My Worst and Best of Times in 30 Years

I celebrate my 30th anniversary with Marco this month and it’s my 10th year as CEO. I still recall meeting Gary Marsden, Marco co-founder, for the first time in a business class at the University of North Dakota. The following spring, I remember walking across the company’s dirt parking lot on my first day wondering if I made the right decision.

After 20 years in sales and management positions, I became CEO and I knew I had some big shoes to fill. I had a lot to prove and wanted to position our company for long-term sustainable growth and develop a model for performance resiliency. Since 2004, on an average annual basis, we have achieved 28 percent revenue growth, 54 percent profit growth and 42 percent stock appreciation. So far so good.

It’s been a fun journey. As I reflect on these anniversaries, here are a few of the milestones along the way:

Highlight: It really is all about the people. Creating and sustaining a place where people enjoy coming to work every day is the highlight of my career. Corporate culture is not an easy thing to create, but it is easy to break. So, I am proud we have been able to sustain a high-performing culture through periods of deep recession and accelerated growth. Marco is consistently recognized in the state and nation as a great place to work. This helps us attract and keep good people. I also enjoy working in a fun environment with people I admire and many who have become my friends.

Lowlight: The hardest part of my career was not during the depths of the recession, as many would think. I believe those years validated the competency of our leadership team and positioned us for sustained performance. For me, the most challenging moment was during the tax abatement process while preparing to build our new corporate headquarters in St. Cloud. I knew it was the right thing to do, but it fostered misunderstanding and people took sides. We faced a series of accusations that were inaccurate and became sensitive to effectively address. Fortunately, we had a lot of support from most of our community leaders that ultimately allowed the tax abatement to pass. The building project was a success for both Marco and our community.

Most Proud Of: Seeing our people highlighted and recognized in our industry and the community. Many of them I hired myself or I had a strong influence on. Over the years, I have had many conversations with them about their professional and personal development. It’s so cool to see them excelling in their careers, contributing to their communities and balancing a strong family life. Watching them receive awards or be on the cover of industry magazines means more to me than any award I could ever receive personally.

Best Move: Early on as CEO, I wanted to build more predictability into our business. That led to our focus on expanding our recurring revenue services model. This required a significant shift and continues to challenge us to think differently about how we do business. We had to change our mindset from a project driven, product focused company to a professional services firm. In the long run, it makes us stronger, more resilient and more successful.

Worst Move: Not exiting businesses that didn’t fit our new model fast enough. Even though they weren’t necessarily losing money, they no longer supported our technology strategy. Take office furniture, for example. It’s where I started my career and I worked with these people for 20 years. So making the move to sell or divest was difficult for me. When I look back, I realize that selling that division was the right move. I should have done it sooner.

Most Valuable Lessons: There are many, but two come to mind. The first is you need to understand how you make and lose money – you need to know the numbers. It demonstrates competency and allows you to make informed decisions that impact your business. The second lesson is you have to have competent people in key roles – you can’t compromise this.

I think I’ve got the best job in town. I really like what I do, and I am not ready for the journey to be over any time soon. So I’m committed to staying relevant and contributing to Marco’s continued success.

 

Topics: Leadership