When Leadership Equals Dollars, Jobs (Opinion)
by March 30, 2012 3:20 pm 76 views
If you happen to also read Arkansas Business, you might have seen the profiles of the CEOs of the 17 public companies based in Arkansas in its March 26 issue. If not, you’ll be happy to know we here at the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal will be running the profiles of the eight members of that group who work within our coverage area over the next eight issues.
Regardless of where you read the profiles, we agree with AB’s impression that despite the Great Recession, these companies, their shareholders and their employees, by and large, have been well served by their leaders.
This does not mean that all these companies have escaped financial losses and employee cutbacks. What effective leadership does mean, however, is that many of these companies are poised to take advantage of what — fingers crossed — appears to be a nationwide, if slow, economic recovery.
Let’s look at Dillard’s. In November 2008, its stock price had fallen to $2.50, and angry activist shareholders were calling for the resignations of the entire Dillard clan. Dillard’s leadership appears to have paid attention to the criticism. Management made changes, same-store sales are up, and one retail analyst, speaking of Dillard’s leaders, said, “I think they improved in every area.”
Even in some of the hardest-hit sectors — trucking, timber and banking — CEOs either managed to return their companies to profitability (Arkansas Best), maintain profitability (Deltic) or saw profitability leap (Bank of the Ozarks, J.B. Hunt).
And Wal-Mart, though the recession battered its domestic revenue a bit, continued to report healthy net income under CEO Mike Duke, while Tyson Foods also stayed strong.
What these business leaders seem to share is a willingness to face hard (even unflattering) facts, flexibility and a commitment to innovation.
Arkansans can be proud that this state is home to leaders who have refused to lose heart during a punishing recession and who understand that the way to profitability will never be easy.