-The Michigan Daily --Tuesday, September 17, 1985 - Page 3


COMPUTERS

Computer chief gives secrets to success

By PETER MOONEY
The president of a San Francisco-
based computer company traveled
back to his alma mater yesterday to
tell business students here how he
climbed the corporate success ladder.
'Success takes intelligence, en-
durance, and a hell of a lot of common
sense," Mike Shabazian, University
alumnus and president of Com-
puterland Corporation, told an
audience of about 50 in Hale
Auditorium. His lecture was spon-
sored by the business school's
marketing and entrepreneur clubs.
SHABAZIAN stressed that a good
business person needs a strong com-
mand of interpersonal com-
munication skills. He picked up those
skills as a salesman for IBM, he said,
and they have stayed with him ever
since.
"It's very important for salesmen
to be able to find out what a customer
wants by being able to say 'No' when
you can't provide something they
want."
"A good salesman," Shabazian ad-
ded, "listens 80 percent of the time
and talks 20 percent of the time."
BUT communication skills aren't
the only qualities he ranks high when
interviewing potential employees.
Beyond a broad background in

business, Shabazian said he looks for
"loyalty, not transparency."
"Transparent means you let
everything get through you to me," he
explained. "It means you explain a
decision to your people by saying I
want you to fight it tooth and nail in
my office.
"Then, even if you don't win, you
will be able to explain the decision in-
telligently to your people."
AND, IN another dose of common
sense, Shabazian emphasized the im-
portance of getting along with co-
workers. "Your peers and the people
who work for you are the ones who
will get you promoted," he advised,
"so it's important to learn to work ef-
fectively with them."
As chief executive officer of a com-
pany with $1.4 billion in retail sales,
Shabazian said he often suffers from
"filtration," which results when "top
executives don't know what is going
on in their companies because their
people don't want to tell them."
"They are afraid of being like the
Greek messenger," he said.
ONE WAY Shabazian gave for
easing "filtration" is to rub elbows
with workers and managers all the
way down the corporate ladder.
He spent a day loading trucks at one
of his computer warehouses, and
found the experience so insightful that

'Success takes intelligence, enduran-
ce, and a hell of a lot of common sense.'
-Mike Shabazian,
president,
Computerland Corp.

he required his executives to do the
same.
But Shazabian's rise to success
wasn't flawless. He recommended
that one "never hide a mistake, admit it
to the largest audience you can get.
When people know you are not in-
fallible, they will talk to you."

One mistake he remembers vividly
was his response to a member of the
IBM personal computer development
team to the Charlie Chaplin adver-
tising campaign. "I said I thought it
was the stupidest thing I had ever
seen," he said, "... (but) it turned out
to be phenomenally successful."

Daily Photo by DAN HABIB
Parent abuse?
After a long day of shopping in Ann Arbor, an irritated tot tries to get
his mother's attention.
Nation s debtor status

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threatens credit rating
(continued from Page 1): and enormous deficit spending con-
The United States has now ac- tinues, the United States could face an
cululated enough liabilities overseas extended period of austerity, some
to overwhelm the value of its assets analysts warn.
there, government analysts said. The With a strong dollar and stable in-
exact size of the foreign debt cannot terest rates, the size of the balance of
be pinned down until all 1985 transac- payments deficit has been relegated
tions are recorded early next year. to the background by the ad-
But even more serious, many ministration.
economists warn, is the fact the nation In contrast, President Lyndon
is building up its foreign debt at the Johnson reacted to a 1967 current ac-
fastest rate of any country on record, count deficit of less than $5 billion by
on the way to topping Brazil's $84 imposing government controls over
billion to become the biggest debtor private investments abroad,
on Earth sometime next year. authorizing a cut in overseas lending
THE NATION is risking its now ex- and calling on all Americans to obser-
cellent international credit rating, ve a two-year moratorium on non-
they warn, which is now reflected in essential foreign travel.
the strength of the dollar and the The deficit amounted to 35.8 percent
willingness of investorsa elsewhere to of the value of all exports during the
buy U.S. government securities. quarter, just surpassing the mark in
If that foreign confidence crumbles the third quarter of last year.

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FHAPPEN

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Highlight
The University Activities Center is having a mass meeting at 7:30 p.m.
in the Pendleton Room of the Union.
Films
Cinema Guild - Blow Up, 7 & 9 p.m., Angell Aud. A.
Michigan Theater Foundation - Brother from Another Planet, 7:30 &
9:30 p.m., Michigan Theater
Performances
Ark - John Fahey, 8 p.m., 637,S. Main.
Speakers
Ecumenical Campus Center - Rashid Bashshur, "Lebanon - What
Can the United States Do to Help?" noon, 603 E. Madison.
Thomas Spencer Jerome Lectures - Emilio Gabba, "Adam Ferguson
and the History of the Roman Republic," 4 p.m., Angell Aud. A.
Meetings
Turner Geriatric Clinic - Newcomers' group meeting, 1 p.m., 1010
Wall Street.
Rugby Club - Meeting, 7 p.m., Tartan Turf.
School of Business Administration - Asian Business Association mass
meeting, 4 p.m., Executive Lounge; Placement Office, Interviewing and
recruiting, 4:30 p.m., Hale Auditorium; HRM Club introductory Meeting,
4 p.m., Michigan Room; Student Business Bd. general meeting, 4 p.m.,
Rm. 170; recruiting representative, 5:30 p.m., Paton 1016; Burger King
reception, 6:30 p.m., Executive Annex.
Miscellaneous
Computing Center - Workshops: Z-150 as an MTS terminal, 3 & 7 p.m.,
1013 NUBS.
Chinese Studies - Brown bag lecture, James Crump, "More Songs
From Xanadu", noon, Lane Hall Commons Room.
English - Reading, Stephen Becker, 5:15 p.m., East Conference Rm.,
Rackham.
Extension Service - 1985 Short Courses for assessing personnel, 8:30
p.m., Michigan League, second floor concourse.
HRD - Four-sessions workshop. Jacqueline, "Writing It Right: Lear-
ning the How-to's of Proper Punctuation, 8:30 a.m.; Six week workshop,
Linda McAvinchey, Aerobics, 5:15 p.m., 130 B, LSA.
Microcomputer Education Center - Workshops: Intro to Microcom-
puters, 8:30 a.m.; Basic Concepts of Data Base Management, 1 p.m., 3104
SAB; Lotus 1-2-3 Part I, 1 p.m.; MacManage: Disk and File Management
on the Macintosh, 3 p.m., 3001 SEB.
Matthaei Botanical Gardens - Adult education program, Michigan

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