The talks I presume go on with making the best deals possible. No question, when the first couple happen, the rest will be at the door. BIEL has a history of trying to hit home runs and holding our for the right pitch. Except, Andy Whelan brought on a ball player who knows full well that singles and doubles are key in the pharma sector.
I used to think maybe Whelan had a touch of 'Founder's Syndrome' but no cash will motivate solving that or he will be broke. Let me ask the questions here that I have been asked by others.....
Is he stupid? No. Wouldn't have accomplished what he has for us if he were.
Getting too old and set in his ways to be running around all nimble making deals? Maybe, but that's what he brought Keith Nalepka on board for.
Stubborn and hard to get along with? Yup, no question....Irish, Marine, bearing down fast on 80, been through a meat grinder with the FDA and SEC....I'm picced and tired just writing about it.
Control freak? Don't know, don't work with him day in and out.
Why can't this guy make a deal in the biggest market in the world, with foot and knee clearances, especially since Nalepka has brought in CVS and KT Tape and Dr. Scholls for discussions all in the last year or so?
I thought that email posed the best question. My best 3 answers are i)that either Whelan is independently wealthy and doesn't need dough, which means he has to have a net worth north of $25 million and he should not be running this company while hurting shareholders for ten or more years because he's not hungry enough; ii) he has something serious going on psychologically, other that being a stubborn, old, contrarian, Irish idjit, that causes him to avoid saying yes and pulling the pickle out of you know what and where and making the critical first deals to start the Tsunami; or iii) he's lost a few steps because of advancing age combined with having been beaten up for 10 to 15 years, maybe longer, and can't see the forest for the trees that he needs to just get out of his own way.
If it's not one of those 3, but something else, we've got a serious problem. If it is one of those 3 then he needs a kick in the a$$, preferably by the guy he sees when he's shaving every morning. If he's got lots of money in the bank or available, payroll's current and the payables are current, then it's a patience issue and I'm long on patience.
If he has little or no money, because I don't know the financials today or he's running close on payroll and payables, then those are the 3 big red flags, he's probably got a touch of, or approaching, dementia and may have an impairment preventing self-examination and introspection, so someone else has to kick his a$$. I hope I'm wrong, but that's what reflection is about. How am I doing . No, how am I really doing?
But sooner, hopefully not later, he has to do some reflection and say, "almost 2 years since receiving FDA OTC clesrance for the foot and knee and I, Andy Whelan have not consummated a retail deal in the USA, therefor is it me? Am I standing in my own way?"
If there is a 5% chance the answer is yes, he'd better have a succession plan in place, yesterday. Best way to find out is meet with loved ones and ask the questions, ask them. Meet with senior employees and ask the questions. Takes courage, but one thing Andy Whelan has never been short on is courage. Been said many times, 'Only a fool doesn't change his mind!' Smart CEOs conduct annual surveys on themselves and their management teams. Dictators do not. Never been a Dictator in history, especially in business, who retired as a successful, well liked and respected executive with a pension. They get turfed, and/or are hated and it's nothing to do with money!
There are many executives who could help make BIEL an extraordinary success, if there is a serious deal-making problem. But, no one can do it if Andy Whelan is sabotaging his own success for one or more of a myriad of reasons. I'm 54 and a lawyer and CEO and successes I've had were always because of someone else and never me. One hard, fast rule I adhere to is 'Lead, follow, or get out of the way!" When I bump into folks that don't get that, I say thank you and scram....because I'm looking at a guy who thinks he can do it all on his own.....
BIEL...ActiPatch...it's got huge potential as a 7 to 10 cent stock, maybe more in the 3 to 5 years range, but only if it's led and managed well. Only if Andy Whelan still has the mustard to delegate responsibly and close a deal or two to start branding the gizmo that his shareholders have financed with millions of their hard-earned $$$, for more than a decade. If he thinks for one second that BIEL is about only him and not his shareholders, then it's simple, he's just plain crazy......I feel better BIEL YKW
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