Friday, August 22, 2008

Capodice & Associates Partners with Prometheus Partners

Capodice & Associates Predictive Performance Executive Search Partners with Prometheus Partners to add a Director of Real Estate to spearhead restaurant growth.

Prometheus Partners is a private equity fund established to invest in smaller middle market private companies. Prometheus seeks to invest in growth companies in industries that are fragmented and undergoing consolidation. Prometheus will focus primarily on route-based service business that entail recurring revenue stream and stable predictable cash flows, as well as nationally-franchised restaurants. Prometheus targets businesses that offer the opportunity for rapid growth either internally or externally through add-on acquisitions.

Capodice & Associates Predictive Performance Executive Search served as the retained search firm providing the additional talent to continue its unbelievable success.

From a dynamic blend of professional search talent, to the most comprehensive assessment and on-boarding tools on the market, Capodice & Associates gives you peace of mind knowing your next hire will be a long-term success.

Contact: Peter Capodice 941-906-1990 or peter@capodice.com

About Capodice & Associates
From a dynamic blend of professional search talent, to the most comprehensive assessment tools on the market, Capodice & Associates gives you peace of mind knowing your next hire will be a long-term success.

Contact Us
Capodice & Associates
Midtown Plaza
1243 S. Tamiami Trail
Sarasota, Florida 34239
941-906-1990 Phone
941-906-1991 Fax
www.capodice.com

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Capodice & Associates Predictive Performance Executive Search Partners with Velocity Brands to add a Senior Operations Executive

Capodice & Associates Predictive Performance Executive Search Partners with Velocity Brands to add a Senior Operations Executive to improve operating matrix and spearhead growth.

Velocity Brands was formed in July 2005 to create a long-term business alliance with Dunkin Brands to develop over 50 Dunkin Donuts Retail Stores in the Tampa area.

Dunkin’ Brands a Delaware corporation, is the world’s largest coffee and baked goods chain. There are over 6,000 Dunkin’ Donuts worldwide in 30 countries. In the U.S. there are over 4,400 Dunkin’ Donuts locations across 36 states. Internationally, there are over 1,700 Dunkin’ Donuts locations in 29 countries. serving more than 2.7 million coffee customers per day. Dunkin’ Donuts sells 52 varieties of donuts and more than a dozen coffee beverages as well as an array of bagels, breakfast sandwiches and other baked goods.

Capodice & Associates Predictive Performance Executive Search served as the retained search firm providing the Operations talent needed to implement the systems and processes in order to meet development objectives.

From a dynamic blend of professional search talent, to the most comprehensive assessment and on-boarding tools on the market, Capodice & Associates gives you peace of mind knowing your next hire will be a long-term success.



About Capodice & Associates

From a dynamic blend of professional search talent, to the most comprehensive assessment tools on the market, Capodice & Associates gives you peace of mind knowing your next hire will be a long-term success.

Contact Us
Capodice & Associates
Midtown Plaza
1243 S. Tamiami Trail
Sarasota, Florida 34239
941-906-1990 Phone
941-906-1991 Fax
www.capodice.com

Successful CEOs: Who Are They?

The second in a series about raising awareness and sensitivity to the
needs of leadership development.

by Peter Capodice

One of the most widely-studied group of business people is the successful CEOs. In Capodice’s previous newsletter article, we discussed how to identify and nurture potential leaders. In this newsletter, we will examine the traits and environments that help leaders achieve high levels of success within their respective organizations. These leaders are highly rated by their boards in terms of actual performance and the investment’s financial return.

Capodice and Associates has surveyed many exceptional leaders. These CEOs generally possessed the same types of traits, whether these were innate behavioral traits, or characteristics learned in the course of their careers. All leaders were efficient, aggressive, persistent, and proactive. They also possessed “soft” skills such as being flexible, a good listener, open to criticism, and a team player. And many of the leaders had traits that not only helped them be successful but also helped them adapt in high-pressure situations, such as being persuasive, organized, analytical, and calm. Interestingly, these characteristics were not related to either age or gender.

Along with specific skills or traits, there are actions that successful leaders have in common. These essential attributes include:

1. A dedication to the company’s vision.
2. The ability to communicate that vision to stakeholders.
3. A focus on macromanagement: having an awareness of operational details, but not actively involved in those details.
4. Keeps abreast of industry trends and leverages that information to make decisions about the future.
5. Builds exceptional management teams and supports their decisions.
6. Cultivates strong relationships with customers and understands their needs, challenges and business goals.

While many success-related characteristics can determine whether a CEO candidate is hired, they don’t necessarily ensure the leader’s success. General ability or talent matters when interviewing for a job and attracting investors. But during the course of a CEOs career, the softer skills like flexibility and good listening might not matter as much as being persistent, efficient and proactive.

A recent example shows how much these traits can make a difference in a leader’s success. Jack Welch, the former CEO of GE, was particularly talented in the “hard” skills of a leader, but was not noted for possessing the softer skills. By contrast, his successor Jeff Immelt has been hailed as a leader with great flexibility, good listening skills, and favoring a team approach. During these challenging times, the “hard” skills would be much more helpful, and thus it is possible that Immelt will not be as successful as Welch. In fact, GE increased in value by tens of billions of dollars under Welch, and has declined by tens of billions of dollars under Immelt.

The difference is the connection between a leader’s skills and personality, and the culture of the organization he or she will lead. The successful leader’s needs must mesh with the corporate culture and the objectives of the organization. Where there is not a good match between these two factors, the leader’s needs will not be met and he or she will struggle to achieve success, even while possessing all of a leader’s best skills. If a leader is simply plugged into an organization without understanding their individual and organizational needs, the person is likely to be set up for failure.

The most successful CEOs possess exceptional leadership traits, and they can communicate these traits to others through mentorship. However, the right environment is the other key predictor in whether a CEO will become a top performer. When both of these factors come together in one company, the result is success for the business as well as the leader.

Developing Potential Leaders

The first in a series about raising awareness and sensitivity to the
needs of leadership development.

by Peter Capodice

Good leadership is key to running top-performing, effective, and financially successful businesses that attract top talent. Consistently, employees rate “poor leadership” as one of the biggest difficulties in performing their jobs. And year after year, we read of businesses in trouble due to leadership gone wrong.

Did you know it’s possible to identify potential leaders, and then develop that potential into peak effectiveness? Capodice & Associates has identified personality traits that consistently indicate leadership qualities. Some traits are obvious, such as decision-making skills and the ability to generate trust. Other traits are less intuitive, such as an acceptance of risk and the tendency to work at a fast pace. Full personality assessments can help identify the “markers” in an individual that will place them in a high-performing leadership category.

In addition to specific personality traits, there are personality types that affect a leader’s successfulness. For example, an authoritarian, blunt, take-charge leader may be less effective in a company culture of democratic decision-making and diplomatic communication. Conversely, the team-oriented manager who prefers to consider all perspectives before making a decision might fail at leadership in an organization of fast-paced, top-down management culture. And fail they do – according to the Center for Creative Leadership 40% of new executives fail in their first 18 months at a new position.

How much does poor leadership cost you? Compared to average leaders, poor leaders:
  • get 10% less productivity out of direct reports
  • have 25% more turnover
  • take longer to fill vacant jobs of direct reports, causing overwork and stress to other direct reports.
  • Source: DDI International.
When a high-performing and high-potential employee is identified, the employee should be placed in roles that give him or her the opportunity to develop those leadership traits. Good coaching and mentoring by seasoned leaders can develop these skills; feedback during high-stress management situations can help guide the emerging leader. The result is an excellent performer who can effectively guide an organization.

This newsletter introduces a topic to be explored over the next few weeks: “Developing Potential Leaders”. One of the most important initiatives in the business world is the necessity of finding the right leader with the skills to manage the organization. Within this series, we’ll explore what it means to find the right talent, develop the potential of a leader, and the role of coaching and mentoring. Through this series, we hope to raise awareness and sensitivity to the needs of leadership development.



About Capodice & Associates

From a dynamic blend of professional search talent, to the most comprehensive assessment tools on the market, Capodice & Associates gives you peace of mind knowing your next hire will be a long-term success.

Contact Us
Capodice & Associates
Midtown Plaza
1243 S. Tamiami Trail
Sarasota, Florida 34239
941-906-1990 Phone
941-906-1991 Fax
www.capodice.com

Fit vs. Skill Set

Which one is most important? Can you have one without the other?
by Peter Capodice

In most cases, fit is determined by having a candidate interview with a number of individuals within the organization. During the interview process, probing behavioral questions are asked as it relates to past and present skills, performance, likes, dislikes etc… Opinions are formed and a determination is made as to how well the individual will or will not fit with in the organization. Here lies the problem with this process. Approximately 50% of the population possesses behaviors that are different than the behavior displayed in the interviews. In order to correct these misperceptions, needs based assessments along with an assessment that measures social perceptions will enable you to accurately predict how the individual will behave within the existing culture.

Skill set is much easier to determine in that the individual must articulate the: who, what, when, where, why, how’s of his/her experience and give very specific examples. This than can be backed up by references who worked directly with the individual and should have the ability to validate. If not, Big Red Flag!

Job Profiling is one of the primary reasons why companies who have used assessments and failed say “assessments don’t work”. Here is why…There many companies out there peddling their personality profiles and making promises that they can reduce turnover and increase productivity by utilizing there tool in the hiring process. Simply speaking they put large groups of people (say CFO’s, Operations, Marketing, Sales, Real Estate, etc…) through their proprietary personality profile/assessment and develop a profile of what that position should look like. The perspective job candidate is than matched against the profile and a determination is made on the individuals’ ability to succeed in the position. The major problem with this is that no two organizations are alike in terms of culture and although an individual may fit the profile to a T, they may fail and fail badly.

So back to the original question of fit or skill set:

First you must find the Skill Set.

Second you must interview and Assess for fit. Skill Set without fit equals failure and Fit without Skill Set equals failure.

Third; because someone does not match a general profile of an outside group, does not mean that they will not succeed in a role. It may help, but it is the last consideration.

About Capodice & Associates
From a dynamic blend of professional search talent, to the most comprehensive assessment tools on the market, Capodice & Associates gives you peace of mind knowing your next hire will be a long-term success.

Contact Us
Capodice & Associates
Midtown Plaza
1243 S. Tamiami Trail
Sarasota, Florida 34239
941-906-1990 Phone
941-906-1991 Fax
www.capodice.com

On-Boarding - Avoiding a train wreck with your new hire

by Peter Capodice

* 90% of new hires make their decision to stay at a company within the first six months.


The on-boarding process in most organizations today consists of completing forms with HR and a few introductions. Generally speaking there are very few organizations who understand the importance of having an on-boarding process and even fewer who actually have one in place. This is leaving new hires frustrated and vulnerable from the start of their employment and causing unnecessary turnover.

In a benchmark report by the Aberdeen Group, organizations that have created an on boarding roadmap have increased their retention rate by greater than 20% and their “time to productivity” by greater than 20%.

With the cost of turnover of an executive new hire exceeding 150% of annual compensation, combined with likelihood of a new executive departing the organization within an eighteen month period, the implications are enormous. Develop and implement your companies on boarding roadmap today!

About Capodice & Associates
From a dynamic blend of professional search talent, to the most comprehensive assessment tools on the market, Capodice & Associates gives you peace of mind knowing your next hire will be a long-term success.

Contact Us
Capodice & Associates
Midtown Plaza
1243 S. Tamiami Trail
Sarasota, Florida 34239
941-906-1990 Phone
941-906-1991 Fax
www.capodice.com

Super Charge Your Productivity

by Peter Capodice

Whether times are good or challenging, I don’t know any organization who doesn’t want to maximize productivity.

In order to do so, you must understand the needs of the individuals within the group. Needs can and do vary significantly from one individual to another. Needs would be defined as the expectations an individual has of how relationships and situations will be governed in a situation or relationship regardless of perceived social correctness. Individual needs describe what it takes in a relationship or situation to feel good about ones self.

When an individual proceeds in a manner that is not consistent with need, the person feels distressed, mistreated and uncomfortable and tends to exhibit less effective behaviors.

For example: an individual with a low activity need and a high thought need will need (even though they usually display an action oriented behavior) ample time to think things through as well as a minimum of prolonged physical demands or mental stress. If the individual is pushed for immediate action, what is most likely to occur, would be delays in necessary action and a substitution for thought vs. action. Given ample time in the same example and you will see someone who is more enthusiastic, vigorous and responds immediately to organizational demands.

When the managers of the organization understand the individual needs of their direct reports and regularly meet those needs, the individuals within the group will perform to their maximum ability.


About Capodice & Associates

From a dynamic blend of professional search talent, to the most comprehensive assessment tools on the market, Capodice & Associates gives you peace of mind knowing your next hire will be a long-term success.

Contact Us
Capodice & Associates
Midtown Plaza
1243 S. Tamiami Trail
Sarasota, Florida 34239
941-906-1990 Phone
941-906-1991 Fax
www.capodice.com

Going Beyond Diversity

When we think of diversity within an organization, we think of men and women, people of many generations, people from ethnically and racially diverse backgrounds etc. We all understand how important this is to compete in the global marketplace. This however is just one block in creating a world class organization. True diversity must also include diversity in behaviors. One example: Thought - the approach to forming conclusions and making decisions; concern for making the right decision the first time; concern over consequences of decisions, and their bipolar opposites. Individuals who are high thought will most likely prefer to consider many options; prefer time to think things through; prefer an abundance of information to evaluate and may appear indecisive and anxious when pressured to take an immediate decision. Individuals who are low thought (this does not mean they do not think) prefer a quicker decision making process; prefer action over cautious consideration of many options and may appear rash or impulsive when stressed by perceived lack of action by others or complicated risk factors and options.

There is significant value on both extremes of this behavior, but depending on the culture, it is most likely underappreciated or disregarded. Managing diverse behaviors as in this one example is not an easy task but with an insightful leader the results can be considerable.

Because of number of individuals and organizations assessed over the past eight years, it has given us unique insight into individual and corporate behaviors as it relates to our topic. One such example of the power of diversity in behaviors is a large restaurant chain (one billion plus in revenue) in the western US. This could be one of the most diverse groups we have seen. The groups’ behavior traits range from one end of the spectrum to the other (literally from very low lows to very high highs). Tough to manage but here is the result: In an economy that has been less than favorable for the restaurant industry as a whole and market segment that has its competitor’s revenues down by as much as 9.5%, this group has increased comp store growth by 3.7%; far better than all their competitors. Rather remarkable for an organization of its size.

Although we have given you just one behavioral component (thought), imagine the power and impact of a wide range of diverse behaviors on any organization, regardless of size. The restaurant example above may provide you with some insight as to the result.

About Capodice & Associates
From a dynamic blend of professional search talent, to the most comprehensive assessment tools on the market, Capodice & Associates gives you peace of mind knowing your next hire will be a long-term success.

Contact Us
Capodice & Associates
Midtown Plaza
1243 S. Tamiami Trail
Sarasota, Florida 34239
941-906-1990 Phone
941-906-1991 Fax
www.capodice.com