Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/1464710
"Best Ideas & Key Philosophies" from 2020 Business Leaders of the Year Business Leader of the Year (Small business) BRANDALE D. RANDOLPH, Founder & CEO, The 1854 Cycling Co. Rather than bound myself with statements, I use certain questions to help guide my decision-making process. 1. "Am I making this world a better place for the children?" In business I have found that there is always a choice between what is most economically feasible and what leaves the world a better place for the children. For me, what fosters a better world for all our children outweighs the bottom line each time. 2. "Will this matter three months from now?" During the moment, all of the 'fires' that arise seem like bon fires. Having the experience of being in business for a period of time, gives me the opportunity to reflect and remember that some of the things that we once stressed about, had little or no effect on our business and did not even matter three months later. 3. "Who and what requires my undivided attention right now?" In order to maintain our health and sanity, we must make ourselves available to give each day, the priority and attention that it deserves. In life, days will require us to prioritize our work. Then there will be days that require us to prioritize our own selves and our immediate families. To be at peace as we work requires us to assure that our families can trust that when those moments arise in which we are required to prioritize them, we will do so. 4. "Am I working hard and working smart?" For a small company such as mine, nothing is more detrimental than wasted time and resources. The best way to prevent such is research, planning, and conversation. I have found that the time that we spend discovering the best ways to execute saves valuable time and resources. 5. "Am I being visible, or I am being a spectacle?" Gaining wealth, fame, and prestige is not worth the loss of self-respect, peace, and most important love from our family and friends 6. "Am I approachable?" People don't work for companies. They work with companies. This important distinction provides me with a perspective that allows me to accept and appreciate the contribution of each colleague. 7. "Am I accessible?" One of the tragedies of business life is missing out on parts of it because we are too busy for our family and friends. While many of us will be fortunate enough to have long lasting careers, the days of our lives spent with them are temporary. Being present and accessible is key to having a good life after the work is done. 8. "Am I being understood?" Communication requires and understanding that what is being communicated is less important than our goal of how we want our messages to be received. The words, gestures, and images that we use can have the best intentions but if they do not leave the receiver with a clear understanding of how we want them to be received, it is failed communication. 9. "Will the people who follow me be met with the same obstacles?" I stand on the shoulders of giants. Hopefully, one day, someone will stand on mine. 10. "Will you be okay without it?" Money is either bread or seed. Either we are to use it to sustain ourselves or use to ensure the future economic sustainability for those we love. Business Leader of the Year (Large business) HARRY KOKKINIS, President, Table Talk Pies My education in becoming an effective business leader has truly been a family affair. It is the lessons I have learned from my family throughout my life that have helped me become the leader that I am today. I am so fortunate to have been born into this family which has such a large collection of great teachers, especially my grandfather, my father, my mother, my grandmother, my aunt, my wife, my son, and even my godson. I have been so blessed to have had such great educators. It all started with my maternal grandfather, Theodore Tonna, who came to this country from Greece as a 12 year old boy in 1910 without any formal education. In 1924 he started Table Talk Pastry Company, with the help of a partner, Angelus Cotsidas. Together they built a strong foundation for our business, and this foundation has helped us to become the great company we are today. Despite his lack of a formal education, my grandfather was a brilliant man, both in business affairs and in life in general. He believed in the value of proverbs, and this was one of the ways that he used to impart his wisdom. Proverbs can be seen, as one author put it, as "short sentences drawn on long experience". They are common sayings that are "full of meaning and sound advice". This is certainly true in my grandfather's case. And I cherish them, and hopefully you will see why as I talk about them below. Note that many of these proverbs may seem old fashioned or out of step with our times, but I don't really care. They are what have given me strength and wisdom through my years in business and in life, and I wish more people would follow them. We would have a better world if more people did. 1. You need a purpose, not a goal. When I first heard this, I was confused because lots of people would talk about needing a goal in life. But as my grandfather pointed out, if you achieve your goal, what do you do next? You need a purpose to guide your actions both in business and your personal life. I can't think of any purposes better than the ones my grandfather claimed as his own: to raise a family, to be successful, and to be charitable. 2. The fish stinks from the head. My grandfather loved this one, particularly during the Watergate scandal in the 1970's when he would talk about President Nixon. I wonder what he would say now. For me this saying speaks to the need for self-awareness. Management sets the tone of a business, establishes its culture. When things go wrong in a company, we can often spend a lot of time searching for someone to blame. I believe that time can be better spent looking at how we as leaders may have created an environment that allowed such things to happen. 3. Once you learn how to make (expletive), you always make (expletive). My grandfather had an unwavering commitment to Quality, and it is this commitment that is the bedrock of our success as a company. As my grandfather would say, "Quality is our most important product." Not bad for a man without any formal education. Quality is something you must strive for every day. We cannot let up. This saying makes a strong statement about the dangers of complacency, and I find it very useful in discussions with our management team, as they can attest to. I could go on about my grandfather's proverbs, but I also want to talk about the contributions from other members of my family, especially my father, Chris Cocaine. My father worked side-by-side with my grandfather/ his father- in-law, drinking in his wisdom. Chris worked hard to carry on my grandfather's legacy, and we can now see the fruits of his labor. Chris taught me so much. I will be forever indebted to him. 4. In order to give orders, you must first learn how to take orders. My father put a great emphasis on respect, but it wasn't just about respect for your superiors, but also respect for your teammates and your subordinates. It is important to be able to see things from their perspective. He believed that you must start from the bottom, just as he did when he started working with his father-in-law. 5. Do the right thing I never thought that my father would agree with the movie director Spike Lee, but they both agree on one thing: the importance of this saying. This is what he told me in one of his last days at work before he passed away. For Chris, integrity was everything. He once threw a potential vendor out of his office for offering what amounted to be a bribe. Our integrity is the only thing we have when you leave this world. Integrity continues to be a critically important part of our culture at Table Talk and is something that we continually work on developing and maintaining in all our employees.