January, 2005

Introducing the Author

Hi, I'm Jim Meese, and I’ll be writing an article for Chamber followers that will appear at this location on the Chamber's web site on a regular basis. My articles will deal with subjects that are of interest and importance to the boards, owners and senior management of Chamber member businesses of all sizes – from the smallest to the largest – from low tech to high tech – from service companies to product companies – from for profit to not for profit. How can the articles be applicable to each of these groups? Because the principles that drive success in business are the same for all businesses - from a flower shop to the largest of convenience store operators. In a manner of speaking, all that is different in those two companies is the number of digits to the left of the decimal point! In general, my articles will focus on issues such as the mechanics and importance of strategy, how businesses are properly capitalized, Enterprise Risk Management (ERM), how growth occurs – internal (organic) and external (acquisition), corporate governance, what quality is and why it counts, the real “value” of a business, when and how to exit the business, managing the wealth created by the business and how to prepare for life after work.

In this introductory article, I thought a brief snapshot of my background would be of benefit to you – so you might understand how my background has helped to shape the way I look at business issues, and how it ultimately influenced my career path - all of which has led to the topics for the articles I’ll be writing for you.

I was born at Altoona Hospital and lived in South Altoona, at 3912 4 th Avenue until I was 11. We never had to walk further than 2 1/2 blocks to 6 th Avenue to buy food. My Elementary School was the building on 5 th Avenue and 41 st Street that is now the Red Cross Building. Playing football and baseball on 4 th Avenue was my personal pre teen years Parks and Recreation center (until the Centennial Field was built). The family moved to Bellwood when I was in 6 th and 7 th grades, while my parents had a house built on Frankstown Road, just down the hill toward Altoona from Sylvan Heights Drive. From 8 th through 12th grades I was enrolled in the Hollidaysburg School System, and I graduated from Hollidaysburg Senior High School.

When I was in Elementary School, Altoona was a bustling city that was fueled by the presence of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR). 11 th and 12 th Avenues in downtown were so crowded with shoppers and business people on most days, that walking on either of those streets was often like trying to walk on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City during the Miss America Pageant’s Parade. This was especially true on Saturdays and on Monday nights - the night the stores were open late. There were at least four movie theaters on 11 th and 12 th Avenues, all playing to packed houses. The train station in downtown Altoona was mobbed daily with people waiting for the next passenger train, both eastbound and westbound. The population of Altoona at that time approached 90,000 and the PRR employed about 17,000. The city was alive with energy!!

About a year before we moved to Bellwood, the winds of change began to blow. As a youngster in a blue-collar city, I didn’t understand at the time the factors that were driving the change and the implications of the changes that were occurring. All I remember was having an ever increasing feeling of uneasiness and loss. First, I began to hear the adults on 4 th Avenue talking about “layoffs” and “trouble at the shops”. Then my grade school friend, Gary Knisely, who lived across the alley from me on 5 th Avenue, moved to Levittown so his Dad could “get work”. Next my friend Maurice Brubaker who lived a couple of blocks from me toward Eldorado on 6 th Avenue moved to California. Other relocations soon followed. What was going on? No one ever moved from South Altoona!

By the time I graduated from High School, the population of Altoona was plummeting downward toward 60,000. The railroad and shops were becoming an economic and civic disaster. The “soot” from the smoke stacks of steam locomotives chugging along on the other side of 6 th Avenue that used to permeate the cracks around the windows in our 4 th Avenue row home (and that literally drove my Mom to engineer our move to Frankstown Road!!) was quickly becoming a distant memory. I now was old enough to sense the psyche of the area was migrating from that of a swagger to one of defensiveness, loss of morale and feeling jilted.

During my college years, I did some independent study on the demise of the PRR. I have continued to do additional study on the subject since then, as well as a lot of adulthood reflecting. Briefly, my view of what happened to the PRR (I’ll write more on this subject in a subsequent article) was caused by a number of factors, but primarily by mismanagement, gross negligence and a complete lack of strategy (e. g., the PRR was still building steam locomotives as diesels were becoming every railroad's engine of choice). I have concluded the PRR didn’t have a fundamental understanding of what business it was in. Had introspection and strategy been central to the PRR's way of doing business, a major shipping and logistics company like UPS or a major airline like United or US Air might now be headquartered in Blair County. The mismanagement of the PRR (which in today’s Sarbanes Oxley world might have resulted in a class action shareholder lawsuit or severe sanctions and penalties levied by the SEC) was devastating to Altoona, and it has taken decades for the city to recover. The PRR, headquartered in Philadelphia, had decimated my town’s economy and morale.

Although I didn’t know it at the time, what I witnessed happening to Altoona as a pre teen had planted deep within me the seeds of a passion for strategy. It took time for those seeds to reach maturation, leading to strategy as the centerpiece of our firm's business efforts. And, it is why strategy is at the top of the list of articles I will be writing for you.

I truly hope this "stage setting" background was informative, that you will enjoy reading my articles, and that they will be of use to you in both your business and your personal lives. And, I will welcome your feedback. Thank you and the best to you as you work to increase your company's shareholder value and to better service your customers.