View original article in In Business here.

A couple of months ago, I got an email from Benton Harbor, Mich. It reported on the local strife following the appointment of a super-powerful municipal administrator under a new Michigan law.

“Do you do this?” my correspondent asked. “Any comment?”

And I replied that the only person I would trust to comment was someone whom I had admired for many years but had never met.

Whether you are an investor, serve on a board of directors, own or manage a company, you face business risks. All of the stakeholders accept additional risk when the company is heading for trouble. Balancing these risks can cause a predicament. By recognizing some early warning signs that indicate business trouble on the horizon, you can eliminate, overcome, or, at the very least, side step many of those risks.

Business trouble means different things to each of us at different times. The perception differs depending on the stakeholder, but the fear is always the same — loss of their investment (money, time, energy, good will, reputation). The anticipation of loss is unacceptable. No one likes to lose — anything.

The turnaround of a business in financial distress involves managing the business and its problems. The process is time consuming and requires a special set of skills. The problems of the business are often compounded by owners or management who are facing financial distress for the first time and who are reticent to change. This is where a turnaround specialist brings his art to the process.

The identity of the client must be clear. The client’s identity may appear clear at first glance, but it can quickly become blurred. For example, the owner of a closely held business may be as concerned about personal guarantees as about the survival of the business. In addition, if the lender has referred the specialist, the specialist must make it clear to all parties whether the lender or the business is the client.

Turnaround specialists generally are either interim managers or consultants. Interim managers will replace the CEO, take the decision-making reins of a troubled business, and guide it through its troubled waters, hopefully to safety. Turnaround consultants advise existing management without taking an operating role within the company. Although some specialists are willing to act as either an interim manager or a consultant, most prefer to act as one or the other.

Belgium-based interim executive Patrick Geysen, a turnaround specialist, has been in the interim field for more than 8 years, and he has a story to tell. It’s a story about the power of bringing in an “outsider” to view a problem objectively and implement change.

Brilliant sunshine, a beautiful blue sky and a sandy beach surround an underperforming Caribbean telecom business. Yet, with 4 out of 5 operational managers recently leaving the company within a span of several weeks, it was not paradise for the European mother company that was on the verge of divesting the troubled division.

Enter Patrick Geysen, a Belgium-based turnaround specialist. His interim assignment was to save the business for the short-term, improve the numbers, and then sell it. Geysen prepared a restructuring plan for the 6 islands based on increasing sales in the short-term, letting non-performers go, and showing considerable results in the space of 12 months. The board accepted his plan in May 2009 and by May 2010, sales had risen significantly and the company cancelled the divestment.