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When
Kathy Clark took over as chairman of the Northern
Virginia Technology Council (NVTC) in 1998, she
brought to the task lessons learned from starting
and growing Landmark Systems Corporation into a then
$50 million software company with installed licenses
in dozens of countries. As president and CEO,
Clark
pointed out to all who would listen, that she used
six points to guide everything from her continuing
entrepreneurship to management style to community
involvement. Right up there with "Take
risks," "Think big," "Never give
up," "Know your strengths" and
"Have fun" was the direction to "Give
back."
The
holiday period is a time when we give thanks, bring
our families together
and exchange just as many stories as gifts.
We hope these days bring out the best in everyone as
the spirit of giving that may start with a retail
purchase grows into something more. But "giving
back" increasingly seems to be a part of a good
business model for small technology companies, too,
holidays or not.
Kathy
Clark was exemplary in her leadership of a
technology company in
Northern
Virginia
,
in her community service and in getting her
employees involved. Landmark Systems, for example,
adopted a high school and provided not only
predictable hardware and software, but internships,
mentoring and employee participation in school
programs. Not incidentally, the NVTC Foundation has
raised more than $1 million from the technology
community in its region and is investing in a wide
variety of community activities, including computer
clubhouses in and scholarships at the George Mason
University School of Information Technology and
Engineering.
A
Northern
Virginia
software colleague of Clark's, Mario Morino,
elevated the idea of technology companies
"giving back" into a whole "venture
philanthropy" movement to make corporate and
individual giving more effective. Recent remarks by
a Roanoke-area business leader suggests there is a
continuing pattern that helps boost business success
even if one isn't a Fortune 500 company with huge
resources to donate to civic endeavors or charities.
The
occasion was a
Roanoke
breakfast meeting of the New Century Technology
Council (NCTC) in mid-November. Featured in the
"Technology & Toast" series hosted by
executive director
Gordie
Zeigler
was Comprehensive Computer Solutions, a 21-year old
Chris
tiansburg-based company offering software, tech
implementation and customized hardware
manufacturing. CCS has grown fast enough to be named
to the
Virginia
"Fast 50" list and has won numerous awards
for its work, including the Roanoke Regional
Chamber's Small Business of the Year Award in the
technology category, the NCTC's Technology Company
of the Year Award and the Western Virginia Better
Business Bureau’s Torch Award for Marketplace
Ethics.
CCS
President Dave Miller led his audience, some still
bleary-eyed from the late Hokies' football game the
night before, through a discussion of ruggedized,
rack-mounted computers for industrial users,
Web-based document management software that handles
any digital file, the potential for customized
telecom services and other business highlights.
Miller outlined how quality improvement, lean
manufacturing, strong sales and marketing and
industry partnerships with the likes of Microsoft,
Cisco, Compaq, Hewlett Packard and Intel are keys to
CCS successes.
But
Miller also referred to the vision, concern for
employees and participation in the community of CCS
founders and co-owners Ted and Priscilla Fleshman as
being an integral part of the success. In his list
of lessons learned, which included "Reach out
for expertise" and "Partner with strong
companies," Miller included, "Spend lots
of time to get the right person in the right
job" and "Serve your local
community."
The
latter lessons, of course, are the simple
restatement of the most basic of human values,
things that are hard to list on the balance sheet.
As harbingers of confidence in and hope for people
and communities, they point toward business success
defined much more broadly than a quarterly earnings
report.
For
a region such as
Roanoke
that has both short-term and long-term challenges --
1,500 manufacturing jobs lost in the last year and
the lowest rate of population growth between 1990
and 2000 among
Virginia
's
major metropolitan areas -- the CCS model has to be
encouraging. Innovative companies, strongly rooted
in the
New River
Valley
and
Roanoke
region can succeed. They not only provide jobs and
leadership but reasons for the next wave of
talented, skilled and innovative young professionals
to stay right there. And they keep the promise of
those "
Virginia
's
Technology Corridor" signs along I-81.
If
a business
executive, tech sector or not, is looking for advice
that spans all seasons, all regions and all business
cycles, "Give thanks, give back" sounds
like a pretty good starting point. For Kathy Clark
and Dave Miller, who have never met, but still could
draw the same conclusions from their tech company
successes, and for thousands of others, the
satisfaction of building valued lives from building
valued businesses is the biggest award possible.
--
December 2, 2002
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