IN THIS ISSUE:
SIERRA GOLD NURSERIES:
BALANCING ACT Managing Principal Brent Morrison’s thoughts on how to balance life, a career, and business.
AGRICULTURE OF THE FUTURE www.sierragoldtrees.com
Millions of fruit and nut trees gained their roots near
growers choose the traditional bareroot tree or a
Yuba City, California at Sierra Gold Nurseries, the
containerized tree, Sierra Gold is committed to top
birthplace of many of the trees found in orchards in
quality and service.
the Western United States. Spanning nearly 1,000
CLIENT CORNER Welcoming new clients and highlighting current clients.
acres along the Feather River, the family owned and operated nursery has been in business for over six decades. Today, Sierra Gold sells a diverse selection of commercial tree varieties directly to orchardists. By combining tried and true traditional nursery methods with modern propagation advancements, Sierra Gold has transformed and expanded its ability to satisfy the orchard marketplace. Traditional propagation methods include field grown or “bareroot” systems that produce either a one or two year old budded or grafted tree. Most growers know Sierra Gold for this type of product. However, the majority of Sierra Gold’s current production is containerized trees. Much of this is from Sierra
MORRISON SNAPSHOTS Life can’t be all work and no play. Above are
Morrison
&
Company
employees
stopping to enjoy ice cream and bears while on the road to visit a client. Check out our snapshots on the back; our summer has been filled with great events both at work and in life!
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Gold’s own cutting-edge containerized “ellepot system,” where trees are grown in a plantable membrane sleeve. Immediately after being planted, thousands of root tips come through the membrane sleeve, which decomposes in the soil. All roots are directed to go out or down, resulting in no circling or constricting roots. The ellepot system is radically different than any other containerized system and has helped eliminate transplant shock. Whether
Sierra Gold is also home to a world class micropropagation facility. They clone rootstocks by using plant tissue culture, which allows many plants to be more efficiently propagated; plus, many plant varieties cannot be cloned any other way. Plants are grown in vitro, under sterile conditions, with efficient LED lighting, and on a nutrient culture medium. The facility is in full production to keep up with the high demand for the more sought-after rootstocks. Morrison & Company’s Interim/Outsource team began working with Sierra Gold as an interim CFO for the business. We assisted Sierra Gold with transitioning its accounting functions and systems to help the company effectively manage its tremendous growth. Simultaneously, our People Team helped recruit a fulltime Chief Financial Officer; our dual recruiting/interim role allowed us to also help transition and on-board the new CFO. Our understanding of the company culture, its people, and future needs allowed for a greater role of strategic planning assistance, and has led to other executive recruitments for Sierra Gold, including a Human Resources Director and a Director of Sales.
N E WS L E T T E R | S U M M E R 2 0 1 6
BALANCING ACT Some years ago I heard a pastor struggle to
Work-life balance.
express his frustration with countless versions of
entry for “work-life balance” notes that “The
Balance between customers (clients) and employees. It is
the apology “I’d like to (help with the food bank/
work-leisure dichotomy was invented in the mid-
essential to be customer focused, and we make
teach Sunday school/attend Bible study…), but I
1800s.” James Buchanan was president, or
it a priority. But you also need good people
just don’t have the time.”
maybe Franklin Pierce, so it’s nothing new but it
and sometimes they can be harder to find. Are
does impact you and your ability to retain talent.
you burning your people out in the name of
I don’t know how Jim and Frank handled it but
serving customer demands, even those that aren’t
it’s arguably harder to leave it all at the office
reasonable? Or disserving your customers by low
when you have a smartphone in your pocket.
expectations of your team or lack of direction?
And many today can choose to work remotely
You can do both things well but as soon as you
And so it is, but there is no end to the demands
(translation: you’re always at work). Now more
do, you’re at risk for getting out of balance.
on it. Here is a sampling of what “balance” might
than ever, work-life balance is a matter of choice
Watch for the signs before trouble begins.
mean for your business:
and discipline. Set priorities for yourself and
“Brothers and sisters,” he said finally, “you come into this world with nothing, you go out with nothing, and in between you have time. Time is the only thing you do have.”
The Wikipedia
what you want to offer your team, then stick to them … unless you shouldn’t. More on that later.
Job function balance.
Balance can be overdone. That’s right, you have to balance your balance along with everything else. Most priorities should not
You don’t
be set in stone and there are seasons when you
have to be around long before you notice that
may have to fudge them or even set them aside.
people in different disciplines (say marketing,
Sometimes you have to borrow more cash than
finance, engineering, and operations) tend to
you’d like, work longer hours, build up inventory,
view the world differently. I often use the example
hold back good people, or push forward with
of a hypothetical yogurt company: if they offer
newbies. Balance is a means to an end, not an
147 flavors, custard style, Greek style, low-fat,
end itself. Get out of balance for a time if you
nonfat, fruit at the bottom, fruit at the top, granola
have to – or adjust how you balance – but do it
add-ins, and it comes in 6 ounce, 8 ounce, 12
on purpose rather than by inattention.
ounce, and 16 ounce sizes, the company is dominated by its marketing people. If it’s all one gallon tubs of vanilla, blame the accountants or operations people. Take a hard look at your company for signs of imbalance before it becomes dysfunction. Your perspective should be that of the business as a whole, not your personal professional discipline.
Morrison & Company offers specialized service lines to help root out imbalance before it becomes dysfunction, or to help regain your equilibrium. Whether it’s interim/outsource assistance with planning, finance, accounting, or management; “people
solutions”
for
recruiting
and
organizational development; or grant assistance for major projects, we can help. We also partner with firms in marketing and market research, processing engineering, information systems, and other fields to offer comprehensive services for your business as a whole. We can help with the “balancing act” that is your business.
Brent Morrison is Morrison & Company’s Managing Principal. Contact him or any team member to discuss strategy and business planning.
WELCOME NEW CLIENTS
COLUSA-GLENN FARM CREDIT
C L I E N T CORNER The Morrison Client Corner is a regular feature of our newsletter. Here, you’ll
If you’re a client of ours, we’d love to stay up to date with what is going
find updates on what a number of our clients are up to, their achievements
on within your organization and invite you to share your highlights in this
and milestones, and the generally great things happening in their companies
space. Feel free to send any press releases, newsletters, or happenings to
or organizations.
Camille at chogan@morrisonco.net.
LUNDBERG FAMILY FARMS
CAPTURED THE LOS ANGELES TIMES’ ATTENTION
SUNSWEET GROWERS’ LEADERSHIP ADVICE
Lundberg Family Farms was featured in a May 2016 article titled “Is Quinoa California Farmers’ New Kale?” Quinoa is on the rise in
Ana Klein, Sunsweet’s Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, was
California and estimated to reach in the thousands of acres over the
featured in Sac State Magazine’s Spring 2016 issue. The CSU,
next two years. It is now coined as the next new craze. Lundberg began
Sacramento alumna shared her take on leadership advice: “hard work,
with seeking to find a crop to rotate with their 19 varieties of organic
perseverance, tenacity. Maybe it’s not quite in your job description, but
rice. Now they have stumbled upon a mass market and have even
always be looking to do that little extra…That’s where other leaders
entered into Whole Foods Market with their American-grown Organic
are looking and saying that’s the person I want on my team or the
Tri-color Blend Quinoa.
next role.” Ms. Klein came from a family of agriculture workers and
h t t p : / / w w w. l a t i m e s . c o m / b u s i n e s s / l a - f i - q u i n o a 20160511-story.html
ECONOMIC SUCCESS STORIES
FOR CALIFORNIA SMALL BUSINESSES 3CORE, a private nonprofit corporation that works as the economic development planning and coordinating agency in the region, was recently
worked her way up to be named the first female and youngest CFO of the world’s largest handler of dried tree fruits. She holds a BS in Accounting and an MBA from CSU, Sacramento. h t t p : / / w w w. c s u s . e d u / s a c s t a t e m a g a z i n e / s t o r i e s / agriculture.html
CATCHING UP
WITH SUN VALLEY RICE
featured in a Wells Fargo video highlighting small business funding and mentoring success stories. The video shows how 3CORE and Wells Fargo have paired up to assist many businesses, including helping to facilitate a 17,000 squarefoot expansion for Morrison & Company client Sierra Nevada Cheese in Willows, CA. 3CORE is
Morrison & Company was pleased to host the executive team of long-
a collaborative partner of Morrison & Company;
time client Sun Valley Rice in our newly expanded in-house meeting
together we have teamed up to assist multiple local small businesses. http://stories.wellsfargobank.com/bridge-smallbusinesses-california/
center, followed by dinner at a great local restaurant. It was a wonderful opportunity to get together in a casual setting and learn more about each other’s rapidly growing businesses, products, and services.
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MOCO MEALS “OH, THE PLACES YOU’LL GO!”
We’ve started a new tradition here at Morrison & Company (aka “MoCo”)
The Chico Chamber of Commerce hosted their annual Summer BBQ in
where each month every employee is allowed to take out another employee
June, honoring the 20th anniversary of the Boys and Girls Clubs of the
for a meal, including spouses. We like to encourage our staff to interact
North Valley. The Dr. Seuss-themed event was held at The Patrick Ranch
with each other on a more personal level and get to know more about one
in Durham, CA, and included a hot air balloon photo opp! Morrison &
another outside of the office. So far it’s been a great success and we’ve all
Company had a great time celebrating the event with family and friends.
benefited from the delicious food and good company! Photographed above are Raymond and Jeannette Rummell with Carolyn and Brian Kanabrocki.
AN “EGGCELLENT” TURNOUT AT THE CHICO NOON ROTARY CLUB’S 25TH ANNUAL OMELET BRUNCH Over 2,000 omelets were served this year at Chico’s Manzanita Place
EXPANDING THE FAMILY
for the Rotary club’s annual fundraiser to support local nonprofits and
Consultant Tim Peters and his wife Jaime welcomed their second daughter
community service projects. Photographed are Jaime, Tim, and Karamea
this June. Mackinnon Ann Peters was born on June 2, 2016 and welcomed
Peters as well as Brent Morrison and granddaughter Savannah. Brent
by big sister Karamea. Congratulations to the Peters family!
was among the many Rotary volunteers this year.
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