2001 - The Year of Value.

• Author: WIESNER, PAT
• Position: Brief Article

IN AN EFFORT TO BE ABLE to write about what people may be thinking about the stock market, I routinely have meetings with professionals who should know.

Last week I spent an interesting 90 minutes with some prominent trust-fund managers. As you can imagine, all they had to be proud of were those instances where a fund beat some market average, all of which were down. For example, a fund down 3 percent for the year would have been "up" 8 percent over the S&P 500, which was down 11 percent on the year.

Anecdotes about whipsawing dot-com fortunes are plentiful. Young entrepreneurs and investors found themselves worth a million or two and were convinced that the new economy was going to deliver 25 percent per year for the anointed. "A couple of years of this and I can retire young," they figured. Suddenly though, in one year, they have lost half their dream, more in some cases.

What's next? Just about everyone says "back to basics." Stock prices will reflect stock value. A stock will have real value directly proportional to its ability to earn a return for its owner. All those companies with the strange names that you can't spell are going to have to have a P/E greater than zero. By the way, our trust-fund friends told us that they expect 2001 will bring the market up about 10 percent. We'll see.

In the meantime, it will serve us well to think about value. As we prepare for a new year, let's ask ourselves about the value in our relationships, in our jobs and in all the important parts of life.

VALUE IN MANAGEMENT. Where should a manager invest to create value? Clearly in his people. It seems so simple, but many managers don't get it. A manager cannot grow unless his or her people grow. It seems to me that in our company, the No. 1 reason that some sales managers peak in that position is because they never really get out of their own way and facilitate and rejoice in the success of their people. The year 2001 is a good time to...