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BUSINESS Saturday 15 September 2018
A25

Delegate, delegate? It's not so easy, business owners say

By JOYCE M. ROSENBERG "Eventually you realize that
NEW YORK (AP) — Although you are the bottleneck and
Soyini Chan-Shue easily not delegating is hurting
delegated work to police the company," says Robert
officers when she was a ser- Glazer, the CEO of market-
geant in the New York City ing company Accelera-
Police Department, it was tion Partners and a board
hard to relinquish tasks to member at other compa-
employees of the security nies. He's learned from his
firm she now owns. own experience, and also
The key difference for her? from the struggles of own-
Chan-Shue worked in an ers he's advised.
NYPD office that formulat- People need to accept
ed policy and she was part that the tasks they del-
of a chain of command. egate won't be done per-
At her own company, she's fectly all the time, Glazer
the one in charge. says.
"It can be nerve-wracking "When things don't turn
to give my staffers the au- out as planned, they feel
tonomy to make decisions they should not have del-
I formerly made, but I real- egated. You have to break
ized that I can't effectively out of that cycle," he says.
grow my business if I don't," In this Sept. 7, 2018, photo Soyini Chan-Shue poses for a portrait at City Safe Partner's office in New "Success is it being 85 per-
says Chan-Shue, CEO of York. cent right without having to
City Safe Partners in New Associated Press do the work themselves."
York. Lawrence Kopp struggled
When a business is large prospecting for and deal- at his company, Sawhorse than 40 staffers since to delegate for the first de-
enough that the owner ing with customers, hiring Media, whose business in- Galant and business part- cade he owned The TASC
must delegate decisions new workers or overseeing cludes Muck Rack, a web- ner Lee Semel founded it Group public relations firm.
and tasks — even to trust- production. Beyond tak- site for journalists and pub- in 2009. Galant realized When a client wanted to
ed employees — it can be ing pride in being a super- lic relations professionals. early on that the company appear on a network TV
a psychic shock, especially hero owner, they fear what "You feel like you are the wouldn't be able to ex- morning news show, Kopp
for entrepreneurs used to might happen if a staffer business, and now you're pand that way unless he wouldn't let a staffer call a
doing everything them- makes a costly mistake. letting someone else do turned over some tasks to producer to make the ar-
selves. Many pale at the Greg Galant remembers the business unchecked," employees. Among them: rangements.
idea of asking managers feeling "a mixture of ter- he says. maintaining the company's "I always felt that I was the
and top staffers to take on ror and pride" as he gave The New York-based com- books and monitoring web- only one who had the an-
critical responsibilities like his staff more responsibility pany has grown to more site traffic. swer," Kopp says.q

US retail sales up just 0.1 pct.

after previous strong gain

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER more optimistic outlook on early read on consumer
Associated Press the economy. That sug- spending, which drives
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. gests that retail sales could about two-thirds of eco-
retail sales barely rose rebound in the coming nomic activity.
in August as consumers months. Sales at gas stations jumped
slowed their spending after "The trend in retail spend- 1.7 percent, an increase
a robust month of shopping ing is still solid, fueled by job that reflected higher prices
in July. growth and rising wages," at the pump. Excluding gas In this Thursday, Aug. 30, 2018, photo, a prospective buyer looks
over a 2019 Cooper S convertible on the showroom floor of a
The Commerce Depart- said Ben Ayers, senior econ- stations, retail sales slipped Mini dealership in Highlands Ranch, Colo.
ment said Friday that the omist at Nationwide. "We 0.1 percent, the first decline Associated Press
value of purchases ticked expect retail sales to pick since January.
up just 0.1 percent last up again in coming months Sales increased at electron- and prepared to spend. workers, 20 percent more
month, the smallest in- to continue a strong 2018 ics and appliance stores, Americans borrowed more than last year.
crease in six months. But for consumer activity." sporting goods stores, res- in July, increasing credit The economy expanded at
the sluggish figure may Still, auto sales fell 0.8 per- taurants and bars, and a card debt and student and a robust 4.2 percent annual
prove only a temporary cent last month, and cloth- category that includes on- auto loans — a sign of con- rate in the April-June quar-
blip. It partly reflected fall- ing stores sales plunged 1.7 line and catalog retailers. fidence in their ability to re- ter, the strongest growth in
ing prices for items like percent, the steepest drop Online and catalog sales pay the debt. four years. That growth was
clothing, and it followed a in 18 months, though that have jumped 10.4 percent Retailers expect a solid win- lifted by solid consumer
strong gain of 0.7 percent figure mostly reflected low- compared with a year ear- ter holiday shopping sea- spending, which increased
in July. er-priced clothing rather lier, a much larger increase son and are announcing 3.8 percent. Analysts fore-
Consumer confidence than declining demand. than the 6.6 percent rise in plans to ramp up their hir- cast growth will slip in the
soared to its highest level Retail sales are closely overall sales. ing of seasonal staff. Target current July-September
in 18 years in August as monitored by economists There are other signs that said this week that it plans quarter to a still-healthy 3
Americans expressed a because they provide an consumers are optimistic to hire 120,000 temporary percent annual pace.q