For those following my blog, you may recall that I had written about the Client Advisory Board we formed last year. It’s been a great way for us to get candid feedback and input on our product direction and overall strategy. Last fall, we invited everyone to San Francisco for our annual meeting and had very engaged discussions on the pros and cons of various initiatives under consideration.

During these discussions, we identified an interesting concept which we developed into a new service launched earlier this year. As many of you know, our analysis is regularly cited by the media. Often, a number is provided but with little or no information on how the data was gathered and compiled. As a result, our clients, as executive compensation experts, will often be asked “where did that figure come from?” Well, wouldn’t it be great to have a service that provided detailed answers on how these numbers were calculated? Hence, the birth of Behind the Numbers (BTN), an innovative service designed to provide our clients direct access to the exact data behind the figures and analysis being cited by the media.

I want to thank our Advisory Board members for their input in helping this come together. Our discussions with them at the annual meeting and subsequent follow up calls were critical in making sure we did this right. And since launching the service last month, it’s quickly become one of the most active sections of our website. For example, I’d like to share with everyone an email from one of our clients shortly after our launch.

In addition, I am proud we continue to introduce innovative services to the market. As far as I know, I am not aware of any other information services firm in any industry that offers a similar service. It will be interesting to see if others follow our lead.

Spring Training Update

So whose heart stopped after reading about Johan’s elbow “tenderness”? Thank God we have a defibrillator in the building. I think the odds in Vegas for the Mets winning it this year went haywire when that news broke on that one. The Mets have been less than stellar when it’s come to the disclosure and treatment of “routine” injuries. Ryan Church and back to back concussions? Let’s keep our fingers crossed and hope that Johan gets his 30+ starts this year.