The Mark W. Sickles Educational Series of Sound Governance:

Mastering the Fundamental Four: Asset Protection, Strategy Formulation, Strategy Implementation, and Advocacy

Introduction
Post-Enron, directors and officers are seeking to master sound governance: functioning as strategic assets and competitive advantages to formulate and implement strategies producing long-term shareholder value, all while behaving legally, ethically, and morally.  But in spite of their best efforts, many directors and officers feel they are coming up short.  Clearing this raised bar of shareholder expectation is the purpose of The Mark W. Sickles Educational Series of Sound Governance.

Part 1: Asset Protection
Traditionally, asset protection has meant complying with governing rules and regulations, behaving prudently, and taking only calculated risks - in short, playing defense.  But as the saying goes, the best defense is a good offense.  And the best way to protect shareholders’ assets is to ensure these assets are stronger and more robust than those of your competitors.  A solid offensive plan for protecting shareholder investment is to develop an asset utilization plan to produce operating income greater than the annual cost of those assets, where this overage is also greater than the overage produced by the firm’s competitors.  This balanced approach to asset protection – both defense and offense – creates an effective financial context for the remaining three roles of sound governance.

Part 2: Strategy Formulation
A winning strategy is the equivalent of a “straight course for the good of the whole”.  More precisely, strategy is best defined as an integrated and coordinated set of commitments and actions designed to first, develop and then, exploit strategic assets to produce sustainable competitive advantages and long-term shareholder value.  The asset protection role quantifies long-term shareholder value, thereby serving as a contextual framework for strategy formulation.  In sum, effective strategy formulation assures that management does the right things.

Part 3: Strategy Implementation
While effective strategy formulation provides a “straight course for the good of the whole” – doing the right things - strategy implementation assures a smooth operation by focusing on efficiency – doing things right.  This calls for developing and utilizing a management system to actually achieve the end goal of long-term shareholder value as defined in the asset protection role of sound governance.  The key to success here is a masterful understanding of both entity and procedural interdependencies - the anatomy and biology of business.  When used effectively, this management system maximizes integration and coordination, in turn maximizing the firm’s ability to respond to the demand for change caused by external forces beyond its control.  In sum, efficient strategy implementation assures that management adapts and adjusts to “maintain a smooth operation” and stays on a straight course leading to long-term shareholder value.

Part 4: Advocacy
In carrying out the sound governance roles of asset protection, strategy formulation, and strategy implementation, directors and officers can play the advocacy role with great enthusiasm: marketing and selling the company to current and prospective employees, customers, and shareholders as a great place to work, buy and invest.

About Mark W. Sickles, LLC

At Mark W. Sickles, we advise and counsel directors and officers, but most importantly, we equip them to succeed post-Enron.  Our products and services are relatively simple and affordable, yet highly innovative and effective, enabling directors and officers to do “the right things, the right way.”  As one client said, “Mark W. Sickles will take away all of your opportunity to fail”.

To contact us, call 973-424-1100, or reach us via email or snail mail as directed on this site.