Who’s Captaining This Ship, Anyway?
Hello Everybody,
I am back at last to introduce you to another face of GigaBeam. Truthfully, I had planned to embarrass--I mean showcase--our Managing Director of the Americas, Bill Carey, but he has shyly (or perhaps slyly) forgotten to send me his photo and edits . . . more about that later. Instead, I have decided to talk about our CEO, Jay Lawrence. It occurred to me that many of you may not fully appreciate the dedication and corporate responsibility this man brings to the table. For that reason I thought I would paint a picture to answer the question “Who’s captaining this ship, anyway?” When you read it, you might understand why we all work so hard at GigaBeam to go the extra mile.
I’d enumerate on Jay’s rich and diverse background before coming to GigaBeam, but you can read all those details in his bio. Instead I want to focus on his last two years at GigaBeam commencing December 2007 when the board of directors asked him to assume the role of Chief Executive Officer. That’s when we all got a taste for our new captain. And right out of the shoot he did three things that have had a profound and lasting effect:
- He formulated an inspiring new mission statement (you can find it on our web) that lifted the Company into a new era of social responsibility and uncompromising ethics
- He initiated a lateral team management system that encouraged all top executives to work together. “There’s no room for egos here,” he used to say.
- He took deliberate steps to reposition the company for future growth by expanding the product line, aggressively cutting operational costs, improving customer support. “GigaBeam needs to reflect the voice of its customers,” he’d say.
That was the just the overlay formula, however. The real work was done painstakingly reviewing operating expenses, penny by penny—right sizing the business. By the end of his first year as CEO, Jay had cut operational costs by nearly one-half while almost doubling GigaBeam’s sales, and improving support.
By this time (the end of 2008) it was clear the economy was plunging into a recession. In response Jay took further steps. First, he rewarded the employees with a paid week off over Christmas knowing there would be much more hard work to come. Then, while many companies began layoffs, he undertook a massive effort to protect the heart of GigaBeam--its employees--electing to cut other expenses instead. He moved us much smaller modest facilities, implemented cost saving phone plans, and kept all travel expenses to a minimum (including sleeping on couches himself instead of in hotel rooms.) Equally importantly, however, Jay held tight to his vision of what GigaBeam could be and began working with a local marketing agency, Anoroc, to re-brand and overhaul the company’s image.
As a direct result of Jay’s efforts and our own willingness to work as hard as possible under his leadership, we sailed three quarters through 2009 on our own fuel. Jay had fixed the income statement. But, a bigger problem lay ahead: the balance sheet. By this time in 2009, Jay determined that there was no other course of action possible for GigaBeam but to file for Chapter 11 to find some relief from a balance sheet that was wildly out of proportion and did not offer us any chance to grow. He knew only one thing going in to Chapter 11: GigaBeam would come out and would come out fast. This was his pledge to us and to our customers. No one can ever argue he didn’t live up to that pledge! I do think the 57 days we were in Chapter 11 were the longest, hardest, nastiest, most stressful days for Jay ever. But he survived, and so did we, jobs intact and with a re-found optimism. Today we stand here operating as a private company unencumbered by a disproportionate balance sheet and still sailing on our own power, against the odds.
What can I say? From my chair, Jay’s dogged determinism, unfailing optimism, uncompromising ethics, and sheer force of vision propelled GigaBeam forward through the hardest of times, and continues to propel us. He is always pushing the limits, looking at what more we can do, what we can do better, asking what is working and what is not. GigaBeam is not a box shop, he says. GigaBeam is a relationship with each other and with our customers. Now, in addition, to regular management meetings we have an all company round table every Friday. “What do you think?” he asks, and really wants to hear what we have to say.
Let me close by saying here at GigaBeam, we affectionately refer to Jay as the “mutant” – after all who among us could keep up his pace? I can’t tell you how many times I have spoken with him and learned that he sent his last email out one night at 1:30 am and his first one the next morning at 3:00 am – Mutant. Well, he does make a point of going to the gym everyday (what a great example for the rest of us!) He tells me he couldn’t do it if he didn’t sweat a little everyday – which for him means something like running for an hour and bench pressing 300 lbs . . . Yep. Jay is our beloved indefatigable mutant. But the best part is . . . .and think about what effect this has on the people who hear it . . . Nine times out of ten when I ask Jay “how are you doing?”--thinking to myself “you must be exhausted!”--he will answer with another GigaBeam favorite word: FANTABULOUS!
Okay, there were a few days there in the middle of Chapter 11 proceedings, when I may have heard some other words . . . something about “living da dream”--said with only the slightest inflection of sarcasm--but, it never lasted for long. He reminds me of a commercial from my childhood: “Weebles wobble, but they don’t fall down!”
So here’s to our Mutant Weeble .. . I mean, our Captain, Jay. Thanks Jay, for everything.
Signed a “wobbly mutant-in-training,”
Marijke
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