DATE: Sunday, September 14, 1997            TAG: 9709120783

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MICHAEL CLARK, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   68 lines

GENE THERAPY FOR COMPANIES

DNA isn't restricted to the laboratory anymore.

In fact, the nature of cell structure that makes each human so unique is applicable to businesses, too. Like a human being, a business has a distinct and dynamic cell structure.

The cells in a business are employees and helping them achieve goals involves more than focusing on results. It requires envisioning the process necessary to get there, too.

That's the message management expert James R. Ball will bring to BizExpo this week at the Virginia Beach Pavilion.

``The brain has to be able to associate with a goal on a laser-clear basis,'' Ball said from his office in Reston. ``You can't create willpower.''

Author of three books, including ``DNA Leadership through Goal-Driven Management,'' published this year, Ball will present his seminar, ``5 Keys for Achieving Business & Personal Goals,'' on Thursday, BizExpo's final day.

The Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce, which organizes BizExpo, expects to draw about 6,000 people to the 10th annual business-to-business trade show.

In addition to Ball's seminar, BizExpo will feature more than 200 exhibitors, a procurement conference and a regional armed forces job fair. Other highlights include networking sessions and fashion shows.

Seminar participants should come with goals in mind, Ball said. The most important aspect of achieving goals, he said, is not setting them but ``getting'' them.

In ``DNA Leadership,'' Ball writes that goals have no power ``unless the individuals pursuing the goals have bought in to the goals and internalized them as personal wants.''

Inability to summarize goals means ``bodies are operating without guidance systems,'' Ball said. The same is true for businesses, he explains in his book. Before Ball, DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) was known as the powerful building block of human life, but it didn't have much of a connection to the business world.

Three important elements of any company's DNA are its environment, tools and people, Ball said.

``Ask a CEO what's important and the seat of the pants response is `people,' '' he said. ``But people-selection and grooming is dictated by the DNA of companies. . . '' and each employee is a cell.

As in humans, company DNA varies, Ball said.

``When you go into a business like Nordstrom, the DNA feels very differently from any other,'' he said.

The same is true of Arthur Andersen, where Ball worked for 16 years. His last position there was partner in charge of the company's office in Northern Virginia, which targeted high-tech and rapid-growth firms.

``They spend a lot of time developing the DNA fabric,'' he said of Andersen. ``They don't leave it to chance.''

Ball also was co-founder and managing partner of Venture America, a venture capital firm that helped finance the launch and growth of more than 20 firms, including The Discovery Channel.

He is now president of The Goals Institute Inc., which he co-founded to foster fulfillment through goal achievement.

It was at Arthur Anderson that Ball worked with Ed Greene, now president of the Hampton Roads office of Don Richards Associates, a personnel agency that is cosponsoring BizExpo.

Greene, who has known Ball for nearly 30 years, said he expects Ball will be well received.

``He's succinct, straightforward. He's an exciting speaker,'' Greene said. ``He's not a hard-charging Zig Ziglar-type, but he puts things in the perspective of everyday life.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

James R. Ball's seminar is set for Thursday

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