Gannett Suburban Newspapers, Friday, March 20, 1994 When he signed on as human resources director for Iberia Airlines, Mamaroneck resident Manuel Boado was willing to work in its Los Angeles headquarters for a year – or until Iberia moved to New York City.

But when Iberia moved its headquarters to Miami two years ago, Boado quit.

His wife’s work as a psychiatrist, the best interests of his children and his idea for a new business venture compelled Boado to go it alone at age 52. He launched Spanusa, inc. which recruits bilingual executives for area corporations. The gamble worked: Two years later, Boado has a dozen corporate clients and associated offices in Mexico City and Buenos Aires, Argentina.

He’s in step with the times. Whether on the rocks or taking the ‘90s by storm, companies are seeing more executives striking out on their own.

"Of the people who found new jobs last year, 74 percent moved to smaller companies,: said John Challenger, executive vice president of Challenger, gray & Christmas inc., an international outplacement company based in Chicago. "There were also a lot more entrepreneurs. In the last quarter of 1993, 18 to 20 percent of the people who found new jobs went to work for themselves. Five years ago it was only 8 to 12 percent."

There are two key reasons why successful employees voluntarily leave successful businesses.

• As the economy slipped into recession in the late 1980s, corporate loyalty declined. Results of a Gallup Poll released in December showed that 29 percent of employees believe their coworkers do not have a strong sense of loyalty to their company.

"People are tired of being at the mercy of a corporation or the government" said Roberta Jean Bryant, who teaches a class in successful self-employment at the University of Washington.

• Priorities are changing. The definition of success has changed dramatically for most Americans in the past five years, shifting from the traditional money-career-power orientation to one that stresses relationships, free time and self-fulfillment, according to a recent Roper Organization national survey of 1, 027 adults.

"Circumstances changed my definition of success," Boado said. "It used to be position, responsibility, salary, authority, and achieving results. Now it’s about control of your own life, getting away from politics, bureaucracy, back stabbing."

By Bill Varner
Staff writer