\GoBillsInDallas/ Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 Wonder how he would have done as Bills or Sabres owner? http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/5dfb29e4-cd67-11e4-9144-00144feab7de.html The Business Guru: Bob Rich of Rich Products Attracta Mooney Financial Times March 26, 2015 12:00 am Bob Rich is the chairman and majority owner of Rich Products, a privately held US food company that sells its goods in more than 110 countries. He joined the family business in 1963, first establishing its Canadian arm before returning to Buffalo, New York, to set up the company’s sales and marketing team. The 73-year-old was president and chief executive between 1978 and 2006. A consummate sportsman, he owns several sports clubs, including the Buffalo Bisons baseball team. He is also the chairman of Cleveland Clinic, a medical centre in Ohio. “A lot of young people are reluctant to go into their family business because they know critics will say they are only there because of being family,” he says. “But I was able to put that behind me. I realised I had a chance to start at a good level, with good financial backing. By going into a company that was entrepreneurial, that was already on a good growth curve, I had the opportunity to go further faster. I realised I was who I was and I could just ignore any of the criticism that came my way. That was one of the better decisions I made in my life. “When I went into the company in 1963, we were doing $12m in sales. Now it’s approaching $3.5bn. When you are on that kind of trajectory, you get a lot of requests to sell the business. But I’ve never been tempted. In fact, I get so many offers and requests I have prepared a form letter and my assistant sends it out automatically. People could say that is irresponsible. But it gives our people a great level of comfort. They are never going to be called into a staff meeting in the cafeteria and be told that the company is being sold. “When I get up in the morning, I can do what is best for Rich Products and the 9,000 people who work for our company. I don’t have to go to New York and try to mesmerise potential investors or investment bankers. That gives me a tremendous advantage over people in listed companies. If we see a need for a new plant or an acquisition or a pricing policy to promote goods to build market share, we don’t have to worry about what the investment banks in New York or London are going to think about that. We just do it. “We developed a model where we would buy other closely held businesses. We knew what it was like to be a family business. We knew in many cases the elder generation was looking to cut down risk. We knew the young people wanted more responsibility and more financing. Knowing that, it gave us a great platform for making acquisitions. So through some 20 acquisitions over a decade, we became a family business of family businesses. “Contrary to what many people think, winning is important. Winning is everything. If a company sets a goal and it’s not about winning, it’s a bad goal. You have to set winning as a priority and then you really have to give people the tools to win. People say: ‘We are not number one, but that’s OK.’ But for me that’s not acceptable. For me winning is not an option — it is a mandate. Survival is not a good target. You have to win. But you win together as a team and you celebrate together and you have fun doing it. “In sports, whether you are a goalie or a striker, you have to win together. If the team has a weakness, when you get to the championship game, it will be exploited. So if you carry the analogy through to business, you have to make sure you really are spending time on attracting and hiring and retaining the best people that you can. “My father was asked what advice he would give someone starting out. He said: ‘Don’t drink martinis at lunch,’ which I thought was pretty good. That’s not my advice, though. People have to find their passion. You might take jobs to learn skills, but ultimately everyone should look to find their passion. Finding that passion might be more important than the pay you are receiving. “A lot of success comes down to people being risk-takers, finding their passion, being restless and keeping their youthful curiosity. For me those things are much more important than a university education. “Retirement is not in my vocabulary. There are still a lot of things I want to do — retirement is not one of them.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zevo Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 it would be cool if he could bring us the MLB....i hate baseball but i could def get onboard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PromoTheRobot Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 (edited) it would be cool if he could bring us the MLB....i hate baseball but i could def get onboardI heard a rumor that MLB offered the Expos to Rich for $190MM and he said no because he felt Buffalo couldn't support another major league team, especially one with no salary cap. Edited March 28, 2015 by PromoTheRobot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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