Thoughts for the New Year

University of Memphis Tiger's Coach John Calipari spoke at a Capital Connection Conference Terry and I attended right before the Holidays. There were three primary points he addressed that I thought were good reminders to all of us right now:

1. Be grateful
2. Be positive
3. When fortune turns your way, bring someone up with you

Let me give you a picture of the crowd: 200+ coat and tie professionals in the private equity, investment banking and services arena--with every right to be glum considering the current economic state and the liquidity issues facing us today.

Coach Calipari reminded the group on how fortunate they have been as an industry over the past five years and how most--if not all--had prospered to an unprecedented level in the last few years. Now we have a downtime. Be grateful for the good. As recruiters, we can look at it the same way. The past five years have been very good to us. This year--up to October--has been very good to us. I am grateful and to those of you who have done business with us, thank you. We really can't say it enough.

Be Positive. No one wants to talk to you if all you can talk about is gloom and doom. I have made marketing calls this week and as soon as the voice on the other end of the line hears "recruiter", the voice gets shrill and tense "we don't have any jobs right now." This immediately tells me that I am not the only call they have had this week from a recruiter. "Hey. That's OK. I agree that we are not expecting a lot of permanent jobs at this time, but I would like to tell you about our service for offering top interim talent."

Many people are feeling a lot of pressure right now. Folks are frightened, depressed, and stressed out. Well, the positive is that this too will pass as it always does, and at the end of the day prosperity reigns again. Relationships that were worthwhile to begin with are strengthened and the strong companies become stronger. By the way, one of the bright points from this conference was that companies with cash feel like this will be a great time to grow their businesses through acquisitions.

When asked about how he recruited such talent to the team, Coach Calipari stressed that what he sought in team members was a big heart because if he had that, fundamentally, he had a stronger team before the first ball was in play. He also stressed the importance of bringing someone up the ladder of success with you. To me, of all three salient points he made, that is the kicker for us all: Who are you bringing up with you?

During these times, we typically all think about ourselves, our dwindling portfolios, the fear for our families and friends jobs, etc... As a cheerleader for capitalism, I will go back to the advice given in prior newsletters: get on with business. In the past couple of weeks, several clients of mine have decided to take advantage of this market shift and are making ambitious recruiting plans for 2009 because they feel the time is perfect to top-grade their talent and that they will be in a better position to compete for talent than they have been in recent years. I like that attitude because if everyone continues to pull back on their business plans, we continue to create a slow down. For liquidity to return, people have to spend some money, invest in talent, and create momentum in the economy. If we are relying on Paulson to do this, we are sunk. We must position ourselves on the ladder, not alone, but with someone who needs the push up more than us. Success breeds success and now more than ever, we all need to help in whatever way we can.