CHRIS SEWARD - cseward@newsobserver.com
Brad Wilson of Blue Cross and Blue Shield speaks at the N.C. CEO Forum in Cary. Behind him are Glen Tullman, left, of Allscripts, Dr. Victor Dzau of Duke University Health System and Mark Munday of Elster Solutions.
CARY -- Given recent events, one might have expected Wednesday's N.C. CEO Forum to be dominated by talk about the gyrating stock market, the recent U.S. credit downgrade or fears of a double-dip recession.
While those issues cast a pall over the event, most of the 350 business leaders in attendance were determined to focus on things they're better able to control.
"I think we get too wrapped up in how bad it could be," said Heather Denny, president of McDonald York Building Co. in Raleigh. "Does it concern me? Yes. Does it worry me? No. It doesn't mean tomorrow I'm not going to get up and go back to work."
In many ways, Wednesday's forum, held at Prestonwood Country Club, offered Triangle corporate leaders a temporary refuge from the drumbeat of bad economic news that is ratcheting up fears among employees who thought the worst was over.
"It's an opportunity to look forward. To focus on where you need to go to make that next step," said Bill Twomey, business services and IT manager with Troxler Electronic Laboratories, a Research Triangle Park company that makes measurement equipment for the construction industry. "You've got to look at the positive and try not to dwell on the negative."
Among the lineup of speakers were business author Jim Collins, Allscripts CEO Glen Tullman and Brad Wilson, CEO of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina.
Instead of talk of weak consumer demand and chronic unemployment, the CEOs discussed how a strong corporate vision and culture are vital to a company's success.
That message may seem like a luxury at a time like this, but it made perfect sense to Robert Ferris, CEO of sfl+a Architects in Raleigh.
The drop-off in construction activity forced the company to lay off two-thirds of its staff, and Ferris said the only reason it survived was because the 30 employees who remain pulled together and refocused.
"It's all about vision and culture," he said.
The challenge for many corporate leaders now is keeping their employees from getting distracted by sudden drops in the stock market or fears about Europe's debt crisis.
At Rex Healthcare, employees have the option of meeting with an on-site counselor to discuss how the turmoil in the financial markets may be affecting their retirement accounts.
Rex, like other hospital systems, has been hurt by lingering high unemployment, which reduces the number of insured patients. A one percentage point rise in the unemployment rate costs the hospital about $2.5 million a year, said Mary Lou Powell, Rex's chief nursing officer.
Rex has avoided layoffs by cutting costs but is still seeing about triple the number of nurse applications at a time when it has few openings. Powell said the important thing during a time like this is be open and honest and keep employees well-informed.
"When there's lots of noise going around, you have to put your head down and be focused," she said.
Many companies have grown accustomed in recent years to operating amid uncertainty about their near-term performance.
"The key is to stay really close to your customers to see how all this is going to affect them," said Doug Muzyka, chief science and technology officer with DuPont.
That means checking in regularly to see about possible disruptions to a customer's supply chain or a sudden change in demand.
One didn't have to look hard Wednesday to find signs that the short-term outlook remains grim. Arts in Action, a Durham nonprofit, is on pace to have its worst fundraising year since it was founded in 2005, said director Lisa Van Deman.
"It's impacting individuals comfort level with giving," she said of the shock waves filtering through the economy. "We don't know where the tunnel ends. There's no light. We can't see what's down there."
