ask andi by andi gray
What’s in store for the next generation of business? Some 93 percent to 95 percent of all companies in the U.S. are privately held. That’s a huge percentage. And it’s been that way for most of our country’s history. Why is it that now is the time for an explosion of growth, profit and stability for privately held entrepreneurial business? The U.S. enjoys a rich history and culture of entrepreneurship. While many of the first settlers arrived here compliments of large, public trading companies (Dutch East India, Hudson Bay), many of the settlers quickly established themselves as shopkeepers, farmers, fishermen, merchants and anything else that would provide independence and opportunity. Fast forward to the last third of the 20th century. The advent of microcomputing led to another revolution. The Industrial Age was coming to an end, the Information Age was dawning, as computers were about to become the great leveler for small business competition. Microsoft’s BASIC program, cheap readonly and random access memory, and inexpensive circuitry that enabled keyboards and other tools, were a few of the world-changing innovations. The computer could finally be d e s y-ba unit ere not operated by everyday people, without computer m m w co ns and donatio programming staff to handle input and output. ith its f d w o n r . ng onp , year-e . year stro r n s g The size was reduced from a room to a desktop. ear ith last tions othe ization e stron y n na the yw to b orgaBUSINESS ted tarted rs stead ber do r, presiThe culture of entrepreneurship joined c e J WC B JOURNAL e s e p s e e h ex We e th ovem i Adl oug umb “ to b theme er n ately, N Naom il. “Alth s we forces with automation tools. Small businesses b g n m i e r ,” l a e y a n s go but th e smal Sept nfortu ificantl an em it appe p in h . way o n could finally access, assemble, analyze and dise al ssues .. at are t affect a .. 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BY PATRICK GALLAGHER pgallagher@westfairinc.com
illiam P. Harrington is a classic Westchester story. Raised in Yonkers, Harrington went to school at Iona Prep, played Division I basketball at the College of William & Mary, and now, following in his father’s footsteps, is managing partner at Bleakley, Platt, and Schmidt L.L.P., one of the most prestigious law firms in White Plains. Outside of his work at the firm, Harrington, 54, is a CYO basketball coach and father of four; a proud Irishman and devout Catholic; a realist and an optimist. He sees the challenges: not only the new ones posed by the economic crisis, but the old ones brought about by the departure of most of Westchester’s Fortune 500 contingent, by an aging population, by long-term systematic government dysfunction, and by a fragile medical infrastructure. Great as those challenges may seem, Harrington still sees Westchester and its residents’ collective potential. For that reason and more, Harrington was named chairman of the Westchester County Association last month to succeed Alfred B. DelBello. “The energy level he brings to the table and the commitment and passion is amazing to me,” said WCA president William Mooney. “I feel so good about him being the leader
of the Westchester County Association.” When asked about his goals as chairman, Harrington joked that the question was akin to asking someone stranded on a raft in the middle of the ocean what their goals were. “The goal is to survive,” he said. As a youth growing up in Yonkers, Harrington watched as manufacturers like Otis Elevators, Alexander Smith and Sons Carpet Mills and Precision Valve employed thousands of local residents and were among the world’s biggest manufacturers in each of their respective industries. Later, Westchester was home to General Foods and Texaco and other multinational corporations. But today, the playing field has changed, he said. “They’re all gone. They employed thousands of people and they’re all gone,” and today, Harrington says, Westchester finds itself “at a crossroads” as a result. “We have a transformed business community, a transformed demographic, and a housing market that’s made it difficult – if not impossible – for young people to live in the county,” not to mention a huge tax burden, he added. So why take the position? Why accept the seemingly enormous task at hand? “It’s because Westchester is one of the greatest places to raise a family in the world,” Harrington said. “My goal is to energize this organization, to energize the county. We can make such a mean-
ingful difference in the lives of people.” That will require, in Harrington’s words, a new set of pronouns and a new attitude, so that the current generation leaves Westchester as a place where anyone – regardless of age or income – can grow up and raise a family. “We have to stop talking about these issues as ‘Me, Mine, I,’” he said. “We created them (the problems). We all have skin in the game. Our collective goal should be to fix our problems, understanding that we will all have to bear in the pain.” That means addressing mandates and spiraling pension costs, reforming the way government operates, and being an advocate for economic development. Harrington applauded the past leadership of DelBello and progress the WCA has already made in many of the latter areas, but said what’s needed now is a new push to broaden the scope of the organization. “My goal is to be an advocate to push, prod, force, and cajole the county to fulfill its greatest destiny – to be one of the best places in the world to build a business and to raise a family.” Doing that will mean engaging the younger population and minority populations more so than in the past, he said. “We need someone with fresh eyes to come in and be a force for change,” he said in reference to the county’s future business leaders. “We are all in this together.”
WESTCHESTER COUNTY BUSINESS JOURNAL • February 6, 2012
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race is on to see who can build what fastest, who can provide the best innovations, and who can best meet marketplace needs in the most innovative and customer-oriented ways. The grand experiment has only just begun. In the mid 1970s and early 1980s, the Information Age was just getting off the ground. Analysis shows that the most profitable and successful privately held companies are those that have been around at least 20 years. And many companies fall by the wayside as the leaders emerge as only one business out of four makes it through each 10-year cycle. The first generation of computer enabled businesses started around 1980. The early adopters, companies that grew because of technology starting in the 1980s and 1990s, are now only 20 to 30 years old – the point at which they show real traction, stability and profit. Even the industries that entered the Information Age already well established – construction and related trades, manufacturing, medicine and financial services – have only had the benefit of 1.5 cycles of 20- year development with computer enabling tools. Tools that enable computers, such as GoToMeeting (2004 - 2009), LinkedIn (2002), Facebook (2004), Constant Contact (1995), none of them have been around 20 years. Wait until their leverage kicks in with the companies they enable also being around for 20 years, sometime around 2015 to 2029. For the first time, we are seeing small, privately held companies, fully enabled with the tools they need, up and running with those tools for 20-plus years. Many examples of companies thriving, despite the economy, are here in our own backyard. And this is the tip of the iceberg. Sure, some of those companies will be snapped up by large corporations. And the majority will be gone in under 10 years, out of ideas, mismanaged or just plain out of luck as a result out of business conditions. But if ever the time was right to chance it, to seek to become a strong and fierce competitor, to carve out a profit niche and fuel an ever expanding portfolio of products and services, it’s here and now. Andi Gray is president of Strategy Leaders Inc., strategyleaders.com, a business-consulting firm that specializes in helping entrepreneurial firms grow. She can be reached by phone at (877) 238-3535. Do you have a question for Andi? Please send it to her, via email at AskAndi@StrategyLeaders.com or by mail to Andi Gray, Strategy Leaders Inc., 5 Crossways, Chappaqua, NY 10514.