In the midst of downsizing at The
Toro Company in 1981, Dave Mona found himself on the receiving end of a
termination notice. Then he launched his own company with a little creativity
and the support of a strong network.
“I joined Toro in 1977 and was
there for three years as vice president of communications. The first
one-and-a-half years were fantastic. We were introducing new products and
opening new plants. Toro was the world’s largest manufacturer and marketer of
snow throwers. Then, for two winters, the weather was incredibly mild. We went
from 4,200 employees to about 1,700. The stock got hammered. It was very bleak.
“We had had a series of layoffs and more were coming. It was a Friday afternoon, the board was meeting, and I had the basic outline of a news release ready. Then Dave McLaughlin, the CEO, came out and said, ‘The board went deeper than anticipated. I’m sorry to tell you your position has been eliminated.’ So I got to write the news release saying I had been fired. I was in a state of shock.
“One of the overriding things I learned over the next 90 days was the value of building a network. The fact that something doesn’t work out doesn’t mean you’re out of options; you just need to be a little more creative. I formed David L. Mona & Associates—which was a lie because there were no associates—and became an outside vendor for Toro. I went to WCCO Radio and did an audition tape and have been doing Sports Huddle for 26 years.
“You have to have some kind of expertise that people will pay for. I also learned that, if I hadn’t been fired, I would have missed out on a lot of the things that have been the most satisfying of my life.”
