Consultations

Consultation, expert opinion, and testimony. Expert consultation regarding a variety of medical-legal issues for plaintiffs, defendants and the court; custody and divorce, medical malpractice, sexual molestation and harassment, medical fraud, hospitalization, suicide, confidentiality, ethics, therapist-patient boundary violations, personal injury, RICO, wrongful death and others.

Child Psychiatry Consultation, Kaiser – Permanente, Dallas, Texas

1994 – 1997

Consultant – Dallas Child Guidance Clinic, Dallas, Texas

1981 – 1990

Consultant to the Board – Dallas Child Guidance Clinic, Dallas, Texas

1980

Fowler Adolescent Residential Treatment Center

1978 – 1981

Terrell State Hospital, Child & Adolescent Services, Terrell, Texas

1977 – 1979

Camp LeJeune Base Schools, North Carolina

1975 – 1977

Onslow County Mental Health Center, Children's Service, Jacksonville, North Carolina

1975 – 1977

Department of Social Services, Onslow County, North Carolina

1975 – 1977

Child Advocacy Committee, Naval Regional Medical Center

1975 – 1977

PACT

1975 – 1977

MHMR, COCARE (Children's Service), Dallas, Texas

1975

Pediatric's Clinic, Children's Medical Center, Dallas, Texas

1974 – 1975

Plano Child Guidance Clinic, PLano, Texas

1974–1975

MHMR (Adult) Center, Dallas, Texas

1972–1973

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Dr. Blotcky has been requested by judges, lawyers and law enforcement agencies to assess the mental health of individuals. Please see the Forensic Practice page for more details.

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Business psychology combines understanding of both the business world and psychology. Dr. Blotcky interviews and consults with business owners, managers and employees who are seeking effective people that have an insight into themselves and insight into what motivates others. Some of the questions asked are: What is keeping you from the results you want? What behaviors need to be different in team members to accomplish the results? What business challenges are you facing? This is particularly useful in family business disputes, succession strategies and departure strategies.

1. Patriarch/Matriarch Early Questions
2. Financial needs - assets, income, goals.
3. Future of the business.
4. Valuation of the business/industry trends.
5. Availability of competent family successors.
6. Capacity to relinquish control and tolerate risks.
7. Personal future business plans.
8. Family relationships — positives/negatives; assessment of a widely participator process.

1. Transfer to family — gifts/estate/buy-sell
2. Joint venture
3. Stock options/ESOPs
4. IPO
5. Franchising

1. Principals'' acceptance of mortality, retirement.
2. Appoint members to B.O.D's who are objective and outside circle of family and ownership.
3. Regular strategic-planning meetings of family members and key non-family employees.
4. Dialogue with outside consultants — lawyers, accountants, financial planners, and estate planners.
5. Separate issues of love and fairness from issues of competence.
6. Prepare for the unexpected.
7. Invest the time, energy, and money to support the transition and train the next leadership team.

1. Family conflicts, loyalties — strengths/inadequacies
2. Failure to plan pro-actively — denial of inevitable
3. Failure to seek competent consultation
4. Resistance to letting go — abruption of process

Succession planning must deal with the complexity of emotions, loyalties, and conflicts among family members. Each feels a vested interest in the company's future; must expect some involvement and income. Their view of their proper role and financial take must be squared with the needs of the business to be sustainable and grow.

The challenge is (1) to select the child or family member(s) who will most probably ensure the family business, thus enhancing the financial gain of all, (2) to provide some appropriate role for others and (3) to do so while maintaining family harmony. This harmony needs to be guided very proactively through an energetic process that is enlightened to the importance of developing as much consensus as possible — a consensus that also supports corporate success for the benefit of the many. Infighting can be alarmingly destructive to the transition process interfering in good business decisions.

The issues of ownership/wealth and management/control must be considered separately. The next generation must accept the business as a responsibility, an exciting challenge and not simply a self—sustaining gift that pumps out cash and value with little leadership effort.
Outside consultation by a variety of professionals and possibly a business advisory board must be addressed with an open attitude, which allows the advice to be integrated as appropriate to the situation.

The next generation can be helped immeasurably by a diverse external advisory committee as well as individual consultants. However, these family members must be open, flexible and able to help formulate a plan, which they can be flexible enough to embrace. This is most often a neglected domain of focus — an active plan to resolve family jealousies, conflicts, loyalty conflicts, and other emotion issues that can undermine the planning and the execution of that plan. This is best viewed as process driven and is the focus of an outside consultant with the skills requisite to resolving emotional family issues and building a consensus. Psychologists and psychiatrists familiar with work in consultation, family therapy and business operations can be invaluable as a member of the consulting team. A key is to help all parties feel a part of the process.

The relationship between loved family members and business success leads to the complexity of decision-making. From this derives the imperative for an ongoing process. Minimizing or ignoring these complexities is always an error. The desire to make everyone happy is often impossible to achieve, and if this is the only goal, may lead to a failure of the business itself. Unqualified leaders may easily be chosen if this philosophy prevails. A narrow focus on business success can similarly destroy family relationships. A process must be developed which involves current leadership, family members, and objective advisors and consultants in order to focus all parties on a successful business transition and family progression.

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1. Family members' desired goals in their relationships to each other.
2. Family members' commitment to the business - loyalty, capital, ownership, management.
3. Next generation's attitude about investing, employment, managing and owning a family business, i.e., as contrasted with another enterprise or public company.
4. Family members' attitude about who should lead and how they as a family will handle this amongst themselves.
5. Unravel the relationships in the family for open discussion to facilitate what it will take to transition the business operating successfully.
6. Spouses' attitudes — marital relationships, employment, financial security, income, ownership and management.
7. Individual leadership, successors' competence and organizational structure.
8. Analysis of business within its field, niche, market place, the current economy, etc.

1. Monarchs — unwilling to let go or consider transition planning; unable to compromise or revise their dream. Successors may be ill prepared and resentful.
2. Generals — better able to accept their dream status; realize great leaders plan for succession and ensure continuity; have difficulty implementing the planned transition; successors may experience power given and then removed; may chose successors of weaker leadership skill.
3. Ambassadors — turns over marginal authority and finds a new role as an advisor or representative; can accept the status of their dream; take pride in their successors; promote independence in successors.
4. Governors — actually can sever the ties with the family business and move on to retirement or new entrepreneurial enterprises; accept status of their dream; take pride in successor and promote their independence and success.