Bring Out Your Dead  The annual report is not dead. What is dead is the courage, imagination, and vision of many corporate executives that see the report as an expensive time-consuming financial document that is no longer relevant to their shareholders. While this description may be true, it’s not whole truth.

Beta, eight track tapes, the Walkman® and transistor radios are also dead, but the need for music delivered directly to individuals is not. In fact, the desire to select and edit one’s own music is greater than ever. The method of delivery has changed, not the need.

Checking for a Pulse  In 1991, the American Institute of Graphic Arts/Chicago Chapter, the Investment Analysts Society of Chicago and the National Investor Relations Institute/Chicago Chapter joined together to review, identify and recognize the best in annual reporting among Midwest public companies through the Triad Awards program.

There are no fees or submission forms required from publicly traded companies headquartered in the Midwest. The reports are reviewed using a performance-based criteria designed to determine how well each company presents its mission and methodology to its shareholders. The top ten winners are notified and awards presented.

In the past 14 years and 14,000 reports there are three qualities consistent between those companies that regularly place in the top 25 each year: imagination, resourcefulness and leadership. The smartest companies recognize that while the need for the annual’s financial information is no longer critical, the direct communication between a company’s management and its shareholders is. And, because the annual is audited for accuracy by an unbiased third party, it carries with it a believability not found with other communication vehicles.

Getting Off Life Support  Imaginative and resourceful managements have seized this opportunity to bring their shareholders closer to the company by explaining in personal terms what they hope to accomplish and how. In this way, a bridge of trust is built and the distance between them is reduced by understanding and loyalty.

In today’s business world, success is stimulated by the symbiotic relationship between investors and those managing their investments. Everything a company’s management can do to demonstrate their intelligence and willingness to communicate will go a long way toward generating the real currency of Wall Street: Trust.

At Essex Two, we know that without an investment of trust and the commitment of loyalty, there will be no investment of capital. Our task is to help senior managers articulate the aspirations they have for the organizations they lead and how they intend to accomplish their objectives. Visit the Essex Two website for case studies that demonstrate our ability to stimulate the success of our clients.

Worth your time:  In this section of our missive we regularly recommend books, films and/or exhibitions. This month we have a challenge for you. Visit a magazine store, not a drug store, book store, grocery store or news stand. Invest thirty minutes and take a good long look at what’s out there. Who’s reading what? Who is selling their products in what publications? How many different magazines are there speaking to seemingly niche interest groups? Discover that the internet has not killed print and reading. Send us the names of your most interesting finds.