ALTFELD INC. - Library

The Owner's Manual:
For Owners, CEOs, Presidents, Principals and
Executive Management of Small to Mid-Size
Business to Business $2MM to $50MM Companies
By Jim Altfeld

"I read this book, it worked so well for us and I was so impressed, we hired the author as a consultatnt."
Joseph Granatelli
CEO
Paxton Products

For those small and mid-size business to business owners who have ever wrestled with where their company is going and how they intend to get it there, The Owner's Manual is must reading. As a concise, thought provoking, insightful, educational and challenging guide for taking control of your company's future, the lively paced book takes you step, by logical step through the entire strategic thinking process. The author covers every aspect necessary for determining a company's future and creating the plan for getting it there. Replete with interesting anecdotes, humor and hard-hitting questions, the book maintains your interest throughout what could otherwise be a tedious, difficult, and tiresome process. Altfeld forces the reader to extract himself from the day to day operational challenges of crisis management and begin thinking about the opportunities of tomorrow. As stated throughout the book, "the future is an invisible place only until you start thinking about it."

The Owner's Manual prepares the chief strategist of any small to mid-size, business-to-business company for dealing with tomorrow and all the tomorrow's to follow. The book covers such topics as involving and inspiring your people; creating an interdependent, horizontal infrastructure; your company's hierarchy; establishing the companyÕs values and determining its culture. According to the book's author, Jim Altfeld, President of Altfeld, Inc., "The book was written to provide answers to many of the questions owners have regarding the formulation and sharing of their company's vision. I wanted to provide owners with an easy-to-digest and comprehend guide that would teach them, step by step, how to provide direction, involve and grow their people, and take the appropriate actions to ensure that the vision they create becomes reality."

The author does an excellent job of explaining how an owner goes about identifying the company's core competencies and deciding what business the company actually is in. From there, he provides the tools and mindset required to create the vision, mission, objectives, strategies and tactics for your company, as well as for revolutionizing your entire industry, changing the rules, the game and the playing field, and setting your company apart from all others.

To receive a hard copy, send a check or money order for $24.95 to Altfeld, Inc., 1403 W. Magnolia Blvd., Burbank, Ca. 91506. (Price includes shipping and handling.)

Audio Tape

A half-hour audio tape and CD-rom aimed at CEO's, presidents, and owners of $2 - $50 million business to business companies, is offered at no cost, by Altfeld, Inc. The question/answer session details how small and medium sized companies can best utilize strategic planning to gain control of its future. According to Jim Altfeld, president of Altfeld, Inc "We tried to cover every question that a CEO, president or owner would ask about how they and their company would benefit from strategic planning. That included anticipating their future, remaining focused while meeting the day to day challenges of crisis management, dealing with technology, sharing the information and involving others throughout the company and taking appropriate actions to ensure that the vision becomes reality."

The cassette also explains the breakdown of a company into systems and processes, how every company consists of three key segments, and how the planning process itself is key. "You may find that after a period of time, some portion of your plan is wrong, some new technology is introduced, or some event takes place that changes everything.

All plans need to be flexible enough to be reviewed, reinvented and renewed. The key is the planning process. Once you have that down, alternatives can be considered with greater clarity and creativity," says Altfeld.

To receive a free cassette or cd-rom, send your request to Altfeld, Inc.
(818) 953-4054, fax (818) 953-4037,
or e-mail jaltfeld@altfeldinc.com.

Help determine what you expect a consulting project to impact by downloading our: Output Check-List

The following are other strategic tools we supply. Click on each below for a sample. For a full copy, write us at jaltfeld@altfeldinc.com . If you have any questions, concerns or wish to discuss your strategic planning needs, call: 1-800-397-0010.

A tool to help quickly evaluate the current situation within your company and determine where you need to focus your efforts and apply resources.

Helps determine what your company does that other companies will find difficult to do.

Corporate Readiness Survey

A tool to help you determine which of your repeat customers you need to be spending your time on, which ones you may be losing, and which ones you may be better off letting go.

Quarterly Employee Continuous Improvement Plan

A tool to help evaluate an employees performance during the last quarter and to set goals for the next quarter.

Sample Employee Survey

A tool in determining whether or not the supplier candidate you have in mind will fit into your business plan, shares your company's values and can work within your company's culture.

A tool in determining whether or not the distributor candidate you have in mind will fit into your business plan, shares your company's values and can work within your company's culture.

Remember Me

Originator unknown.

As some of you may know, one of my sons serves in the military. He is still stateside, here in California. He called me yesterday to let me know how warm and welcoming people were to him, and his troops, everywhere he goes, telling me how people shake their hands, and thank them for being willing to serve, and fight, for not only our own freedoms but so that others may have them also.

But he also told me about an incident in the grocery store he stopped at yesterday, on his way home from the base. He said that ahead of several people in front of him stood a woman dressed in a burkha. He said when she got to the cashier she loudly remarked about the US flag lapel pin the cashier wore on her smock. The cashier reached up and touched the pin, and said proudly, "yes, I always wear it and I probably always will."

The woman in the burkha then asked the cashier when she was going to stop bombing her countrymen, explaining that she was Iraqi. A gentleman standing behind my son stepped forward, putting his arm around my son's shoulders, and nodding towards my son, said in a calm and gentle voice to the Iraqi woman: "Lady, hundreds of thousands of men and women like this young man have fought and died so that YOU could stand here, in MY country and accuse a check-out cashier of bombing YOUR countrymen. It is my belief that had you been this outspoken in YOUR own country, we wouldn't need to be there today. But, hey, if you have now learned how to speak out so loudly and clearly, I'll gladly buy you a ticket and pay your way back to Iraq so you can straighten out the mess in YOUR country that you are obviously here in MY country to avoid."

Everyone within hearing distance cheered.

Facts on 9/11

After the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, which killed six and injured 1,000; President Clinton promised that those responsible would be hunted down and punished.

After the 1995 bombing in Saudi Arabia, which killed five U.S. military personnel; Clinton promised that >those responsible would be hunted down and punished.

After the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia, which killed 19 and injured 200 U.S. military personnel; Clinton promised that those responsible would be hunted down and punished.

After the 1998 bombing of U.S. embassies in Africa, which killed 224 and injured 5,000; Clinton promised that those responsible would be hunted down and punished.

After the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, which killed 17 and injured 39 U.S. sailors; Clinton promised that those responsible would be hunted down and punished.

Maybe if Clinton had kept his promise, an estimated 7,000 people in New York and Washington, D.C. that are now dead would be alive today.

This question was raised on a Philly radio call-in show. Without casting stones, it is a legitimate question. There are two men, both extremely wealthy. One develops relatively cheap software and gives billions of dollars to charity. ÊThe other sponsors terrorism. ÊThat being the case, why is it that the Clinton Administration spent more money chasing down Bill Gates over the past eight years than Osama bin Laden?

I sat in a movie theater watching "Schindler's List," asked myself, "Why didn't the Jews fight back?"

I sat in a movie theater, watching "Pearl Harbor" and asked myself, "Why weren't we prepared?"

On September 11, dozens of capable airplane passengers allowed themselves >to be overpowered by a handful of poorly armed terrorists because they did not comprehend the depth of hatred that motivated their captors.

On September 11, thousands of innocent people were murdered because too many Americans naively reject the reality that some nations are dedicated to the dominance of others. Many political pundits, pacifists and media Êpersonnel want us to forget the carnage. They say we must focus on the bravery of the rescuers and ignore the cowardice of the killers. They Êimplore us to understand the motivation of the perpetrators. Major Êtelevision stations have announced they will assist the healing process by not replaying >devastating footage of the planes crashing into the Twin Towers.

I will not forget the liberal media who abused freedom of the press to kick our country when it was vulnerable and hurting.

I will not forget that CBS anchor Dan Rather preceded President Bush's address to the nation with the snide remark, "No matter how you feel about him, he is still our president."

I will not forget that ABC TV anchor Peter Jennings questioned President Bush's motives for not returning immediately to Washington, DC and commented, "We're all pretty skeptical and cynical about Washington."

And I will not forget that ABC's Mark Halperin warned if reporters weren't informed of every little detail of this war, they aren't "likely -- nor should they be expected -- to show deference."

I will not isolate myself from my fellow Americans by pretending an attack on the USS Cole in Yemen was not an attack on the United States of America.

I will not forget the Clinton administration equipped Islamic terrorists and their supporters with the world's most sophisticated telecommunications equipment and encryption technology, thereby compromising America's ability to trace terrorist radio, cell phone, land lines, faxes and modem communications.

I will not be appeased with pointless, quick retaliatory strikes like those perfected by the previous administration.

I will not be comforted by "feel-good, do nothing" regulations like the silly "Have your bags been under your control?" question at the airport.

I will not be influenced by so called,"antiwar demonstrators" who exploit the right of expression to chant anti-American obscenities.

I will not forget the moral victory handed the North Vietnamese by American war protesters who reviled and spat upon the returning soldiers, airmen, sailors and Marines.

I will not be softened by the wishful thinking of pacifists who chose reassurance over reality.

I will embrace the wise words of Prime Minister Tony Blair who told Labor Party conference, "They have no moral inhibition on the slaughter of the innocent. If they could have murdered not 7,000 but 70,000, does anyone doubt they would have done so and rejoiced in it?

There is no compromise possible with such people, no meeting of minds, no point of understanding with such terror. Just a choice: defeat it or be defeated by it. And defeat it we must!"

I will force myself to: -hear the weeping -feel the helplessness -imagine the terror -sense the panic -smell the burning flesh - experience the loss - remember the hatred.

I sat in a movie theater, watching "Private Ryan" and asked myself, "Where did they find the courage?"

We have no choice. Living without liberty is not living. -- Ed Evans, MGySgt., USMC (Ret.) Not as lean, Not as mean, But still a Marine.

Keep this going until every living American has read it and memorized it so we don't make the same mistake again.