For some odd reason yesterday, I found myself in the business section of NY Time‘s website when I came across this interview with George Cloutier, an entrepreneur who gets small businesses out of the holes they dig themselves into. He was full of all kinds of glib, but hard-won business wisdom such as “Fire Your Relatives. Scare Your Employees. And Stop Whining.” He also had a tough style of speaking, which fascinated me. Then I realized who he reminded me of: Gordon Ramsay. Clearly, Ramsay and/or his producers must have been aware of Cloutier’s business and his approach to rescuing businesses and realized they could make good TV out of it. With Gordon’s speech resembling a heart monitor and doing the fixer-uppers for ailing restaurants, he had channeled Cloutier without giving props to the man.
A year ago, I read about Cloutier in Robert Frank’s Richistan and forgot about it. Much of the people profiled in that book were new money, especially those that became rich in the late Clinton or Bush years. Apparently, the guilded age Frank mentions is no longer a reality, but Cloutier is still in business because he has a “strong sales organization.” Of course, his customer base, ailing small businesses, is even more desperate than ever and should keep sales going for some time.
According to him, businesses should not blame the recession, saying it “has been an excuse for poor performance.” Businesses need “strong sales organization,” which he’ll happily teach for a fee and the privilege of getting his hands dirty on the job. They, in return, make it possible for him and his wife to attend charity balls and gain social status.
Getting back to why I find this man fascinating is that the interview and his business are about a teaching style. The tough talk and the hard truths, as glib as they can be, center around teachable moments. To teach something, one has to be as direct and succeint like Cloutier. Ramsay has taken this approach with some pop psychology mumbo jumbo and has ruined his clients though airing their dirty laundry on TV. I looked through American Management Service’s list of clients served, and everything listed by industry, not companies. On one hand, Cloutier’s clients are protected by confidentiality, but on the other hand, there isn’t concrete evidence to go on with AMS’s success stories. But money is to be made on some kind of education, especially if the client needs it to survive these uncertain times.
Tags: economics, George Cloutier, Richistan, Robert Frank, small businesses, wealth
