Entrepreneur

Welcome to the re-launch of btw2, where from time to time I'll choose a word and see where it takes me. Today's word is Entrepreneur.

I've had the opportunity, in the past few days, to reconnect briefly with David Gasper, founder and former President of Gasper
Corporation and current President of Initial Point, LLC. We talked briefly about our experiences at Gasper Corporation.

When I joined Gasper Corporation in 1994, I joined a team of about 28 employees. By the time I had left Gasper 10 years later, the company had grown to more than 80 employees and had been purchased by NCR. My experiences there were transformational. Gasper is where I learned business. In fact, I like to say that I earned a working MBA from Dave Gasper.

One of Dave's great strengths was his ability to find a balance between the aggressive use and development of technology with a cautious approach to growth. Dave always moved swiftly to identify and take advantage of technology changes, but when it came to his employees, he had a different approach.

Dave was always cautious about hiring new people. This caution, I believe, came from two sources. The first was his belief in a principle Jim Collins has identified as one of the keys to achieving sustained success in business: getting the right people on the bus.

Dave understood that the quality of his people was as important, if not more important, than the quality of his product. In fact, he knew the quality of his company depended on the quality of the people he hired.

The second source of his caution in hiring was Dave's commitment to his employees. He once said that he never wanted to hire someone he was going to have to let go. This spoke to both elements of his caution. He wanted to make the right decision, and he also wanted to make sure that the company was positioned to support the growth in personnel. He viewed a job offer as a commitment. This philosophy was a direct reflection of his belief in the role of business in a community. Business wasn't merely a money-making proposition to Dave. It was an opportunity to contribute to the community and give back.

Dave's caution in hiring was well rewarded. Gasper Corporation had one of the highest employee retention rates of any company I've ever seen. Dave provided numerous opportunities for growth. As his company grew, so did the opportunities. He also made sure that his employees had the support they needed to grow.

I remember how he prepared Jeff Davison years in advance so that Jeff could one day take over the day-to-day operations of the company. He moved Jeff around the company, making him the head of each department at one time or another to ensure that Jeff had a keen understanding of each operational area. Jeff learned his lessons so well, that when NCR bought Gasper Corporation, it wasn't long before Jeff found himself promoted within the larger corporation.

I keep using the past tense here, but the truth is that Dave continues to promote that philosophy in his current venture at Initial Point. I know that when Dave reads this post, he'll say that I'm giving him too much credit, but I don't think that is true. Certainly, his employees were a big part of the success of the company. Dave made sure of that by instituting programs like Open Book Management and ensuring that every employee understood and could articulate what his or her job meant to the company's bottom line. So, yes, Dave hired talented people, and they worked hard for him. That's true. But it started with Dave. Hiring the right people, providing the opportunities, and setting the tone for the kind of company he wanted.

Dave is right in one sense, though, because he is certainly not alone in the Dayton area. I've had the good fortune to know or work for other dedicated entrepreneurs as well. Travis Greenwood at The Greentree Group shares many of the same qualities. His dedication to his employees and the community are on par with Dave's. I see the same care in growing a company from Gary Nissen over at HealthPlus Technologies. In fact, Gary employs some former Gasper folks. Both of these local entrepreneurs understand the synthesis of technology and innovation with people and community.

When I think about these entrepreneurs, I realize that it isn't the big corporations that will ultimately save our economy. Too many corporations view themselves as too big to fail. They take from local communities and give little in return. Their defenders talk about the Free Market, little realizing that not only do we not have a free market (a fact they are either unaware of or despair about), but that Adam Smith's original ideas about the free market were premised on the idea that markets make us responsible to one another when they are local enough that we all pay the price or reap the rewards for our actions.

Defenders of the largest corporations like to talk about accountability, but their only definition of that word has to do with their shareholders, those faceless, nameless people who have invested only their money in the company and care only about their financial return. They are not shareholders so much as speculators. CEOs who have no history or sweat equity in the companies they run have little vision for the long run. Their job is to turn the quick profit so that their speculators can make their buck and run.

We need more entrepreneurs. The future of this country is in its small business operators -- people who live and work in the communities in which their companies are located. People who understand the value of their employees and their communities. People like Dave, Travis, Gary, and others.