Executive Suite: David Schwartz

David Schwartz is an organizational man. As owner of organizational-consulting firm Executive Confidential in Hauppauge, he advises executives on how to make their companies function better. Schwartz, a former marketing entrepreneur who owned 21st Century Marketing until he sold it in 2007, also serves as president of the Organizational Development Network Long Island, a 6-year-old group that focuses on best workplace practices and innovation. 

What is foremost on business owners' minds these days?
"First and foremost is survival. In spite of all these words of a good economy . . . the realities are most of the business people I know, most of the companies I deal with, even those who may be doing better, are still very much upset, frightened, concerned and anxiety- filled. It's a whole new world. The way they did business has changed. . . . America's place in the universe has changed. It affects all of us on Long Island. It affects every CEO. They want to know, 'How do we compete effectively today? How can we compete globally? How do they reinvent themselves?' . . . There is a lot of pressure from government [over] regulation compliance. These issues are overwhelming to the small and medium business. . . . CEOs, presidents and executive teams. They're in tremendous pain. And I can feel their pain. 

Can you talk more about that pain?
"They sit around in boardrooms. They want to keep the jobs. They want people to work. They want people to make more money, but the old formulas don't work anymore. They need more part-time employees. They need fewer full-time employees . . . They need contract-type work. They need experts in very specialized areas, and they need to let go and not be encumbered with full-time compensation when they need to have problems fixed." 

When do executives seek your help?
"In most cases the CEO or an executive team recognizes they're facing challenges: whether performance has dropped off across their organization; there's infighting; there's a lack of communication, there's bitterness between principals and partners. So they know that there are issues, or simply they're trying to run a best-in-class organization. . . . My role in those cases is to find out what's the common ground. . . . What is the real heart of the issues." 

How would you define good leadership in a company?
"I believe that there is tremendous transparency and clarity with great leadership, that there is vision and there is goal-setting, and we're all aligned. Everyone is together, whether we are a little organization or a huge organization. I know what this company stands for, why it exists, what its purpose is, because leadership has established that with clarity. . . . Most companies lack it because the leader does not have clarity about where they are going, or in some cases the leader could be second- or third-generation, and they don't have the passion or enthusiasm or excitement for the business."  

Corporate Snapshot 

Name: David O. Schwartz.

Title: President.

Organization: Executive Confidential in Hauppauge.

What it does: Provides executive coaching, behavioral assessments, selling strategies and strategic planning.

Clients: 35 small and medium-size businesses, majority on Long Island; he mostly works with CEOs, presidents and executive teams.