First day as Temp CEO. It went a lot better than I thought it would. People did not overwhelm me with questions and the office ran pretty stable all day.

This first week I am focusing on Assessment and Goal Setting. Hit a huge snag in these plans when I opened up the books to get a feel for how bad we really are doing financially. The answer: WHO KNOWS!! The books are a mess. Mainly credit card purchases being put in the wrong place. I found one card that it looks like we over paid by $10,000 and another by $6,000. Craziness. I also found that our bank reconciliations have not been done since end of May 2005. This means there are 7 months that have not been cleared, checked, and I can count on that data.

It is really hard to project and assess when all the info you have could be incorrect. We have got to pull our accounting in house and keep these books as up-to-date and accurate as possible. That way we will not be shooting in the dark when we make decisions. Next week I was planning on laying out a simple budget.... it will need major looking over and revisions when these books are finally up to par.

One cool thing I have done this week is a questionaire a day for all the employees and managers. Today was just overall stregths and weakness they feel they have with their job. For the rest of the week they are more detailed questions about each department, but I am going to have both people inside and those outside the department answer the questions. It will be neat to see how differently they view what is going on. It will also open my eyes to how people see each other, their roles, and the tasks that happen here.

To end I will copy the memo I handed out to the office this morning. Enjoy!

My Next 6 Weeks
As you know my duties are changing over the next 6 weeks here at the office. I would like for you each to know my plans over this time and to not only be a part of it, but hold me accountable to it. Please be patience with me as I dive deeper into what each of you do and contribute. I will be testing and challenging you. Do not take this in a negative way, but as an opportunity for growth and expansion as a businessman/woman. I am open and welcome input from each of you throughout this process.

My tentative plan for the weeks ahead:

Week 1 (1/9/06 – 1/13/06)
Assessment & Goal Setting
Week 2 (1/16/06 – 1/20/06)
Projections & Budgeting
Week 3 (1/23/06 – 1/27/06)
Internal Systems & Policies
Week 4 (1/28/06 – 2/4/06)
Evaluation of Competitors’s Operations
Week 5 (2/6/06 – 2/10/06)
Re-assessment & Revisions
Week 6 (2/13/06 – 2/17/06)
Project Planning


These are not set in stone dates, but a way to space out all that I feel needs to get done during this time.

Note these changes in procedure.

1. I will not take complaints. If you see a problem, feel free to come and share it with me. BUT! I would like for you to have at least one idea on how to solve or make it better to present with the problem.
2. If you can memorize the mission statement and recite it to me… I will buy you a free lunch. Not at Taco Bell, but somewhere good.
3. You will see questionnaires popping up. These are to better let me and the other managers see what is going on around here through your eyes. The input from these forms are invaluable. Please think through your responses, and be honest. They will not be shared with other employees.