Milliken – “Inexperienced and insular leadership team; short on leadership and decisiveness; searching for strategic direction.”

Pros

Very collegial management work force; easy to make relationships; pleasing daily work environment; company well-regarded locally (in its core southeast locations) as a good citizen and community cornerstone; financially strong; likely to remain independent and private for foreseeable future

Cons

Inexperienced leadership team; indecisive on executing growth ideas (the same areas are repeatedly analyzed, rarely adopted but also not rejected, begetting an endless cycle of unproductive evaluations); loathe to make a significant acquisition; disinterest by leadership to take ownership of any idea; unclear growth vs. dividend preference from the Board; little outside company or outside industry experience among business unit heads (for most, entire career there); little authority at the division level; default decision-making appears to come from top leadership group; no COO position; very slow and counterproductive capital allocation process; difficult to fairly evaluate as a great place to work, not bad but not good or even noteworthy in any particular regard; two significant restructurings in last 9 months

Advice to Senior Management

Improve leadership as individuals and as a team; commit to areas of growth and execute larger acquisitions; redefine a meaningful career path for different professional areas; evaluate future direction for divisions