Don't Just Get Help, Get Great Help

I was reminded of an October 20th USA Today article on the resurgence of LaDainian Tomlinson after hearing Lida Orzeck, co-founder of Hanky Panky, maker of “the world’s most comfortable thong” (how could you not want to repeat their tagline), speak a few weeks back at Lincoln Center on a panel of successful entrepreneurs hosted by The New York Enterprise Report.

If you are a football fan, you most likely will have noticed the resurgence of LaDainian Tomlinson this year, compared to his previous couple of years with The San Diego Chargers. At 31, when running backs are at the twilight of their career or have retired, Tomlinson so far is having an MVP type year as he did back in 2006. A similar phenomenon occurred a few years ago with The New York Giants running back, Tiki Barber. After having a nice career, after age 30 “all of a sudden”, or so it appeared, to the average fan, Barber became an All Pro his final three seasons and actually retired at the peak of his production; well past the prime of an average NFL running back. Tomlinson noticed, so when he wanted to resurrect his own career, he asked Barber to explain what he had done differently.

The difference, as explained in the USA Today article, for Barber and now Tomlinson is the addition of a specific personal trainer, Lou Carini, who trained Barber and now Tomlinson to be “built for the end of the season”.

Going back to the panel, hosted by the New York Enterprise Report and moderated by Rob Levin, multiple times, I noticed that Lida Orzeck from Hanky Panky would point out her advisors as being critical to Hanky Panky’s 33 years of profitability and in particular managing huge growth for them after a favorable, above-the-fold front page story appeared in The Wall Street Journal. Rob Levin, as a moderator who actually listens to the panelists (how refreshing is that), picked up on it as well and asked Orzeck to elaborate on her use of advisors.

Orzeck explained she had accumulated a number of advisors throughout the years including advisors focused on insurance, real estate, accounting, and a strategic advisor that helped the founders capitalize on the unprecedented growth after the Wall Street Journal article appeared in 2004.

Business owners like Orzeck from Hanky Panky can opt for two kinds of help – strategic and tactical. Do you want an accountant that competently files your taxes on time for a low fee (tactical help) or do you want great help (strategic) from your accountant who understands your business so as to be able to provide business advice related to their world of taxes and balance sheets, income statements, and cash flows so as to make your business more valuable. For some areas, tactical help maybe fine for you (hiring somebody to “mow your lawn”), while in other areas great or strategic help (hiring a “landscape architect”) is the best way to see dramatic improvement “on the field” or in your own business.