FOREWORD

It's about time. . . .

At some point in your business career you will own, or work for, do business with, buy from, sell to, finance, or advise a business in drastic need of a turnaround. With virtually similar certainty you will prove to be unprepared for such a challenge. It doesn't matter what college you graduated from or what company you rose within. You will lack knowledge of even the most rudimentary facets of how to deal with such a reality. In fact, you won't know where to turn for help … until now. The business world needs this book, and Jeff Sands is uniquely qualified to deliver its message.

Perhaps your interest in business turnarounds is sparked by the hard reality that you presently find yourself engaged in one; or maybe you're impressively proactive and wish to forever avoid the need for one (bravo!); or maybe you wish to become a turnaround artist yourself. Happily, in these pages you will learn from someone who has played each of these roles. Not only will you learn the broad concepts of various approaches, but you can literally compile a to‐do list for first‐day activities, staff management, leadership, cash‐preservation methods, strategy development, stake holder relations … all of it. Best yet, these recommendations and the entertaining war stories that portray them, are offered up by someone who has been there, done that.

Although I am presently a professor of entrepreneurial practice at Syracuse University's Whitman School of Management, teaching has been a comparatively recent vocation. In the 20‐plus years prior, I co‐founded and built a commercial finance company from the ground up. I unexpectedly crossed paths with Jeff Sands while trying to find an acquirer for one of my client firms. My client had just notified me that their remaining corporate life expectancy was measured in just days. I didn't fancy having to don my executioner's outfit (initiating the process of shutting them down), and I personally liked the firm's owner. So I resolved to help find a solution. After networking with regional professionals for just half a day, the name Jeff Sands repeatedly arose. Like many, I knew that turnaround operators existed, but I knew little of this exotic practice or their methods.

With great speed and skill, Jeff engaged with my troubled client, conducted as much due diligence as could be readily completed, and within days had obtained a strong working knowledge of the problems facing this struggling company. With the agreement of my firm to forebear (a concept you'll soon learn more about) and my commitment to continue to provide funding, Jeff got to work. In the coming weeks and months, he achieved Herculean results by studiously following the very principles outlined in this book.

Some time later, after I entered academia, my administrators graciously encouraged me to create a course of my choosing. We quickly seized upon the topic of “Entrepreneurial Turnarounds.” My premise was that many struggling enterprises could be successfully revived through the application of entrepreneurial principles. Surely, I thought, there must be many such business school courses around the country. As I began the task of laying out the curriculum, I quickly realized that (1) there are precious few university courses that focus on this topic anywhere in the world, (2) there is no publication or book designed as a text for such a course, and (3) in fact, there are hardly any publications anywhere that truly deliver the how‐tos of turning a business around.

Undaunted, I immediately sought Jeff's opinions. He confirmed all my observations about the dearth of practical knowledge in this industry, and graciously agreed to assist me in course development. He sat for recorded interviews and provided supportive counsel throughout. Whether that experience helped form the genesis of this book, only its author knows. But I can tell you that this book stands alone among others on the industry bookshelf. Of course you can buy tomes written by famous industry titans that regale readers of their abundant wisdom as they embellish their exploits in their career's singular turnaround of a large company. Of interest is that these very same leaders were supported by legions of consultants and strategists, and they rarely dirtied their hands with the actual heavy lifting needed in a turnaround. Unfortunately, to glean practicable and implementable knowledge to create similar magic for your enterprise, you'd need to read dozens of such books.

Instead, Jeff Sands has written a how‐to book with his sleeves rolled up and a decade of experience dripping from every fast‐turning page. He takes real‐world business concepts, some of them esoteric, and with a humorous flair, implants the seeds of knowledge throughout. Herewith an industry practitioner has written a book that delivers abundant education to everyone fortunate enough to turn its pages. You will come to realize that many businesses left to die could have enjoyed a better fate had their leaders proved smarter, or more aware of the task before them. Jeff correctly points out that the dearth of true instructional material on this topic is profound. In writing this book, he pulls back the curtain to enable readers to see the mechanics of how true turnaround professionals operate. In sharing his wisdom, we now have the chance to learn turnaround intricacies from a national‐caliber, award‐winning practitioner.

Regardless of the circumstance that has brought you to these pages, I promise you that this book and the knowledge it imparts will make you a better business person in innumerable ways. It may end up saving your business, enabling you to avoid future crisis, or developing a turnaround strategy “for a friend.” It may even, as it does each year with my students, cause you to contemplate a career as a turnaround professional saving the jobs and careers of many.

Kenneth P. Walsleben
Professor of Entrepreneurial Practice
Whitman School of Management
Syracuse University