CNNfn Interview Transcript - October 1, 2002

CNNfn Interview With Stevie Awards President Michael Gallagher
October 1, 2002

Maverick of the Morning: Awarding the Good Guys in Business

Rhonda Schaffler, Michael Farr

10/01/2002

RHONDA SCHAFFLER, CNNfn ANCHOR, MARKET CALL:

Yet once again, more talk of corporate scandals in Washington. Of course, this raises overall concerns about how businesses are operating. It’s not all negative. Our "Maverick of the Morning" believes far more companies are doing the right thing, and he’s created a venue to award them for that. Michael Gallagher is the founder of the Stevie Awards and joins us as our "Maverick of the Morning." It’s very good to have you here.

MICHAEL GALLAGHER, FOUNDER, THE STEVIE AWARDS: Thank you, Rhonda. Thank you, Mike.

SCHAFFLER: You know, in the news business, we tend to focus on the negative. That’s what makes news.

GALLAGHER:

Sure.

SCHAFFLER: But sometimes the perception is that everyone’s doing something wrong and that you’ve got all these executives running amuck. It’s not the case.

GALLAGHER: It’s not the case at all.

SCHAFFLER: And you’re going to not only find those great executives. You’re going to award them.

GALLAGHER: That’s right. There are 5 million businesses in this country. And our feeling is that the great majority of them don’t get enough recognition for the wonderful things they do and the wonderful things that the people who work at the companies do on a daily basis.

So we’ve created an award that we hope will become recognized as sort of the Oscars for business. And we do have categories for best executive, but we also have categories for best sales person, best support staffer, best product development team, best customer service organization. We have categories for best corporate Web site.

So it’s not just about recognizing good executives. It’s about recognizing everyone across the spectrum of business who does great work.

MIKE FARR, CNNfn GUEST HOST, MARKET CALL: This could be, then, a good motivator for employers of the - to motivate their employees. How do you go about nominating someone? What’s the process? And is there a fee involved? How does it work?

GALLAGHER: There is a fee involved. We have a Web site: www.stevieawards.com. Anyone can download nomination forms from there. And the process of completing a nomination is essentially telling the story of what this person or the company or the sales team accomplished in the past year.

And we’ll have three months of judging next year, January through April, preliminary round. Every nomination will be reviewed by at least five professionals who are qualified to judge that category. And then our board of distinguished judges and advisers will choose the winners in April.

FARR: And how much to nominate? Sorry. What is it - I’m going to have to go back and nominate all my employees now. What is it going to cost me?

GALLAGHER: Well, it depends on the category. If you’re nominating an individual, it`s $200 per nomination. If you’re nominating an entire company or an entire sales organization, it’s $400 per nomination.

FARR: OK.

SCHAFFLER: And as far as what this might generate beyond the simple award process - I don’t mean it’s simple. But I just seems that you’re trying to change the mindset beyond having a contest here. So I want to focus, too, on are we going to start telling stories where we do award the good and the good are what are made examples rather than the bad?

GALLAGHER: Exactly. There’s a lot of business accomplished on a daily basis. But life is about business. We’re all in business. We all accomplish sometimes wonderful things on a daily basis that not many people hear about.

And we think this award gives companies an opportunity to shine a light on their employees, to give them a moment in the sun and to give them the sort of recognition that the people in the entertainment industry or the advertising industry have on a regular basis.

SCHAFFLER: It’s interesting because it seems that a lot of companies are so bogged down by the fact that we know profits are terrible, the economy’s not doing much better. But it’s the simple things to reward employees that so many companies, they just miss this whole big picture thing, a pat on the back. I find that astounding.

GALLAGHER: That’s right.

SCHAFFLER: Because you hear this time and time again from people. So you know, maybe you’ll send a message that is very useful and helps in business.

GALLAGHER: We think so. We think the time is right for this.

SCHAFFLER: Michael Gallagher, the time, perhaps, could never be better. Thank you so much.

GALLAGHER: Thank you.

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