I have just read an article in a British newspaper about the Chief Executive of failed banking organization Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) being paid a ‘consulting’ fee to help Lloyds TSB, the bank that is taking them over to identify the weaknesses of the company. The fee for this consulting arrangement is a staggering 60:000 pounds per month!

Under his leadership, bad debts have doubled to 5.2 billion over the last five months and although he has forgone a golden goodbye of nearly one million pounds, he has the small consolation of a 2.4 million pension pot and of course the ‘consulting’ relationship, not to mention the potential loss of 20:000 jobs as a result of the Government backed nationalization of high street banks.

There is an argument that it doesn’t really matter if the executive leadership of large, public companies fail, they will probably leave with far more money than most people will see in a lifetime, when of course, the shareholders that back the companies end up losing.

But what about the humble entrepreneurs out there who have huge amounts of desire, ambition and of course, the winning ideas that will ultimately create wealth and jobs? If an entrepreneur fails, he or she will just become another one of many in the statistics of business failures and as most successful entrepreneurs will testify, they are certain to face failure at least once during their journey.

Three good examples of hugely successful entrepreneurs in Britain are Sir Philip Green, Sir Alan Sugar and of course, Sir Richard Branson - did they experience failure? Definitely. What I am saying is that out there is a huge pool of potential and existing entrepreneurial talent and that is the talent that needs nurturing and most of all, Government help.

It is of course election day here in the US and my money is on…

~Neil