Case Study Guide

with Tom Velez and his people of
Computer Technology Associates (CTA)

Rockville, Maryland
Key ideas.
Key Idea #1: Enjoy the process of making something big happen. At NASA, Tom was working on the project to put a man on the moon. He loved getting a group together to create solutions, but he found that there were few others like himself in this government agency. People were good at doing what they were told, but not so good at initiating. The scientists at NASA and then the ones he worked with on the Mars project at Martin Marietta, did not share Tom's big vision.

What do you think?  Why would Tom say you have to "enjoy" the process of growing a big company in order to make it happen?

Answer:  Most companies in the U.S. are under $2 million in sales and have fewer than five employees. Tom started a company that now has hundreds of employees. At the same time he was growing CTA, he observed many business owners who are very happy to stay small. In fact, a company with a dozen employees may bring more wealth to the owner than one the size of CTA.

The process of making something big happen is very complicated and detail oriented. This may be the biggest psychological barrier business owners face when they think about growth. We may say to ourselves, "If I get more than 50 employees I have to comply with a whole new slew of government regulations and that will add a file cabinet full of paperwork and I just don't want to fool with it." Others of us might think, "If I add a new location, I won't be able to know all my employees personally." Tom's advice is insightful. If your company isn't big, it's because you're thinking small and/or you don't enjoy the growth process.  

You think back:   Why is it important for a person who owns a business to take initiative?

Answer:  There is no one to tell a business owner what to do or how to do it. The business is started with the initiative of the founder and if that person stops taking initiative the business will die. My Oxford Dictionary says the definition of initiative is, "first step in a process, right or power to take this." The secret to building a large business is for the founder to hire others and give them the freedom to take initiative.  

What do you think?  Why would a bunch of highly educated people who had been carefully selected to work at one of the country's most prestigious agencies lack initiative?

Possible answer:  This may sound harsh but I'll say it anyway. Big bureaucracies attract people who want to play it safe. These people want to work in an environment where they feel they have the best chance of having a steady paycheck forever. They want the benefit package that a big organization can put together and they want to work 8-5. Who is the biggest employer in the world? The United States Federal Government.

The second reason Tom saw few people taking initiative at NASA is that big organizations take the wind out of ideas. You may offer a great idea but perhaps dozens of people have to be convinced to move ahead with it. People like Tom get tired of seeing their ideas lost in the sea of bureaucracy. So that's one of the reasons the government has so much trouble getting anything done, and when it does get done it is at huge cost to the tax payers. The inefficiencies can be blamed upon big bad systems, but more importantly many government employees just don't see the need to give their all. It is not laziness but rather greatness being withheld.

inefficienciesYou think back:   How does a person who waits to be told what to do think differently from a person who takes initiative?

Answer: A person who waits will think only within the confines of his/her job description. He/she will probably do good work on an assignment, and he/she will probably be consistent. However, a person who takes initiative sees a larger picture and often goes beyond his/her job description to find answers to problems. As a result he/she makes a larger contribution to the whole.  

Key Idea #2: A business is the shadow of its leader . Your company cannot grow unless you think big; it cannot be innovative unless you are innovative; it cannot be customer oriented unless you are customer oriented. Another way of saying this is that everything starts at the top. Tom believes that you have to find ways to build your team incrementally and at the same time be the leader. That does not mean, however, that you have to be right all the time.

What do you think?  How does one prepare for leadership?

Answer:  Further education, take a leadership role in volunteer situations, participate in sports, join the military, take initiative in any way you can.  

What do you think?  If you don't like what's going in your business, where should you go first to make changes?

Answer:  You have to change yourself. Tom says, everything goes back to the founder/leader. Marty Edelston told me that when his children came to work in the business he founded, they told him people were afraid to make decisions. So Marty went to counseling to learn why he was scaring people. Several years later, Marty is a better listener and people feel more free to take action. 

Key Idea #3: People are not necessarily attracted to the largest paycheck. Tom has been able to hire some very talented people because he knows that they want challenge, freedom, opportunity, and a corporate culture that fits their values, more than they want money.

You think back:  Have you worked in a job which had no challenge, no freedom, and no opportunity? If yes, did you ever think you would want to stay in that position for an extended period? (Probably not.) How does a leader challenge people?

Answer: The leader sees a person's potential and challenges him or her to stretch into areas they have not tried. A leader gives clear assignments, but allows each person to discover the best way to complete that assignment. To study leaders who have grown companies see Tom Gegax, Neal Patterson, Jim McEachern, John Hawkins and Bob Sakata.

Also part of this particular episode of the show:

Save money by doing cross promotion.  with Jeff Slutsky says, "One of the most valuable tools of a street fighter is a cross-promotion. This is where you get somebody else to hand out your advertising for you free. Now we've been doing this for over 15 years, and it works for retail, it works for service organizations, big and small. So there's always a way to get a cross-promotion to work for you."  

What do you think?    Can any business use this idea?

Answer: Yes, and this is happening in a very big way on the web. Go to the end program about Mickey Finn's Brewery and you'll meet a retailer who cross promotes with other shops in the historic business district of Libertyville, Illinois with an old fashioned newsletter. And, there are dozens of web sites here that are using cross promotion. Let your imagination run free.

GO TO: Transcript, Executive Summary (Overview)

We invite your questions or comments.