Tribal Leadership Shareholder Activism

[EricSchleien]

Hello,

 

I don't speak much on this board but I do listen. This board has some of the most brilliant minds in the investing world. I am currently looking for your help on a project for those of you who this would apply to.

 

I am one of the few people in the world trained to lead the Tribal Leadership work which was developed by my colleague and mentor John King. Companies that stabilize their culture to what is called Stage 4, it's been shown that performance at those companies improve by a factor of 3-5x within 24 months.

 

Having a background in value investing, I contacted the author and got trained in his work. I was able to pick it up rather quickly due to almost 10 years of having a coaching background.

 

So here is where I am currently at:

 

1) I have a spreadsheet of companies that have been underperforming as well as a list of their major shareholders.

2) I will be calling the shareholders and seeing if they would be interested in some help and bringing me in to implement this work and answer all their questions

 

3) If they say yes and I feel I have enough votes to have either myself or colleagues of mine to get on the board I will do that.

4) I am also looking to talk to large shareholders here of smaller companies who either own shares of a company that is struggling or a company that is doing okay and wanting to take their game to the next level.

 

I am attaching a video of my colleague John doing a keynote on this work. It's a VERY tip of the iceberg view but it should give people enough initial information to inquire more: The presentation starts at 17:35: http://www.mindsuitemetrics.com/culture-map-presentation

 

If you want to see the data behind a lot of this stuff you can then watch my colleague and partner Wayne Clancy on his statistical work on culture.

 

If you wish to inquire or know someone that may be a good fit, let's chat privately.

 

 

[eclecticvalue]

Is there a list of publicly traded companies that are at stage 4?

[EricSchleien]

If there is, I doubt it. Most of the people in this world don't know much about value investing and most of the people in the investing world tend to lump transformational coaching in the same category as motivational speaking (which is one of the largest wastes of money in organizations) and immediately write it off as a scam. It's two worlds that don't know much about each other and my goal is to combine them. It took me 8 years of persistence until an activist said he would give me backing to launch a proxy battle. If everyone saw what I saw it would have already been done.

 

To make a list I could not screen that with a computer (maybe one day with AI...who knows!!). I'd actually have to go into companies and take a look at their structure in how the employees/management/subs/etc are all in relationship with each other. There's a tool I would use called the Cultural Gap Index which is what Wayne Clancy developed in partnership with ASU. He's the guy that speaks at the beginning.

 

Structure doesn't lie and if you asked management teams they would mostly likely give you an inflated number. I call it stage inflation. People usually inflate where they're at, it's very human.

 

I would say companies like Google, Amazon, and Amgen are stabilized at Stage 4 or at-least have lots of divisions that are.

 

Zappos definitely is but they are part of Amazon.

 

I would say Berkshire Hathaway is. I would also say Markel Corp is.

 

Again it's very hard to truly know without actually examining the structure so at this point pretty difficult to make a list. Definitely not impossible though.

[eclecticvalue]

If there is, I doubt it. Most of the people in this world don't know much about value investing and most of the people in the investing world tend to lump transformational coaching in the same category as motivational speaking (which is one of the largest wastes of money in organizations) and immediately write it off as a scam. It's two worlds that don't know much about each other and my goal is to combine them. It took me 8 years of persistence until an activist said he would give me backing to launch a proxy battle. If everyone saw what I saw it would have already been done.

 

To make a list I could not screen that with a computer (maybe one day with AI...who knows!!). I'd actually have to go into companies and take a look at their structure in how the employees/management/subs/etc are all in relationship with each other. There's a tool I would use called the Cultural Gap Index which is what Wayne Clancy developed in partnership with ASU. He's the guy that speaks at the beginning.

 

I smell opportunity. Also, That is what I am saying because if you can identify early on then you have an advantage over the quants/screeners.

 

So you're launching a proxy battle eh.... Tell me more one day. You got to find activists/turnaround specialists that are looking to hold a company for the long term and not just financially fixing up the company and sell.

 

You should watch Marcus Lemonis and his show the Profit. You can see him trying to fix and build a culture in action. Also, he is doing the same thing with Gander Mountain. It is a company he bought out of bankruptcy and he is turning it around as we speak.

[DooDiligence]

Very cool!

[AJB96]

Thanks for posting this Eric! I've heard you talk about this for many years and you are very passionate about the subject.

 

Alex

[EricSchleien]

Yes I am passionate about it because it works. Simple as that :)

 

I appreciate your friendship and support over the years Alex.

 

Thanks for posting this Eric! I've heard you talk about this for many years and you are very passionate about the subject.

 

Alex