THE NEW YORK
TIMES ON THE USE OF EXECUTIVE REPRESENTATION
THE NEW YORK TIMES
March 24, 2002
To Foster Your Star Quality, Get an Agent
By AMY ZIPKIN
Movie stars, rock performers and sports celebrities have agents to keep their
careers on track and to negotiate deals. Now, a handful of corporate senior
executives are hiring agents, too.
Firms that specialize in such agents started popping up in the 1990's,
pitching a range of services that they say had never been packaged before.
The first was Executive PR in Portland, Ore., in 1993. Others include
Strategic Transitions Inc., with offices in Los Angeles and New York, STYBEL
PEABODY ASSOCIATES OF BOSTON, Executive Agents in Overland, Kan., Juice
Talent L.L.C. in San Francisco and Waterman Hurst in Stamford, Conn.
The companies' founders say they are filling a void in executive-career
management, offering a second pair of eyes and ears to alert harried senior
executives of opportunities and perils that they may be too busy to notice by
themselves. "A false career move is like going over a 1,000-foot
cliff," said Neal Lenarsky, chairman of Strategic Transitions.
By introducing their clients to the right people, referring them to lawyers
to negotiate compensation packages, setting up speaking engagements,
conducting independent salary reviews and hiring research assistants, agents
say, they are giving executive careers an extra push. "There are stars
and rising stars in the business world, much like in Hollywood and
professional sports," said Bonnie Wan, chief executive of Juice Talent.
Agents aren't exactly taking the corporate world by storm, though. Most of
the ventures are one- or two- person shops catering to executives at
medium-sized firms. Some experts even say that using them could backfire by
creating doubt in prospective employers' minds about the depth of a
candidate's commitment. Big recruiting firms, which work for employers and
are barred from taking on job hunters as clients, shrug off the upstarts as a
blip on the hiring scene.
Even so, some of those recruiting firms privately acknowledge they are
looking for ways to offer similar package deals. And many of the executives
who have sought agents' help say it has made all the difference in the world
to them.
Mark Workman, a former senior vice president for global strategic marketing
at Sony Pictures Entertainment in Los Angeles, credits the talent agent he
hired toward the end of his three-year contract in December 1999 for his new
career as an entrepreneur.
Previously, Mr. Workman consulted a lawyer to learn the
ins and outs of negotiating a pay package. He had also been contacted by
headhunters trying to lure him away from Sony (news/quote). But he wanted to
explore opportunities outside the entertainment industry, and he decided he needed
an interpretive guide.
He found one when he bumped into Mr. Lenarsky of Strategic Transitions at a
media conference. Mr. Lenarsky got his attention by asking, "In the last
year, how much time did you spend planning your career versus your
vacations?" The answer, Mr. Workman said, was "not much."
For seven months, the two men held weekly meetings in Mr. Workman's dining
room, papering the walls with career questions and answers in bold black
letters. Then they met with headhunters, who lined up job interviews. As they
discussed Mr. Workman's strengths and weaknesses, both men slowly realized
that he was more of an entrepreneur than a corporate politician. He liked to
run his own show, take risks and follow his instincts rather than rule books
- and he hated meetings. After turning down an offer to be chief marketing
officer at Excite@home, he decided to go into business for himself.
The relationship didn't stop there. Mr. Lenarsky helped Mr. Workman choose an
office location, seek trademark advice for his company, FirstFireworks Group
Ltd., an entertainment branding and business development agency, and find a
chief operating officer.
Mr. Workman, who is 40, says the company is now thriving but that he never
would have started it without Mr. Lenarsky. "Your wife isn't going to
say, `Let's go out and drain savings to do this,' " he said. "You
need compatriots out there with you. Neal provided that."
Another executive, Thomas McMakin, 40, also sought an agent's help. Mr.
McMakin left his job as chief operating officer of Great Harvest Franchising
Inc., a franchiser of bread bakeries in Dillon, Mont., when it was sold last
year, but he realized his lack of an M.B.A. and his limited professional
network could hamper his search for a new post.
So he hired Joe Meissner, managing director of Executive PR. The two men drew
up a plan to market his skills to a private-equity firm that could eventually
put him in charge of an acquisition.
Mr. Meissner then contacted 20 business associates who could vouch for his
client, wrote letters of introduction to private-equity investors and set up
job interviews. Within five months, Mr. McMakin had joined McCown De Leeuw, a
private-equity investment firm in California, as an operating consultant.
His first assignment was to explore opportunities in the adventure- travel
industry. Mr. Meissner helped him edit his report, and when the project was
scrapped after Sept. 11, hired a researcher to help him find possible
acquisitions. Both men believe the firm will eventually buy a company that he
can run.
Not everybody is convinced that hiring a talent agent makes sense. "You
don't want someone you hire to be so blatantly self-promotional," said
Robert E. Mittelstaedt Jr., vice dean for executive education at the Wharton
School at the University of Pennsylvania. Hiring managers, he says, may
wonder how long a candidate who is represented by a talent agent will stick
around.
Executive search firms also harbor reservations. Peter D. Crist, vice
chairman of Korn Ferry/International in Chicago, said that even if he could
represent individuals, he wouldn't do so. Executives who want full-service
counseling should hire an executive coach, a lawyer and a financial manager
to do the things each does best, he said.
Even so, the emergence of talent agents represents a healthy impulse, some
experts say. "Maybe a power shift is going on," Dr. Mittelstaedt
said. "Executives who are really good are not going to let the
corporation control their life anymore."
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