Prosperall The Alternative

There’s a reason you’re familiar with Jack Nicholson’s character in the movie A Few Good Men yelling, “You can’t handle the truth!” Partly it’s because of the intensity of Nicholson’s performance, but mostly it’s because it’s a hard-hitting piece of universal reality: A lot of the time we’d rather not know the truth.

It can be as bland as the ubiquitous, “How are you?” When you ask somebody that, you don’t really want their verified health summary. Similarly, when someone asks, “How’s business?” the expected answer is, “Great!” If you’re on the verge of bankruptcy you might answer, “Hey we’re hangin’ in.”

The problem is, “Fake it till you make it” doesn’t always work. Sometimes in business, as in other aspects of life, the only way you can change and grow is if you deal with the truth.

A business consultant or a board of directors will typically only go so far in that regard. And that’s the reason David Purvis started up The Alternative Board in New Orleans.

The Alternative Board is exactly what it says: an alternative to a typical board of directors. It’s more like a business support group. A business owner joins a group of other business owners They meet regularly, have honest conversations about their issues, and draw on their experiences to critique and help each other.

The Alternative Board is an international organization. It’s in 22 countries. It has contributed to the success of more than 25,000 businesses over the past 30 years and members of the organization reportedly grow their businesses two-and-a-half times faster than the national average.

David Purvis launched the New Orleans branch after a successful 36 year career as an engineer and executive in the oil and gas business.

Even if you don’t have a business yourself, you’ve more than likely had to do business at some point with the city, or municipality you live in.

Whether that’s here in New Orleans, or pretty much any other city in the country, you’ve more than likely been amazed at the apparent dysfunction and bureaucratic b.s. you have to go through to get anything accomplished.

Here in New Orleans, our everyday stories are legendary about road repair, street lighting, building permits, burst water mains, boil water advisories, and the list goes on.

Here’s a true story. O