We talk to companies and their investors almost every day about the difficult decisions surrounding whether or not to raise/invest additional capital given the current economic climate.  Most of them have come to understand that growing a company organically today  – without investing additional capital - is like trying to grow flowers in the shade.  It’s time-consuming and frustrating, and you end up with more weeds than anything else.  But spending money is no guarantee of success, and additional capital continues to be difficult to come by.     

Early in my career, I had a job as a corporate weenie reviewing significant capital expenditure requests for a giant company.  We prioritized and pushed along the best ones for senior management approval, and rejected the others.  My boss at the time loved to say that each of these requests should have such a compelling business case and be so well documented that a monkey could make the correct decision.  (… today, I imagine him sitting at a desk somewhere with his pet chimp struggling to write a book called “Investment Decision-Making for Dummies” … priceless). 

I suspected then, and I know now - business investment decisions are never easy.

It is critical to understand that no matter how desperate the business needs it;  no matter how compelling the business case is; and no matter how many market studies and projection spreadsheets are created for justification;  there is always one wild card in each of these decisions – competing uses for that same capital.

Every investor has alternative uses for capital.  Friends and family investors have bills to pay or other investments like college tuitions and retirement accounts.  Angel Investors are bombarded with lots of great ideas (and they have those same personal investment decisions, as well).  Venture Capital investors are looking for the newest ideas with “home run” potential.  Private Equity investors are collecting management fees and hiding from limited partners in their offices (just kidding … sorta).  Large “strategic investors”  – like a business’s competition or suppliers - have the internal struggles between investing in the current business, or looking outside for growth.  Even companies that are generating enough cash to reinvest in the business have difficult decisions to make about the best use of that capital. 

Despite what my former boss told me, it’s not easy to make these decisions, and sometimes projects and companies with a great business plan and complete analysis and documentation don’t get the capital they need.   Ultimately, making capital allocation choices is a balance of strategic thinking and risk assessment and I believe it usually separates great managers and investors from the average ones.

Our advice to those seeking capital is to do the homework, and understand the risks in the business.  It’s almost always about finding the right match – someone who thinks your project is the best use of their scarce capital at that point in time.  Use the advice and criticism you get to improve the plan, and don’t take rejection personally.  Keep networking and talking to everyone that will listen, and if you believe in your plan – don’t give up.

How many times have you been drinking a beverage and paid attention to what is printed on the container? If you are like me, you very rarely notice the “Please Recycle ” label or the recycling logo on the container.  For the most part we know that the beverage container is recyclable and we don’t really need to be reminded.  And we would like to think that more often than not, most of us deposit the beverage container in an appropriate recycling bin.  However, as is often the case, we assume wrong.

Did you know that Americans go thru 35 billion plastic bottles annually? But only about 25% of these are recycled and of those recycled less than 1% are reused in the manufacture of new bottles.  And using recycled plastic only takes about 10% of the energy it takes to make a bottle from virgin materials.

Glass containers contain only 25% recycled content and using recycled glass results in an energy savings of about 33%.  The great thing about glass is that it can be recycled over and over without losing any of its qualities, its life is virtually endless.

Aluminum does a little better, each aluminum can is made from just over 50% recycled aluminum. Energy savings from using recycled aluminum is a whopping 95% versus using virgin raw materials.

The most commonly recycled product is paper. About 56% of all paper is recycled in the United States. Using recycled paper saves about 60% of the energy that it takes to make paper from virgin raw materials.

So the best we can do is to recycle about half of the time. What if your employer only paid you for half of the time that you worked?  It would be time to make a change, right?  Well, I think it is time to make a change with regard to recycling.

So what can you do about it?  Here are a few suggestions:

1. “Please Recycle” at home. Most curbside collection programs include the basics, cardboard, newspaper, plastic beverage bottles, plastic detergent bottles, glass containers and aluminum cans. Most municipalities will have a section dedicated to recycling on their web site and there you typically will find a list of materials that can be included in your recycling bin.

2. “Please Recycle” on the go. The beverage companies have done a great job of making their product available wherever we may be, whether it be at the mall, a sporting event or even at the park. However, it is sometimes difficult to find a recycling container anywhere close. Rather than taking the easy way out and throw it in a trash container, take it home and throw it in your recycling bin at home. I know this is a hassle but let’s start doing the right thing instead of the convenient or easy thing, just think of the energy savings stated above.

3. “Please Recycle” at work. Many office complexes offer recycling programs and they have evolved into “single stream” systems whereby you can put not only your paper but any beverage containers into the recycling bin. And if your company or office does not have a recycling program, inquire as to why.  Most companies today have developed sustainability or “green” goals and recycling should be an integral part of those plans.

So next time you grab a beverage container, take a moment and notice the “Please Recycle” label. Then do your part to heed their advice.

While watching my daughter’s freshman basketball game the other night, I couldn’t help but think to myself, “this has got to be the dumbest offense that I have ever seen”.  The coach had all 5 girls standing behind the 3 point line and probably only one of them could score from there; certainly not my daughter.  After watching the game for some time, I finally figured out that he was attempting to spread the court so that the point guard could drive to the basket.  I guess that he figured it was best to play 4 players “out of position” so that one player could utilize her skills and possibly score.  It’s certainly a strategy…. but I don’t think it’s a very good one.

One of my favorite athletes and probably the best basketball player of all time – Michael Jordan  - is a perfect illustration of my point.  Early in his career, his coach Phil Jackson, used to preach to Michael that there is no “I” in team and Michael used to respond but there is in “WIN”.   However, the Bulls did not become a great team, nor win a championship until Michael heeded his leader’s words and began utilizing the talents of his teammates.  Who can forget - other than Phoenix or Utah fans - Michael passing the ball out to the wing to John Paxson , and again to Steve Kerr  and those two “role players” making crucial baskets at critical moments in those championship games.   They had positioned themselves perfectly and Michael Jordan capitalized on this.  (Ok …. by now you have figured out that I am a basketball junkie).

Organizations are very much like sports teams.  They are comprised of talented people with differing skill sets.  The key to an organization being successful is to understand the different skills of each of their employees and to put them “in position” to be successful.   It’s not easy to do today where resources are generally scarce,  and it has become even more important that each member of the team understands their role and is always ready to contribute.   

Figuring out if you have put your team in the right position to score – or your organization in position to capitalize on opportunities – is tricky.  It takes time, and you will make a few mistakes along the way.  The key is to recognize these errors in judgment and make the appropriate changes.  Everyone wants to contribute, and I have found that talking to your employees and getting their feedback can go a long way in helping put them “in position” to be successful.

During these critical economic times you need to ask yourself … does your organization have people “out of position”?

I have watched NBC’s recent late night TV debacle with a mix of bewilderment and dismay.  A cursory review makes it seem like it all revolves around egos and ratings and local NBC affiliates.  But I think it comes down to poor decision-making by NBC’s leadership, and the end result might end up being remembered in the same way in corporate annals as New Coke  and Ford’s Edsel.

Organizations have to make decisions every day.  Most of them are not “game changers” and the best organizations have a culture and put processes in place to make them fairly routinely.  I believe good decision-making separates the best executives/ business owners / organizations from everyone else.  But every so often , an organization has to make a HUGE decision.  One that impacts the foundation and often, the future of the company.  It may be an enormous opportunity… it may be a response to a competitor… it may be hiring or firing a key employee.   People used to call these “bet the farm” decisions. I like to use a newer analogy for these huge decisions that is borrowed from No Limit Texas Hold ‘em poker … going “all in“. 

At any point in a No Limit Texas Hold ‘em game, a player can declare himself  ”All In”  and bet everything he has on the hand he is playing.  The reward for winning is an immediate doubling of his chip count and often forcing competitors out of the game .  But if the player loses the hand, he is out of the game.  In Texas Hold ‘em, you can’t play safe and hedge your bets forever.  If you want to win the game, you almost always have to go “all in” at some point to drive the other players out.  The comparison isn’t perfect, but I don’t think it’s much different in business. 

Like a lot of companies that face these huge decisions, I think NBC tried to play it safe. They attempted to make both Leno and Conan happy instead of moving forward with one or the other and then dealing with the consequences.  They hedged their bets and now are in a situation where they cannot win.  Hey…. these decisions are HARD, and no one wants to be the CEO that makes the wrong call, but that’s what the job entails, and I think the leadership at NBC didn’t take that challenge.

I would never advocate going “all in” any time the opportunity arises.  Both New Coke and the Edsel were “all in” bets that lost.  The best players / business leaders are the ones who have a keen sense of timing, and can make these decisions weighing the risk/reward of a bold move.  In fact, sometimes the best move is the one you don’t make.   But all too often, organizations let these opportunities pass by, and then wonder why they aren’t growing, or why they always seem behind the competition.  …. Or maybe why they can’t please both of their franchise stars. 

It’s not easy and it’s not always fair, but there will be times when you have done the homework and the timing seems right.  That’s when you have to push all the chips into the middle of the table and go “all in”.

One of the business bloggers that I follow religiously is Austin, TX. based Tim Walker over at Hoover’s Business Insight Zone.  I have written about Tim before, and I urge you to bookmark his site and subscribe to his RSS feed.  He recently posted a terrific entry on the famous piece of Peter Drucker  wisdom “ …what gets measured, gets done”.   Tim takes a somewhat different spin on Drucker’s point to emphasize how important it is to link “what gets measured” to your “Big Goals”.  It’s a point that is surprisingly lost on a lot of organizations.

I have written before how critical it is for an organization to have just a few important goals and to make certain everyone knows what they are.  We have a client that calls them WIGS…. Wildly Important Goals.  In our consulting practice, we often help force clients to reduce the number of WIGS because no one can manage more than a few of them at a time very effectively.     

Of course, once these goals are communicated, it’s important to measure progress against them.  But that’s where the disconnect occurs.  Organizations spend vast amounts of time and resources devising key metrics and building systems to automate the collection of the data.  The message seems to be, what gets measured, matters.  But as Tim suggests:

“It’s easy to find yourself measuring the wrong things — because what was once useful to measure no longer is, because we haven’t adapted old metrics or tools to new contexts, because we’re stuck measuring what we can measure instead of what we should measure, or simply because we’ve been mistaken about what’s beneficial.”

To complicate things, for many organizations the very act of  ”institutionalizing” these metrics makes people want to ignore them.  They become part of the background noise of information bombarding them on a daily basis. To combat this, one company we have worked with purposely keeps their measurement systems as simple as possible. They measure things that managers need to manage their operation, and can determine without help from sophisticated systems. If they have to be reported elsewhere, they have them fill out the forms by hand and fax them in to be compiled.  With a process like this, they have no problem changing the measurements to match up with their goals. 

Running a business has never been harder.  Everyone has fewer people and less financial resources, and there seems to be much less room for error.  It’s imperative to not just have goals, but to have wildly important goals, and it’s critical to stay focused on a few key priorities to achieve those goals.  In addition, it’s important to measure progress by determining what really matters – then get rid of the rest, it’s just noise.  Whatever you do, never assume that just because something is measured, it matters. 

Thanks for the insights and inspiration Tim!

Today’s guest blog post comes from a former colleague, Ken Evans .  Ken is Managing Partner for sales and marketing at Critical Path Strategies.  He also has primary responsibility for CPS’ Chief Sales Officer Agenda consulting practice, which helps CSOs develop agendas to take their sales organizations to new levels of performance.  Most of the important stuff that I know about sales I learned from my time working with Ken at Waste Management.  He’s the best in the business.

The New Reality    by Ken Evans

I recently worked with a seasoned sales executive who has experienced his fair share of business cycle highs and lows. Better for it, he likes to say, “Opportunity’s favorite disguise is trouble” and “A downturn is a terrible thing to waste.” Glimmers of improvement in the economic landscape are increasingly apparent. So how do you shift your thinking from the recent head-down, in-the-bunker survival mode to gear up for a growth play?  Having reduced operations and SG&A cost structure down to shiny metal, what do you and your sales organization need to do to emerge hand-in-hand with your customers?  Here’s what some of our clients are doing to prepare customer focused growth plans best suited for their new reality.

> Rigorous voice of the customer interviews.

A greater understanding of your customers’ perceptions and needs helps unearth new ways for you to provide value, enhance relationships, identify unmet needs, and grow revenue. Conducting one-on-one, in-depth interviews with your selected customer executives helps you discover their experiences and attitudes about their business—what they buy, why they buy, and why they align to particular suppliers. It’s a productive way to explore with them where and how they see value created and approaches that differentiate preferred suppliers from the rest of the pack.

> Market segmentation.

The market impacts and directs all aspects of your activities. It may have been “reordered” in the wake of recent economic swells. Accurate and specific information about your market segments, industry trends, and potential threats is critical to the success of your existing businesses—and to the creation of new ones. What are the major factors impacting your customers? How are your customers responding to these factors?

> Market alignment.

Clear information about the potential in your market segments helps illuminate the playing field and identify which opportunities to pursue and how to maximize them. Establishing a good coverage strategy that is able to withstand changes in customer preferences, product lines, and economic conditions is the basis for your selling organization’s success and momentum.

> Creating value propositions for the marketplace.

The game is value. The judge is the customer. The winner is the one who delivers the greatest value to the customer. But not all customers value the same things. So how do you ensure that what you are delivering is of value to the customer? Value will differ from one customer to the next—the challenge is to produce and deliver value messages that link your activities and results to your customer’s most critical needs, creating both qualitative and quantitative benefits for your customer. What can you do and what have you done to make a significant impact on your customer’s business?

> Sales playbook reengineering.

Your selling teams today face a competitive rate of change that includes reduced barriers to entry, the ability of competitors to meet or beat pricing, add components, develop alliances that enable quick turnarounds and, seemingly, respond to any customer need. This competitive environment requires your sales teams to possess an in-depth understanding of product and service knowledge, including features and benefits and the ability to demonstrate and articulate value to the customer. Successful sales leaders are spending a great deal of time and energy evaluating game plans to prepare their teams to respond to a variety of competitive situations. Are you?

> Sales skills enhancement.

Do your salespeople possess the skill set critical to success with your customers? Are your sales managers providing day-to-day leadership? By defining the skill requirements to do the job you expect of individuals, assessing each individual contributor, providing personalized access for skills improvement, and establishing career paths and succession planning, you enhance your teams’ performance. You can share this insight in formal classroom training, by mentoring, sharing top performers’ practices, and field coaching.

> Competency certification.

Your salespeople are asked to respond to customer problems, develop and execute sales and account strategies, prepare for and execute sales calls, deliver and implement products and services, and demonstrate value at every point of contact with the customer. How can you be sure they possess these customer-facing competencies and know how and when to use them to be successful?

> Sales management recasting/certification.

Your sales teams are constantly reinventing themselves to align with their customer’s environment. When they are at their best, they are in sync with the customer’s tactical and strategic initiatives. But in these recent days of commercial flux, your teams may be struggling to get their bearings. Increasingly, companies are recasting their sales managers as human capital coaches and developers. They keep their teams on track by giving them advice and resources when required and recognizing their achievements along the way, improving their performance and odds of success.

> Management by metrics.

Timely, trusted data and actionable metrics drive your sales decisions, both strategic and tactical. Timely decisions drive increased sales performance, leading to greater revenue and profit. So it is crucial for you to identify and measure key mathematical performance indicators that will help you pinpoint problems and proactively manage change. What new metrics do you need to track the new realities in your market?

> Communicating benchmarks for success.

Accessing, consolidating, and evaluating data from lagging, in-process, and leading performance indicators combine to reflect a single version of the truth, enhancing your timely decisions and, ultimately, the sales performance of your selling organization. These key indicators are valuable for diagnosing problems, redirecting salespeople, and planning future activities. They provide insight into trends, opportunities, and risk. Many companies translate these metrics into dashboards for rapid, visual, high-impact communications.

> Recruiting, reward, and recognition redesign.

A well-designed sales compensation plan is critical to attracting, retaining, and motivating your sales force, and is a key driver to improving sales performance. With business objectives changing in the new environment, many companies expect to make changes to their sales incentive plans’ performance measures, weightings, and incentive formulas and mechanics. Do the new realities in your marketplace suggest a review of your recruiting, reward, and recognition programs is in order?

Recent market indicators suggest the economic forecast appears brighter. And those flexible enough to deal with change stand to enjoy some just rewards. But understanding customers and being able to anticipate what they want is critical. If you do not create value for your customers, you will be relegated to the “old reality” and suffer the unending cost cutting cycle associated with a commoditized business.

 ABOUT CPS.

CPS helps clients improve the effectiveness of their sales organization. Our portfolio of services addresses the strategic, organizational, and relationship issues that impact selling performance. Our powerful processes enable clients to transform their sales culture, enhance their competitive position, and accomplish strategic business initiatives. Our clients—emerging companies and members of the Fortune 500 alike—typically measure 100 to 500 times their CPS investment in revenue growth.

Every year, I resolve to spend the holidays relaxing.  Take some time away from work….  Hang out…. Enjoy the down time….. Chill…..  And every year, I end up driving myself crazy.  I don’t really like relaxing.  I don’t want to take time away from work.  I don’t enjoy having “down time”.  Chill is a Mexican beer – not something you do. 

I don’t think I’m alone in this, as I’m pretty sure that most people don’t like to have nothing to do. (Formal vacations are different – you spend lots of money to do nothing).  I was watching ESPN Sportscenter recently as they covered the surprising retirement announcement  from Urban Meyer , the head football coach at the University of  Florida.  (He has since reversed his decision and wisely un-retired). Lou Holtz , the legendary college coach, motivational speaker, and occasionally entertaining  commentator  mentioned his concerns about a 45 year old guy giving up his profession, and he repeated his now famous quote about people’s four basic needs:

1. something to do; 2. someone to love; 3. something to hope for; 4. something to believe in

Perhaps we all need to resolve to find the balance between what makes us get up in the morning and what we do the rest of the time.   For most of us, “do nothing” may sound like a good idea at certain times, but it’s not really an option.  How do you find that balance?  

It’s that time of year when business organizations hold luncheons and ask noted economists to make some predictions for the upcoming year.  I have attended no less than three of these gatherings the past week or two!  My main take-away (besides eating too much chicken and really rich desserts) is that predicting the future is tricky business.  As the noted economist John Kenneth Galbraith  once said,

“There are two classes of people who tell what is going to happen in the future: Those who don’t know, and those who don’t know they don’t know”.  

In all fairness, there was a tremendous amount of great information put forth, and it is important as business owners and managers to understand the current and future economic landscape.  Many businesses are staring at 2010 and wondering if they should start new projects, begin hiring, and/or invest in the business once again.  Those decisions are easier if you believe the economy is recovering vs. staying stagnant for another year.  

Here is a summary of the things I heard about 2010:

• The forecasts forReal GDP  % change were all around + 3.5%.  This compares to 2009’s expected decrease of almost -2.0%.
• There was also similar consensus across the economists I heard on the 2010 consumer price index . An increase of between 1.5% and 1.9% - no one at 2.0% or above.  Remember, 2009 is hovering around 0%.
• Despite all the rhetoric right now, none of these speakers was concerned about inflation for the next 12 months.  In fact, only one thought there was a strong chance of inflation becoming an issue any time in the foreseeable future.
• Most seemed to think unemployment has peaked and will begin to s-l-o-w-l-y come down during 2010.  Interestingly enough, on Friday, the rate unexpectedly fell to 10 per cent  (from 10.2 per cent in October), as employers cut the fewest number of jobs since the recession began.  The predictions for year-end 2010 unemployment ranged between 8.5% and 9.5%.

A few other predictions/observations from the three groups:

• Everyone pointed out that only 30% of the stimulus money has been ”spent”, with the bulk of it to come in 2010. 
• The capital markets are still fragile – witness the recent Dubai “crisis” - and they will remain that way through 2010.
• Residential real estate prices may be close to a bottom, but continued high unemployment will keep them from increasing for at least a few years.  Commercial real estate will have a terrible 2010, and it’s impact will be felt by regional and community banks.
• The dollar will continue to be weak because of the US govt. deficit spending, but no one I heard in the three meetings felt there was a real possibility of it losing status as the global currency standard any time in the 5 years. 

The question, of course, is what this means to your business.  My view: 2010 will be a much better year than 2009, and is the start of a slow, but steady ascent back to some kind of normalcy.  Companies with strong balance sheets will get stronger as their competitors wilt.  Opportunities for growth exist, but capital will continue to be hard to come by except for solid stories backed by strong and committed management teams.  Hiring will continue to be anemic, especially in the first half of the year.  This continues to be the right time to use hired guns and temporary resources. In summary, it’s time to be opportunistic, but not yet the time to throw caution to the wind. 

What are your economic predictions for 2010?

I was meeting someone in the lobby of the Four Seasons Hotel in Chicago, and overheard a conversation.   A guy was waiting for a ride to the airport and was on his mobile phone telling someone about his wonderful stay at the hotel.  He went on and on and then told the other person “….Marriott and Sheraton could learn what customer service really means from this hotel”.  Of course, he failed to mention that he had paid about 80% more for his stay at the hotel vs. one of those other brands.  The cost difference did not factor into his opinion.  I hear comments like this a lot when people talk about customer service and compare providers, and it fascinates me.

No one will argue with the fact that there are clear standouts in customer service and the experience you receive from these companies.  Nordstrom’s sales associates are amazing.  Whole Foods presents its groceries like few others in the business.  If you have ever ordered anything from a Williams Sonoma catalog - you will order something from there again.  And the difference between going into a Lexus dealership and a Toyota dealership is substantial.  Has Lexus just “figured it out”?  Have they found the secret to hiring better people and designing and maintaining a first-class facility?  Of course not – it’s the same company!!  The common thread to these top service providers is the absolute premium price they receive for their services and the niche market they have decided to cater to.  The additional revenue from their premium pricing allows them to provide superior service (although, of course, it doesn’t guarantee they will).  Most important – for the right service, people are willing to pay the premium and then feel like they got a great value in return.

All service businesses walk a critical line between the experience they provide, and what customers are willing to pay for it.  Too many companies push premium service in a market segment where no one wants it.  Likewise,  organizations often under deliver on a customer experience based on their perceived value proposition.  Nirvana is when an organization can marry expectations, pricing and delivery.  Southwest Airlines is a great (… and overused) example of this difficult balancing act - particularly when compared to their competition.  Despite being branded as a low-price airline, Southwest’s flights no longer cost less than their competitors (unless they are entering a new market).  Their customers are really paying for on-time flights, and dependable service  – and they don’t pay for baggage!  They can live with the lack of amenities, and those incredibly annoying singing flight attendants.  Southwest customers perceive value – essentially no matter what they pay.

The best service companies have figured out this balance between what they charge, the expectations of their customers, and what they deliver.  When it is done correctly, customers – like my friend in the hotel lobby - forget that they paid extra to receive a superior level of service and feel like they “got what they paid for”. 

Has your organization found that balance?

I spent time recently with several independent dealers of a very well-known industrial equipment manufacturer.  Our conversation turned to “difficult” customers, and one of the participants talked about his dealership’s refusal to do business with one of the largest buyers of the equipment in the US.  This dealership had decided that they were tired of that customer’s outsized discount demands, difficult terms and conditions, and the need for service and support resources greater than any other customer.  They had reached a point where the business was not worth it.  I think it’s a decision that more businesses need to make today. 

A lot of businesses I talk to are  finding some of their customers becoming unreasonably demanding on key issues like price, service levels, and contract terms.   Unfortunately, the economy has actually strengthened the resolve of these difficult customers.  Like the schoolyard bully that gets emboldened with every kid that forks over their lunch money, many large buyers of goods and services feel like they have the upper hand over their suppliers.  Granting concessions to these customers can be a slippery slope, and to mix metaphors – it’s hard to get the toothpaste back in the tube.  Some small businesses are fighting back, according to a recent Wall Street Journal article, but it has to go farther than that.  

The best customer/supplier relationships are partnerships.  But when the customer gains control over the supplier, it’s time to exit the relationship.   That customer’s business becomes bad business - and they need to be fired.   This advice often goes against everything business managers have learned.  Countless magazine articles and business books focus on how expensive it is to obtain new customers, and extol the virtues of keeping customers for life.  Sales and delivery leaders in organizations are urged to do virtually anything to please the customer – particularly a large one.  When you layer on the effect of the economic downturn, it gets even harder to pull the trigger on these troublesome customers.  But at some point, problem customers become like problem employees – they have to go.   

There are no straightforward guidelines to follow.   But you need to answer a few questions to see if it is time to fire that difficult customer:

• Do you really know the profits generated from this difficult customer, including ALL the resources and associated costs needed to service them?
• Have you factored in the negative cash flow impact of these resource hogging, high maintenance, and often intentionally slow paying customers? 
• Do all those resources expended on the difficult customers take resources away from your more profitable customers?
• Is there an impact from bad customers on the morale and productivity of your employees?
• Are you sure that if you push back on their demands that they will take the business elsewhere?

It’s not easy – but it’s often necessary.  If you get to this point with a customer, channel your inner Donald Trump and let them know, “You’re fired!”