Launch - Winter 2007 - (Page 23)

chances are pretty good that when you were in high school, you received a letter from “Who’s Who Among High School Students” announcing that you had been selected as one of the chosen few. You simply needed a teacher or coach to “nominate” you, and then submit a form with your biographical information, but that was all relatively easy. Upon acceptance, your name and biography would be published along with the names and bios of other so-called “top” high school students across America. You and your parents and grandparents and your monkey’s uncle could then purchase the treasured volume and other memorabilia to add to the other dusty collections on their shelves. Not to be outdone, corporate America has followed suit. Every year, the CEOs of large and small companies alike scramble (some would say pander) for the honor of an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award or one of the Inc. 5,000 Fastest-growing Private Companies in America. And those are only two of a veritable cornucopia of “prestigious” awards that CEOs and their companies vie for. Economist and author Jeff Thredgold compares the surplus of awards to the overblown entertainment industry. “Twenty-five years ago, actors and musicians vied for a select number of awards, and they each meant something,” says Thredgold, who serves as an economic consultant to Zions Bank. “Television actors had the Emmy’s; stage actors had the Tony’s; musicians had the Grammy’s; and the screen actors had the Oscars. Nowadays, we’re inundated with nearly 100 different televised awards, ranging from the Teen Choice Awards to the People’s Choice Awards, and everything in between. Well, the business community is in exactly the same boat. The more awards we create, the less relevant they all become.” Most people assume unbiased judges are responsible for selecting the companies and CEOs based on outstanding effort and performance, but that is not always how it works. The granting of some awards is more like a beauty contest. Many only select from the companies who have applied for their validation. Here is where the pandering begins. Much of the competition is automatically eliminated simply because they failed to fill out the proper forms and in some cases, pay an entry fee, which can be a good chunk of change. In addition, during the application process, companies have been known to fudge facts. Instead of reporting that sales and revenue crashed for the first three quarters of 2007 (which they are not required to do), companies can boldly report that revenue soared from 2003 to 2006, securing a coveted position on the Inc. 5,000 list of Fastest-growing Private Companies in America. And really, who can blame a company for doing this when the vast majority of business awards only consider past, not current, forecasted, or even booked revenue? The irony of these awards is often missed by the proud CEOs but rarely overlooked by company employees. Those in the trenches are the ones who take time out of their workdays to complete the necessary paperwork or participate in company-wide polls. They are also the ones who witness the carnage when their CEOs, upon receiving their prestigious awards, allow it to pump up launch winter 23

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Launch - Winter 2007

Launch - Winter 2007 Contents Editor's Note Dashboard Mentor Column Funding Column Diary Column Sales Column Feature: Moving Forward: College Business Competitions Turn Ideas Into Reality Cover Story: Are Awards Worth the Effort? Company and CEO Awards: Contributing to the Bottom Line or Just Feeding Egos? Entrepreneur Spotlight: Benoy Tamang - Hooksell Entrepreneur Spotlight: Clayton Jenkins - Premium Steam

Launch - Winter 2007

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