blog/q4-2010-ceo-survey-of-growth-stage-companies/

We make an effort to survey only those who fit the category (in this case, sitting CEOs or board member/founders of technology/science-driven growth-stage companies). [Note, if you don't fit the aforementioned description, please refrain from responding.]

Feel free to forward to the qualified CEOs in your sphere of influence. The more data generated, the more accurate the trend lines.

All responses are anonymous due to the web-based survey technology employed.

We will forward the survey results within the next two weeks to the email address on file. Please let us know if there is another email address you wish us to send the results to as well.

TOPIC: How & What Growth-stage CEOs Are Planning for 2011

Below is the hyperlink to take the Q4 CEO peers speed-survey, exclusively for growth-stage CEOs.  This survey focuses on “How & What Growth-stage CEOs are Planning for 2011″

This shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes of a busy CEO’s time–

We here at BSG Team Ventures periodically take the temperature of the markets we serve. The survey is no more than 15 questions, most simple multiple-choice.

These surveys are created and compiled by BSG Team Ventures as a courtesy to our executive ecosystem with the belief that knowledge is power.  Aggregated peer-provided knowledge is “actionable power.”

For the survey results from Q2 2010, titled “Impact of Economy & Renewed Growth Planning”, go to http://www.bostonsearchgroup.com/blog/ceo-survey-results-q2-2010-%E2%80%93-impact-of-economy-renewed-growth/

We make an effort to survey only those who fit the category (in this case, sitting CEOs or board member/founders of technology/science-driven growth-stage companies). [Note, if you don't fit the aforementioned description, please refrain from responding.]

Feel free to forward to the qualified CEOs in your sphere of influence. The more data generated, the more accurate the trend lines.

All responses are anonymous due to the web-based survey technology employed.

We will forward the survey results within the next two weeks to the email address on file. Please let us know if there is another email address you wish us to send the results to as well.

Registration is Now Open

4th Annual Benefit

VCs vs. Entrepreneurs – Davis Cup Challenge

Thursday, September 23, 2010
Longwood Grass Courts  /  2:00 – 7:30pm

Welcome Back!  BSG Team Ventures is proud to once again host the 4th Annual  Benefit: VC vs.  Entrepreneur Tennis Tournament – Davis Cup Challenge, and we are thrilled to have you join us.

The VC/Entrepreneur tennis community has been growing every year so please register now so we can build the teams early.

Entry is by donation of $175.00.  Please click here to register!

For questions, please email Cristina Vieira Abramson at cvieira@bsgtv.com or call 617.784.4987

Agenda Overview

VCs vs. Entrepreneurs - Thursday, September 23, 2010

Format - Round Robin, Doubles

Time - 2:00 – 7:30pm (includes tournament, finals, cocktails, dinner and networking)

Location – Longwood Cricket Club, Chestnut Hill, MA

REGISTER

ETS IN THE NEWS

Message from the President

Positioning Educational Assessment for the 21st Century

What Does It Mean to be an Educational Measurement Organization in the 21st Century?

POSITION OVERVIEW

This position is a mission-critical role to lead all business development activities for ETS, including the identification and execution of mergers, alliances, joint ventures, and acquisitions for the enterprise. Specifically, this Chief of Enterprise Growth (CEG) will oversee research and analysis of business opportunities; assess potential partners and acquisition targets; develop new strategic alliances, which might also lead to merger or acquisition; and work with the R&D division to evaluate and implement opportunities for asset-based spinoffs.

THE ORGANIZATION

Educational Testing Service (ETS) is a world leader in educational assessment, with more than 50 years’ experience in promoting effective teaching and learning. With revenues approaching $1B and a staff of 2,600 professionals—including educators, researchers, psychometricians, statisticians, and policy specialists—the organization is dedicated to serving individuals, educators, businesses, and government bodies around the world.

Founded in 1947, ETS develops, administers and scores more than 50 million tests annually — including the TOEFL® and TOEIC® tests, the GRE® General and Subject Tests and The Praxis Series™ assessments — in more than 180 countries, and at over 9,000 locations worldwide.

THE CHALLENGE

In conjunction with the SVP of Business Innovation and Growth and in partnership with R&D and business unit heads, the Chief of Enterprise Growth will lead a team responsible for licensing agreements, contract negotiations, policies and program development, and all other necessary activities related to business innovation and growth.

Specifically, this individual will—

• Lead all business development activities to identify, negotiate and effect partnerships, mergers and acquisitions
• Drive revenue growth through the Business Innovation function
• Negotiate and close strategic relationships from beginning to conclusion
• Build and manage a high quality team of business development professionals capable of carrying out needed initiatives
• Research, source and negotiate strategic partnerships to support business development initiatives
• Establish business development policies and procedures and align them with company objectives
• Provide support for the successful integration and execution of projects
• Oversee strategic data and provide recommendations for expansion and growth based on findings

Conduct, synthesizes and present macro and micro research in support of strategic initiatives

THE CAREER OPPORTUNITY

To an experienced business developer with solid M&A experience, this opportunity offers several attractive features

• The opportunity to work for an industry leader in a strategically vital role
• The opportunity to work broadly in business development (not just in strategic partnership or acquisitions), and to develop skills that open future career paths
• The opportunity to work with really smart people
• The opportunity to evaluate and possibly implement technology transfer out of this IP-rich organization

The opportunity to work at the attractive ETS campus in the culturally diverse city of Princeton, NJ

THE IDEAL CANDIDATE

The ideal candidate has worked in a variety of business development roles that align with the business objectives above. Ideal would be an individual with (1) solid knowledge of the education industry, (2) both high-level strategic alliance and M&A experience, and (3) a some background in the process and financing of technology transfer.

This person currently might be working in a senior business development role for an educational technology, services, or publishing company, or as an investor/advisor in private equity or venture capital, investment banking, or consulting. He or she has “done deals”–of all types–and has both a keen strategic vision and an eye for details. In addition (and this is critical), this executive knows how to work with a research-driven organization such as ETS.

Specifically, this individual will have experience in the following domains–

• Transactions that result in major partnerships and mergers that help the enterprise grow according to its plans and leadership direction, both domestic and international
• A network of close-working relationships with senior-level executives of potential partner companies
• Strategic and analytical support for key business development decisions and opportunities
• Preparation and presentation of timely and relevant reporting and presentations for the senior management team regarding initiatives, progress, and challenges faced by the business development team
• Leading deal teams and negotiating transactions
• Serving as expert advisor to senior management regarding implementation of Business Innovation and Growth procedures, standards and best practices
• Exposure to the process of commercializing intellectual property through the formation of spinoffs and joint ventures
• In this regard, experience in markets outside of current ETS scope, including consumer and corporate markets
• Specific experience in the global marketplace

An MBA and/or advanced degree is desired.

The role also calls for a range of personal attributes– flexibility and adaptability; a great work ethic; strong leadership skills; an ability to develop and implement strategic plans; an ability to analyze and evaluate one’s own (and other’s) performance and to develop plans to improve performance; excellent presentation skills; willingness to take responsibility for both success and failure; a thick skin; self-confidence; a positive attitude about self, company, marketplace; and a strong desire for success.

COMPENSATION

Compensation will include salary and bonus in line with the individual’s experience.

TRAVEL

Travel may be as much as 30 percent initially in addition to any commuting. Some of this will be international.

CONTACT

Resume should be sent as a Word document to Ralph Protsik, Managing Director, BSG Team Ventures/Boston Search Group, ralph@bsgtv.com, and also posted on the BSG website, www.bsgtv.com.

Indian Students Wield Tests for College Spots

India has one of the world’s youngest populations, yet as the middle class has steadily grown, so has the cutthroat competition for the limited slots in the country’s system of higher education. High school seniors must pass national board exams to graduate from high school. But those same board exams also serve as the rough equivalent of SATs for students applying to most programs in many universities…more»

Student Loan Bill Scorecard

A look at who fared well — and who didn’t — in legislation to overhaul the student loan programs…more»

Students playing catch-up as they hit college

Each year, tens of thousands of Texas students land in this academic purgatory – no longer in high school but not ready for college. About 40 percent of recent high school graduates in the state’s public universities and colleges need at least one remedial class. Statistics show those students take longer to earn a college degree, if they do at all…more»

FCC Broadband Plan Pushes Ambitious Agenda for U.S. Education

After almost a year of development that included holding 36 public workshops in person and online and reading through 23,000 public comments, the Federal Communications Commission has released its national broadband plan with a formal report to Congress. Calling high-speed Internet access “indispensable for the 21st century, the foundation for our economy, the foundation for our democracy in the digital age,” FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski declared the plan “ambitious but achievable”…more»

The Great Charter Debate: Part Four

This is part four of a debate between myself and a colleague who believes I have been too critical of charter schools. In Part One, he shared his perspective on the value of charter schools. I responded with my own views on the limitations of charters as a force for reform, and this week he offered his rebuttal to that. Here is my response to that one, Part Four of the great charter debate…more»

Mobile Learning Makes Its Mark on K-12

Mobile devices such as smartphones and iPods, still seen as nuisances or contraband by many schools, are now viewed by an increasing number of teachers and administrators as cost-effective tools to build and sustain 1-to-1 computing programs. But while the use of mobile devices for learning is sparking a shift in the ed-tech landscape, its impact on student achievement is unclear…more»

Educators Struggle to Design Mobile-Learning Content

Developing meaningful lessons that fit the constraints of small-screen devices is a challenge. How can educators (and publishers) find or develop meaningful, standards-based lessons that fit the visual and data constraints of a small-screen device?…more»

In Texas Curriculum Fight, Identity Politics Leans Right

In the fight over curriculum, conservatives in Texas have more in common with liberals than they think. In reality, this controversy is the latest version of a debate that reaches back many decades and is perhaps essential in a heterogeneous democracy whose identity has long been in flux…more»

Historians speak out against proposed Texas textbook changes
Historians criticized proposed revisions to the Texas social studies curriculum Tuesday, saying that many of the changes are historically inaccurate and that they would affect textbooks and classrooms far beyond the state’s borders…more»

A Private College Goes For-Profit
Dana is sold a year after another Lutheran institution was sold. But new owners plan to keep tenure and the traditional, residential mission…more»

One Classroom, From Sea to Shining Sea

No one in either party today has the courage to say it, but what made sense for a sparsely settled continent at the dawn of the Republic is ill suited to the needs of a 21st-century nation competing in a global economy. Our lack of a national curriculum, national teacher training standards and federal financial support to attract smart young people to the teaching profession all contribute mightily to the mediocre-to-poor performance of American students, year in and year out, on international education assessments. So does a financing system that relies heavily on local property taxes and fails to guarantee students in, say, Kansas City the same level of schooling as students in more affluent communities…more»

In Hard Times, Lured Into Trade School and Debt

Commercial trade schools are under fire because they are attracting more students and Pell grants. At institutions that train students for careers in areas like health care, computers and food service, enrollments are soaring as people anxious about weak job prospects borrow aggressively to pay tuition that can exceed $30,000 a year…more»

CCA Response

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FCC announces Children’s Agenda for broadband

The FCC has announced the creation of the FCC’s “Children’s Agenda for Digital Opportunity,” which will build on the four pillars of digital access, digital literacy, digital citizenship, and digital safety. The Children’s Agenda is part of the National Broadband Plan to be released this week…more»

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Panel Proposes Single Standard for All Schools

A panel of educators convened by the nation’s governors and state school superintendents proposed a uniform set of academic standards on Wednesday, laying out their vision for what all the nation’s public school children should learn in math and English, year by year, from kindergarten to high school graduation…more»

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False Fronts? Behind Higher Education’s Voluntary Accountability Systems

A new report from Education Sector and the American Enterprise Institute examines current voluntary accountability systems—the University and College Accountability Network (U-CAN) and the Voluntary System of Accountability (VSA)—and argues that these systems are not measuring up…more»

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Cultivating Failure

Alice Waters’s Chez Panisse is much more than a restaurant. It is a standard-bearer for correct moral values, and now it will dictate our kids’ education. Do we really want this?…more»

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Will Millennials become the chump generation?

A study of the 50 million Millennials 18 and over by the Pew Research Center found some surprising and some not-so-surprising developments. Surprising (to me): Almost two-fifths of Millennials have tattoos, up from a third among Gen Xers and from a seventh (15 percent) among boomers. Not surprising: Millennials are the first truly digital generation. Three-quarters have created a profile on Facebook or some other social networking site. Only half of Gen Xers and 30 percent of boomers have done so. A fifth of Millennials have posted videos of themselves online, far more than Gen Xers (6 percent) or boomers (2 percent)…more»

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School Districts Lay Foundation for Mobile Devices

More districts are allowing students to bring their own notebooks, iPhones or other computing tools to school and connect them to the district network…more»

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New Battleground for Publishers

With demand for online assessment and e-tutoring tools growing, good textbooks alone are no longer enough to win over professors…more»

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Plan to stem dropout rate stirs controversy

President Obama is proposing $900M to turn around the nation’s worst performing schools—but to get the money, districts would have to agree to dramatic changes that have some educators concerned…more»

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Feds release new national ed-tech plan

The plan, called “Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology,” calls for engaging and empowering learning experiences for all students; standards and assessments that measure key 21st-century skills and expertise; a shift to a model of “connected teaching,” in which teams of interconnected educators replace solo classroom practitioners; always-on connectivity that is available to students and teachers both inside and outside of school; and a rethinking of basic assumptions, such as seat time, that limit schools’ ability to innovate…more»

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Race to the Top finalists announced

The U.S. Department of Education (ED) has named 16 finalists in the first round of its Race to the Top competition, which will deliver $4.35 billion in school reform grants. The winners will be chosen in April…more»

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Let’s give children the ’store of human knowledge

In virtually every Western society, education is in trouble. Unfortunately, however, policymakers tend to obsess only about the symptoms of the problem – unsatisfactory standards in core subjects, growth of a cohort of poorly schooled underachievers or erosion of classroom discipline – and not the cause…more»

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Four Myths About the Online Education Experience

U.S. News University Directory in collaboration with E-learning insiders clear up four common myths about the online learning experience and how online classes are perceived. …more»

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Obama Calls for Major Change in Education Law

The Obama administration is seeking changes to the Bush-era No Child Left Behind law and proposing to eliminate provisions that have labeled one in three schools as failing…more»

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Lowering Student Loan Default Rates

In a new Education Sector report, “Lowering Student Loan Default Rates: What One Consortium of Historically Black Institutions Did to Succeed,” co-authors Erin Dillon and Robin V. Smiles analyze why students default on their college loans and argue institutions are vital to lowering student loan default rates…more»

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Princeton students, profs give Kindle mixed grades

Princeton University has released findings from its semester-long pilot of Amazon.com’s Kindle DX electronic reader, and the results appear mixed…Students and faculty who were surveyed after the pilot program ended said they appreciated the portability of the Kindle DX, and the fact that it greatly reduced the printing and photocopying they did for their courses. But they said they missed the ability to highlight text directly, take notes, and flip back and forth through pages of their textbook easily…more»

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6 Months, $90,000 and (Maybe) a Great Idea

The entrepreneur-in-residence model has gained prominence as a calculated way for a venture capital firm to nurture a successful company into being and to increase the odds of solid returns…more»

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The ‘Prior Learning’ Edge

An examination of the educational records of more than 62,000 adult undergraduates at 48 colleges finds that students who had sought and been awarded academic credit by their institutions for “prior learning” earned in the military, corporate training and other non-classroom settings were more than twice as likely to graduate, and to persist even if they did not graduate, than were their peers who had not earned such credit…more»

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Prison Students Illustrate the Shortcomings of Public Schools

Today more than 100,000 juveniles are incarcerated around the country. Schools for prisoners are obviously the extreme of the alternative school spectrum. In New York City incarcerated youth make up just a fraction of the 70,000 students in alternative setting. Nonetheless, these schools illustrate the many ways that traditional public schools cannot possibly meet the diverse needs of all American students…more»

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Experts Lay Out Vision for Future Assessments

Led by Stanford University professor Linda Darling-Hammond, a panel of experts outlined a comprehensive system that includes summative and formative tests of higher-order thinking skills, reflecting a marketplace that they say places increasing value on such skills…more»

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Free Online Courses Don’t Hurt Paid Enrollment

Offering some online courses for free does not hurt paid enrollments, according to a recent study…more»

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Race to the Top?: Part III

True education reform involves two fundamental changes in our public education system. The first requires a structural shift in the areas that research has shown to actually improve education, such as teacher quality, class size, and available resources…The second demands a process shift in education, namely, changing the curricula that determine what and how teachers teach…more»

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The Web Way to Learn a Language

With the growth of broadband connectivity and social networks, companies have introduced a wide range of internet-based language learning products, both free and fee-based, that allow students to interact in real time with instructors in other countries, gain access to their lesson plans wherever they are in the world, and communicate with like-minded virtual pen pals who are also trying to learn the same language, reports the New York Times…more»

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6 Emerging Technologies That Will Impact College Campuses

As students increasingly learn on the go, they demand that their colleges and universities stay up to date on the latest technology. That’s where the 2010 Horizon Report comes in…more»

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Worldwide eLearning Market Surges to $27.1 Billion in 2009

The global market for eLearning reached US$27.1 billion in 2009 according to a new report by Ambient Insight called, “The Worldwide Market for Self-paced eLearning Products and Services: 2009-2014 Forecast and Analysis.” The demand is growing by a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.8% and revenues will reach $49.6 billion by 2014…more»

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Are You Better Off Than Your Parents Were

A new report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development looks at various indicators of intergenerational social mobility, which refers to the “relationship between the socioeconomic status of parents and the status their children will attain as adults.” It appears that the United States has less intergenerational social mobility than many other industrialized countries…more»

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For-Profit Colleges Change Higher Education’s Landscape

For-profit universities now educate about 7 percent of the nation’s roughly 19 million students who enroll at degree-granting institutions each fall. And the proportion rises to 10 percent, or 2.6 million, if you count students who enroll year round…more»

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Divided Attention

Students’ minds have been wandering since the dawn of education. But until recently—so the worry goes—students at least knew when they had checked out. A student today who moves his attention rapid-fire from text-messaging to the lecture to Facebook to note-taking and back again may walk away from the class feeling buzzed and alert, with a sense that he has absorbed much more of the lesson than he actually has…more»

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Tuition-Free University Gains a Following

A year since its formation, the online University of the People has attracted several hundred students, a team of top academic advisers, and growing support worldwide…more»

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Holding Colleges Accountable: Is Success Measurable?

Time magazine education reporter Gilbert Cruz sits down with Policy Director Kevin Carey to discuss why parents—and public officials—should demand more accountability from colleges…more»

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If Your Kids Are Awake, They’re Probably Online

The average young American now spends practically every waking minute — except for the time in school — using a smart phone, computer, television or other electronic device, according to a new study from the Kaiser Family Foundation…more»

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America’s K-12 Education Strategy

Technology is addressing the dysfunctions in education…more»

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Annual Poll of Freshmen Shows Effect of Recession

The recession hit this year’s college freshmen hard, affecting how they chose a school as well as their ability to pay for it, according to an annual nationwide survey released Thursday…more»

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Apple’s iPad: What does it offer for e-Learning?

The Apple iPad offers an interesting combination of features and options that make it worth considering for possible mobile learning applications. But there are drawbacks to the device as well. Here’s how the iPad may (or may not) be able to fit into your plans…more»

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Has Google developed the next wave of online education?

Combining text, audio, and video chat with features like drag-and-drop documents and interactive polls, Google Wave’s Web 2.0 features could add unprecedented depth to student interaction, many educators and campus decision makers say. But some IT officials remain skeptical…more»

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As School Exit Tests Prove Tough, States Ease Standards

On the way to creating a statewide exit test for graduation, many states have softened standards, delayed the requirement or added alternative paths to a high school diploma…more»

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Whiteboards’ Impact on Teaching Seen as Uneven

The large, computerized screens—which allow Internet access, video and audio presentations, digital assessments using remote clickers, and recorded lessons for replaying later—are seen by proponents as an investment in modernizing classrooms to meet the needs of the digital generation. But while the boards have gained a loyal following among even old-school teachers, at a cost of up to $5,000 a classroom they have also drawn significant criticism as being nothing more than an expensive update on an age-old teaching tool…more»

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.Scholars Test Emotion-Sensitive Tutoring Software

‘Intelligent’ Systems Respond to Students’ Cues…more»

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In India, a Student-Recruiting Industry Ups the Ante for U.S. Colleges

India has become a mass market for a different kind of student: undergraduates. They are far less informed than older students about where to study. And while the United States remains a top choice, they are more likely to consider places like Canada, Australia, Britain—even Singapore—for their degrees…more»

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Schools Face Uphill Challenge to Improve

Despite decades of reform attempts and billions of dollars of investment, the American education system badly “needs improvement,” reports CBS News Correspondent Russ Mitchell…more»

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Race to the Middle? How to make a little education reform money go a long way.

The big education story these days is the state competition for some $4.35 billion in Race to the Top grants to be passed out by Education Secretary Arne Duncan. President Obama said this week he’ll seek an additional $1.35 billion for the program for next year, but more important than the amount is whether Mr. Duncan really wants to race to the top, or just the mediocre middle…more»

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A Study Offers a Caution on Obama’s Community College Pitch

In his State of the Union address President Obama reiterated his longstanding support for community colleges, calling them “a career pathway to the children of so many working families.” A new study out this month, however, suggests that community colleges could take a cue from for-profit, or career, colleges. The Educational Policy Institute, a research group in Virginia Beach, Va., based its study on a federal data on nearly 7,000 higher education institutions, 41 percent of which were career colleges, as well as its own surveys…more»

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Education Technology is Not About Gadgetry

The promising use of technology in education is not about creating gimmicky video games or virtual worlds, but about using software and hardware to rethink the business of teaching…more»

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A Smarter Path to a “Race to the Top” in Education Reform

RTTT is based on the theory that incentives and guidelines provided by the DOE can spur effective education reforms by state governments and school districts. But past experience with No Child Left Behind (NCLB) shows that strengthening federal control may result in a number of unintended consequences…more»

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Differentiate, Don’t Standardize

Simply stating what students must know and be able to do is not enough to ensure the desired outcomes. When standardization is taken to mean universalization, the result may well be lower achievement for many students…more»

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New Report Profiles Schools With Expanded Time As National Leaders Call For More Time In School

A new report by the National Center on Time & Learning has found that a growing number of U.S. schools have broken from the traditional school calendar and expanded learning time to improve educational outcomes.  The report is based on a database developed by the National Center on Time & Learning and is the first effort to catalogue schools operating with days substantially longer than the six-hour norm and in many cases a calendar that exceeds the standard 180 day school year…more»

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eSN Special Report: Beyond virtual schools

These days, virtual education can be more than a home-schooled child sitting alone in front of a computer. Purveyors of online-education products are creating various delivery methods to suit school districts, students, teachers, and parents with differing needs, requirements, and budgetary constraints…more»

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That Old College Lie

Pell grants for higher education seemed such a good idea in the 1980s. But a careful look at who benefits from them today raises disturbing issues…more»

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During a moment in recruiting history when most executive search professionals are suffering, our practice in for-profit education has been thriving. Part of the reason is what I call ” board fatigue”–PE or VC partners and other board members who’ve grown impatient with the CEO of a portfolio company. In some cases their dissatisfaction is known to the CEO; in others, for various reasons (such as accreditation issues in the postsecondary education market), the board has chosen to conceal its desire for change, even from the sitting CEO.

The call to me typically begins, “We’re thinking of replacing a CEO. But we need this to be done in confidence. Can you do it and still be effective?” The answer, of course, is, “Yes, but first give me one good reason why you don’t sit down with your CEO and discuss why the change is needed.”

Answers vary, but the most common is, “We don’t want to lose momentum or cause uncertainly within the company,” i.e., “We’re afraid that news the CEO is being replaced might affect morale and revenues.”

This may be true, of course, but before embarking on a sub rosa search for a replacement, consider these issues–

•    Are you sure the situation cannot be resolved without the CEO being deposed? Have you tried everything to turn him/her around? Is the problem focused on a few concerns–work ethic, slow decision making, failure to address a single overriding market challenge, etc.–or is it overall leadership?

•    Are there intermediate steps you might take to at least put the CEO on notice? “Probation”? Come to Jesus? Sabbatical? Revisiting compensation?

•    Could the problem be resolved by bringing in the right support, e.g., a COO or new CFO?

•   Could the CEO be moved into a different to position, allowing you to bring someone in above him/her? Would your CEO accept demotion to President and COO, for example? Could the CEO be moved into a Chairman role?

•    How can you present the decision to replace in such a way that the CEO sees the wisdom in your decision? Obviously the CEO has a financial stake in the company’s success. Might it be that he or she will be relieved? See this as a win-win?

•    How valuable could the CEO be in the process to find the replacement? Do you want him/her to play an active role, and would s/he be effective in this role, if properly motivated?

•    What are the risks if word gets back that a search is being conducted for a new CEO?

•    What are the risks that a disgruntled CEO could sabotage the search process? Agree to participate in interviewing, then blow candidates out of the water?

•    What effect will conducting the search in confidence have on the overall quantity and quality of candidates? On your ability to secure the best among these?

•    How and when do you expect to inform the CEO what’s going on?

•    What role will the departed CEO have in the transition process once the new CEO is named?

click here for more

If your decision remains to conduct the search sub rosa, your first line of attack should be internal. Do you or others on the board already know the right replacement? Could that replacement be the COO or someone else within the company? Someone from another portfolio company? Someone you interviewed for another position, or in a previous CEO search? Someone from a major competitor whom you have reason to believe could be lured away? The fewer the people who know of the replacement process, the better.

If you engage a search firm, make sure you are comfortable that they are comfortable–and have experience with this type of search. Have them share their stories of similar assignments: the scenarios, the specific challenges, the process, the outcomes. Unless they are truly confident they can succeed with “one hand tied behind their backs,” they won’t. Also make sure they use a Confidentiality Agreement with all prospective candidates, and that, in addition, they enforce confidentiality with candidates throughout the process through constant reminders. Some candidates love to brag–or just back-door reference you and the company.

And keep asking yourself, is now the time to sit down with your CEO?

So how hard is it for an executive search firm to conduct a quiet search? Not so, if they’ve done it before. Being presented an opportunity in the abstract–without knowing the “who”–can be enticing to a candidate. The idea of replacing a sitting CEO can also be enticing. The key to how enticing can depend on how much latitude the recruiter has in profiling your company. If it’s “an industry leader in LED technology,” then the appeal may be high…but the exposure equally high. If it’s “a profitable, private equity-backed company with EBITDAs > 20% and a market cap of $1B,” then the appeal may be equally high but without the downside of exposure. A good recruiter knows how to set the hook without naming the fly.

Where it can and does affect the recruiter’s performance is in sourcing others for leads. You no doubt know from your own experience that recruiters are on a constant hunt for referrals. Now think about the reasons you do and don’t respond. If I called or emailed you that I was looking for Eric Schmidt’s replacement at Google, you might just take time to reply. If instead my message was, “Doing this search. Can’t tell you much other than it’s a CEO position in the K-12 curricular market,” you might well not. More than half of the executive placements we make come from such referrals. Starve the lead process, and you starve the search.

Willingness to relocate the candidate can also be a factor. The wider the geography of the search–the more candidates from outside your region–the less likely is it that word will circulate back to your CEO or to others in the company, and the more latitude your recruiter has.

Give serious thought to how and where you intend to interview prospects, and to how many you expect to interview. It may be relatively easy to bring candidates into your office, and to the offices of others on the search committee. At some point, however, they may want to “smell the paint”–meet others in the company, see the offices, gauge the culture (and the commute). This may be the point of no return. Is now the time to reveal?

In the best of all possible worlds, your CEO will be your biggest and most powerful advocate for change. He or she may be the critical factor in a candidate’s decision to accept an offer. The deposed but relatively content CEO can also be instrumental in the transition process. Be thinking about what you can do to secure the CEO’s cooperation. Extra equity? The right spin on how the replacement is announced? Promise to plug into the right future portfolio company?

Confidentiality can be a problem. But it does not have to be–if you think through the alternatives, work hard to get the CEO’s buy-in, and work with a search firm that has the right expertise.

Below is the hyperlink to our latest CEO peers “speed-survey,” exclusively for growth-stage CEOs.  Topic– “Preparing for Recovery?”

http://surveys.polldaddy.com/s/D3642F14267CCC14/

We at BSG Team Ventures periodically take the temperature of the markets we serve. This speed survey is no more than 10 questions, simple multiple-choice.

Knowledge is power.  Aggregated peer-provided knowledge is “actionable power.”

We make an effort to survey only those who fit the category (in this case, sitting CEOs or board member/founders of technology/science-driven growth-stage companies). [Note, if you don't fit the aforementioned description, please refrain from responding.]

Feel free to forward to the qualified CEOs in your sphere of influence.  The more data generated, the more accurate the trend lines.

All responses are anonymous due to the web-based survey technology employed.

We will forward the survey results within the next two weeks to the email address on file.  Please let us know if there is another email address you wish us to send the results to as well.

INmobile.org released their first collective intelligence research paper today, titled “Harnessing Collective Wisdom to Forecast the Near Future of Mobility.”

INmobile.org – Harnessing Collective Wisdom to Forecast the Near Future of Mobility Aug 2009

The Idea in Brief

A problem presents an opportunity: Periods of economic slowdown such as the one we are currently operating within offers us the unique and incredibly valuable opportunity to reflect upon past periods of expansion and prepare strategically about the upcoming period of recovery and growth.�This practice should be universal but often is not and too often the methodologies used are flawed, outdated, or both. The remarkable opportunity for assessment and planning may in part be unintentionally squandered when companies continue to rely upon the same perspectives and methodologies that have disappointed in the past regardless of where they are in the economic cycle.Previous techniques to forecast vary historically based upon cost and theory.Some rely upon internal perspectives, outside or analyst input, and market data.Often they range greatly in their level of sophistication, objectivity, and conjecture.While many remain valuable, they are perhaps too often relied upon.Here we begin to offer a more innovate and arguably more accurate means to acquire that knowledge.It is the tool of collective intelligence.

The idea of collective intelligence: Collective intelligence can perhaps be best understood as the intelligence which results�from the competitive collaboration of a group of individuals. Published in 2004, The Wisdom of Crowds � Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations by James Surowiecki argues that the aggregations of information in groups results in decisions that are better than those which could have been made by any single member of the group. In Surowiecki�s book, he argues that under the right circumstances, groups are remarkably intelligent and often smarter than the smartest individuals within them. When faced with a cognition problem such as, Who will win?, the idea of posing it to 100 experts was suggested as a collective �wisdom of the smart crowds exercise.As we currently seek to gain more informative and credible insights into the next five years of mobile technology, we should begin to take hold of this incredibly useful and adept tool called collective intelligence and apply it to the task.

The power of INmobile.org: INmobile.org is a private, global community of senior executives focused on mobility and convergence.This vital community of global wireless industry leaders enjoys both on-line and in-person events. Its private forum is fueled by a genuine and generous exchange of ideas, informed observations, timely information, empirical knowledge, and analysis.

The opportunity taken:In order to harness the collective intelligence and predictive abilities of INmobile.org, we interviewed one hundred senior executives from within this on-line community.We independently asked these executives the identical question during a one on one conversation and under similar circumstances.No previous conversations or predictions were referred to during these interviews in order to avoid the potential problem of group think.Based upon this methodology, it is our expectation that the whole of the INmobile.org community represented by these one hundred executives will show itself to be significantly more than the sum of its many parts.

The question:We posed the question, What industries will be most affected by the growth of wireless technology over the next five years? This question was suggested during the INmobile.org member reception held on March 31^st at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas, NV.�Over 200 senior executives attended the private reception where the concept of �capturing the collective intelligence� of INmobile.org was initially discussed.

The executives who answered:�The identification and selection of the 100 interviewees was done in two stages.The initial selection targeted fifty senior executives to represent the vital components of the mobile ecosystem with the broadest and most relevant perspectives for this specific question.These included mobile carriers, handset OEMs, OS vendors, and mobility focused venture capital and private equity.A call to action was then sent out to the INmobile.org membership requesting additional participants in this research project. Those additional participants provided increased geographical reach and diverse areas of mobility.Telephone interviews were conducted from April to June of 2009 and were conducted by either Matthew Corbett or Mark Newhall.

The results:Consensus predicts industries most likely affected by mobility because the predictive likelihood is heightened if and when a majority of experts independently think the same industry will be affected. These findings have been aggregated and documented in the report.

For more imformation, contact Matthew Corbett at mcorbett@bsgtv.com or at 1-617-266-4333 x241.

www.bsgtv.com

www.inmobile.org

A few months back in the New Yorker Magazine (May, 2009, http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/05/11/090511fa_fact_gladwell ), Malcolm Gladwell penned a really interesting article on the subject of how underdogs-when they change the rules of the game-can beat stronger, bigger rivals. This is a story told many times over, starting with the Biblical story of David beating Goliath, which Gladwell uses in his article as the first of two fulcrums to work the concept out. The other fulcrum he uses is a girls basketball team on the West Coast that had as its coach a successful entrepreneur, Vivek Ranadivé, accustomed to innovating the rulebook to a start-up’s advantage as founder, Chairman and CEO of TIBCO Software, $1+B enterprise value publicly traded start-up success.

In the case of Gladwell’s article, the girls basketball coach was not given any special “talent” as an asset to build around. In fact, kids’ teams at younger ages are most often randomly assembled, with no “draft picking” involved. So, Randivé had to play with the hand he was dealt. He ended up with no tall girls, nor good shooters, just moldable clay, where a winning strategy would have to prevail over a special selection of talent.

In professional sports as well as business, however, coaches/CEOs get to pick their teams. And for business, there is no more crucial time to think about executive team-building than now. According to most analyst reports, markets are preparing for growth. The strongest competitors in each industry were the first to streamline operations at the beginning of the downturn and make sure their financial houses were in order. Now these leaner and meaner companies are looking to leapfrog their competition as recovery sets in. If a rising tide floats all boats, the top companies in each industry sector are looking for a way to rise at a faster rate than their weaker rivals. A recent McKinsey report framed this competitive dynamic, saying:

Roughly one in three industry leaders was toppled during the previous recession as attackers used the downturn to their advantage. Recent big acquisitions in sectors such as pharmaceuticals and information technology suggest that the current slump will be no different.

Our research shows that while all companies in an industry typically suffer during a recession, the performance gap between strong and weak rivals tends to widen. This gives strong players more opportunities to reshape their competitive environment. [http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/hbr/hbr-now/2009/07/trend-to-watch-industries-taki.html]

But, how should these companies go about accelerating around the executive curve into the straight-away of economic expansion?

Sticking with basketball as a parallel for what one business can do to accelerate their rise over their peers, is it possible to consider hiring a superstar in a key area of the business?  A Michael Jordan of the Bulls, or Kevin Garnett of the Boston Celtics, or L.A. Lakers’ Kobe Bryant?  However, what should the latest definition of “superstar” be in light of all the change the recession has wrought in the business landscape?  McKinsey’s article went on to chronicle 10 key changes in the global competitive topography that are “must-be- aware-of’s” when re-engaging in strategic planning for the recovery in 2009 and beyond.  In July’s issue of Harvard Business Review, one answer is to bring on an executive with what Ron Heifetz and Marty Linsky call “adaptive leadership” ability-

The current economic crisis is not just another rough spell. Today’s mix of urgency, high stakes, and uncertainty will continue even after the recession ends….

Instead of hunkering down and relying on their familiar expertise to deal with the sustained crisis, people in positions of authority-whether they are CEOs or managers heading up a company initiative-must practice what the authors call adaptive leadership. They must, of course, tackle the underlying causes of the crisis, but they must also simultaneously make the changes that will allow their organizations to thrive in turbulent environments.

Adaptive leadership is an improvisational and experimental art, requiring some new practices.

[http://hbr.harvardbusiness.org/2009/07/leadership-in-a-permanent-crisis/ar/1 ]

The adaptive leader has a greater agility than other leadership types. The adaptive-leader type also allows for optimal breakthrough performance coming out of a down cycle.  Generic adaptive leadership is not enough, however.  You still need to figure out where you topgrade your executive team to best capitalize on the upside afforded in an executive change.  Do you seek this new “adaptive leader” for marketing, strategy, operations, sales? General management of one business unit that’s high growth versus another that’s slower growth but lower risk? Or is it in new product development, R&D, or international/global specialization?  At the risk of overplaying a metaphor, coming back to basketball for a moment, it’s interesting to note that each successful professional team has often been built around one “superstar” player, but not always playing the same position.   There are 3 traditional positions in basketball-guard (2), forwards (2), and a center.  Magic Johnson was a guard (point guard to be specific) and he took the Lakers to several championships.  A current L.A. Lakers superstar, Koby Bryant, as well as the Boston Celtics Paul Pierce are also guards.  However, Larry Bird and Julius “Dr. J” Irving were forwards.  And not to leave out the third successful superstar permutation, Shaquille O’Neal, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Patrick Ewing were all “superstar” centers who repeatedly drove their teams to pennant victories.

Once you identify where the biggest impact can be made via topgrading your current executive team, and you pre-select for a leader with proven adaptive leadership skills and experience, the final question presents itself-where are adaptive leaders most frequently bred?  Where should you look for them, what ecosystem have they been building there leadership toolbox within?

Our experience indicates that a disproportionate  number of adaptive leaders come from professional backgrounds they’ve honed in two specific stages of the company lifecycle-

At our firm, where we specialize in recruiting adaptive leaders, we’ve broadly referred to the executives who are best equipped at leading the green-highlighted columns above of emerging and growth-stage as “Builder-Leaders.” However, whether we refer to them as “builder-leaders” or “adaptive leaders,” their experiences creating and growing companies in these stages are the foundational criteria for success for those companies looking to outpace their competitors as we come out of a down cycle and head into the next growth phase.

The winning formula for extra-ordinary company performance in this next economic expansion is a combination of good internal executive assessment as to which role(s) will give you the biggest step-function impact if you topgrade them, and a key attribute of “adaptive leadership” in the new executive you bring. This is the very same leadership characteristic Malcolm Gladwell’s Vivek Ranadivé demonstrated when he was coaching his daughter’s basketball team to compete and win against the rest of their basketball league.

Management

Reports to: President

Location: Manchester, NH

“Southern New Hampshire University trains intellectually and culturally enriched individuals to be successful in their careers and contribute to their communities.
SNHU’s educational philosophy challenges students’ intellectual potential and prepares them for professional lives in an ever-changing and increasingly interconnected world. It provides a supportive and close-knit learning community, delivering engaging instruction in a flexible variety of formats. Students develop the knowledge to understand a complex world, the skills to act effectively within that world and the wisdom to make good choices. They do so within a community of teachers, staff and peers that is encouraged to add its scholarly, creative and pedagogical contributions to the larger social good.”

THE COLLEGE

Founded in 1932 as the New Hampshire School of Accounting and Secretarial Science, Southern New Hampshire University was granted its degree-granting charter in 1963 and conferred its first bachelor’s degrees three years later. The college became a nonprofit institution under a board of trustees in September 1968; in 1969 its name was shortened to New Hampshire College.
Throughout the next three decades the college continued to grow through the addition of its Schools of Business, Community Economic Development, Education, Liberal Arts, and Professional and Continuing Education. During the ‘90s the college opened off-campus centers to better serve adult learners. Programs now are offered in Laconia, Manchester, Nashua, Portsmouth and Salem, N.H., and in Brunswick, Maine, as well as internationally through such schools as SIT in Malaysia.
A recent article in the Boston Globe describes SNHU’s efforts to lower the cost of high-quality education by offering a “low-frills”’ alternative to the campus-based experience.
SNHU Students Forgo Frills to Save Thousands
Today SNHU boasts a full- and part-time student enrollment of more than 6000 and a full-time faculty of 130; 40 degree-granting programs; a 300-acre campus on the Merrimack River; one of the largest and most dynamic online offerings in New England; and programs as diverse as culinary arts, public economic development, and language education. Students come from more than 23 states and 35 countries, with 80 percent of undergraduates living on campus.

SNHU programs are accredited by:

• Accreditation Commission for Programs in Hospitality Administration
• American Culinary Federation Educational Institute
• Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs
• European Council for Business Education
• New England Association of Schools and Colleges
• New Hampshire Postsecondary Education Commission
• New Hampshire State Department of Education for Teacher Certification
• North American Society for Sport Management

But these are only facts. The real story of SNHU lies in its unique position among New England colleges. Listen to President Paul LeBlanc as he discusses the college.
Paul LeBlanc discusses Southern New Hampshire Univeristy

THE POSITION

Reporting to the President, the Vice President of Marketing and Enrollment Management will take overall responsibility for the strategic development, implementation, and tracking of the college’s activities in student acquisition, enrollment, and retention.

This position represents a key leadership opportunity as SNHU continues to maintain a solid undergraduate day enrollment and expand its graduate, Ph. D., online, and continuing education market enrollments. The Vice President will oversee the work of eight or more departments and will serve on the President’s Executive Council while continuing to aid the University’s 75+ years of commitment to quality education in a supportive environment.

The University’s strategic plan calls for aggressive growth in its non-traditional programs, especially its leading and successful online program.  The VPEM will be asked to play a particularly important role in bringing the best operational and recruitment practices from the for-profit sector, especially on-line recruitment with real-time data driven strategies, call center support, and a strong “sales” orientation.

He or she will oversee a staff of marketing and admissions managers and be responsible for all elements of the successful integration and synchronization of the enrollment process, including setting the organization’s student acquisition strategies, execution, and analysis of all lead generation marketing campaigns, and achieving a high level of student matriculation and retention.

Specific responsibilities and expectations include the following—

• Manage the market research and campaign execution process for all of the college’s online initiatives in student acquisition, enrollment, and retention
• Create a “plan of action”–a template or process that can be followed for all marketing and enrollment programs, and a strategy summary for each online marketing and enrollment campaign
• Manage a staff of eight direct reports to achieve expected lead generation, enrollment, and retention results for the college’s programs
• Create an effective, accountable process for converting leads into enrolled students and for retaining enrolled students
• Manage the Admissions process through the undergraduate, graduate, and international admissions directors to meet or exceed application and registration conversion performance objectives
• Meet/exceed enrollment objectives while controlling marketing and admissions costs
• Direct the strategic development of the SNHU website to integrate the latest technologies, deliver consistent brand image, reach targeted demographics, and improve both the market position of the college and students’ experience
• Conceptualize, develop, and implement online marketing programs geared to students with the ability to prove ROI
• Increase site traffic through marketing opportunities and strategic partnerships, optimization (SEO and media), and affiliate programs
• Compare results of current campaigns to previous campaigns and track term-over-term results; constantly leverage success with one campaign to build the next
• Facilitate seamless execution between the Marketing and Admissions departments
• Hire outstanding performers and build a gold standard enrollment organization
• Bring a sincere openness to relocation to Manchester, New Hampshire, without compelling practical obstacles to making this move in a timely fashion
• Have an MBA or other Master’s degree; a PhD would be a plus

THE CAREER OPPORTUNITY

To an experienced executive with relevant postsecondary marketing and online experience, this opportunity offers several attractive features:

• The opportunity to join a small executive team and have “a seat at the table” as the university charts its future
• The opportunity to drive enrollment growth through the introduction of innovative methods of student acquisition
• The opportunity to work in a fast-growth, high-paced environment with a track record of success
• The opportunity to manage a division of the university that currently numbers more than 30, and to develop executive skills that open up future career opportunities
• The opportunity to live in a thriving, small city environment, and one within an hour of mountains, lakes, beaches, and Boston

THE IDEAL CANDIDATE

The ideal candidate currently is VP of Enrollment Management, Marketing, Online Marketing, or Marketing and Enrollment for a for-profit (ideal) or not-for-profit college or university with a record of outstanding enrollment growth and student retention and a strong orientation toward non-traditional students (online, continuing education, international, military, and others).
Less optimally, the individual could be in charge of student/customer conversion and retention for (1) a   for-profit K-12 school or (2) some other complex, consumer-focused, intangible service such as health care, day care, financial services, or travel.

S/he should have demonstrated experience in researching and segmenting markets, then creating direct-marketing and enrollment campaigns that not only acquire students but also generate continuous revenues from each student (or other consumer) through retention programs and high-quality service.

Critical to a candidate’s background is a thorough understanding of the process and metrics of acquiring and keeping customers (ideally students) online. This means in-depth knowledge and a stellar track record in market research, online marketing, product management, and CRM software application.

Specifically, this individual has–

• been successful in marketing online education to non-traditional students, including adults, and managing the entire enrollment process from lead generation to retention
• a deep understanding of the latest approaches to lead/inquiry generation, including online marketing, data mining, lead scoring, web optimization, and trademark protection
• strong system and process thinking—the ability to optimize, streamline (especially for students), and improve the student life cycle experience from inquiry through registration to retention
• a data-driven bias towards goal setting, tracking, and accountability
• the ability to train and inspire an admissions team (admissions reps, financial aid, processing, and others) to set and meet aggressive enrollment goals
• deep knowledge of the non-traditional or adult student market
• experience in aggressively growing an organization with an entrepreneurial sensibility
• experience in market research and the ability to identify opportunities for new and/or revised programs
• forward thinking, with a demonstrated ability to assess risks and benefits of innovative enrollment strategies across broad range of market segments (traditional, non-traditional, military, corporate, and others)
• the ability to understand and leverage admissions, financial aid, marketing, advising, faculty interaction, research, and student affairs to coordinate an integrated recruitment and retention process and culture throughout the university
• strong financial and budgeting skills

The new Vice President will have a proven record of successful recruitment outcomes and be able to demonstrate a track record of unique and strategic initiatives as well as a record of leadership characterized by collegiality and integrity.Culturally and temperamentally, the ideal candidate is a team player who believes that individual success flows from the overall success of the organization.
This involves a range of personal attributes– flexibility and adaptability; a great work ethic; leadership with minimal supervision; an ability to analyze and evaluate one’s own (and other’s) performance and to develop plans to improve performance; excellent presentation skills; willingness to take responsibility for both success and failure—a thick skin; self-confidence and a
positive attitude about self, company, and marketplace; consistent, effective prospecting skills—knowing how to reach decision maker; effective listening and questioning; sincerity, trust, believability and warmth; and a strong desire for success.

SIGNIFICANT LINKS TO COMPANY INFORMATION

SNHU Continues Pursuit of Online Learning in China (Boston Globe)

SNHU Highlighted in Higher Ed and Economy Story

COMPENSATION

Compensation will include salary and bonus in line with the individual’s experience and with his or her peers at SNHU.

TRAVEL

Travel is unlikely to be more than 10 percent.