WORST DAY: A day in April 1989


WHY: My dear friend and mentor at Honeywell, Ed Spencer, the chairman of the company, brought me from Boston to Minneapolis in 1982 to run a new company inside of Honeywell called Communication Services. The goal was to create breakthrough technology for intelligent building-control systems. Starting from zero, I identified eight target companies, courted the owners, structured the negotiations, and closed eight good-sized acquisitions that gave us a presence nationally. In five years, the business grew to $75 million with an operating profit of 18 to 20 percent. I was voted executive of the year in the industry two times.

In 1989, when I thought the company could take the next step and get to a couple hundred million, I got a phone call that said we were going to shut the business down. I immediately thought of the thousand-plus customers I had deep relationships with, my staff of smart, hard-working people that had followed me in blind faith, and the marketplace that had come to respect us so much. It felt like the whole world came crashing down around me.

That was a bad day. But the worst day was when I had to bring all of the employees together and tell them that, after tomorrow, we’d be in a close-down phase. I remember standing in front of that group wondering if I could get a word out of my mouth. I literally went down in tears and could not finish the meeting.


AFTERMATH: I realized that, while the business was gone, I had acquired valuable knowledge and valuable insight into my own capabilities. I thought, ‘If I can just find something I’m really passionate about, I can hit some home runs.’ Looking back, I think that dismantling the company was the best thing to happen, because after a year and a half of some clearheaded thinking and getting positioned, I ran into the opportunity to buy the Harlem Globetrotters. The company was in bankruptcy; all I bought was the name. It went from $5 million in revenue and a $500,000 investment in 1993 to a value of approximately $100 million today. 


LESSON LEARNED: Out of adversity comes strength. Find something you’re passionate about and willing to put your heart into and you can win. I won’t touch any venture unless I feel a burning desire to do it above anything else.