Volume 41, Number 8

UTAH’S BUSINESS JOURNAL$1.44Sept. 19-25, 2011www.slenterprise.com

THIS WEEK

• Calendar •See page 6.

• Industry Briefs •Begin on page 4.

Executive LifestyleBegin on page 15.

Made in UtahBegins on page 8.

S p e c i a lFFoocuscusR e p ort

Legal Matters

Legal Matters

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Design Matters

Executive Lifestyle

Legal Matters

Staffing Matters

HR Matters

Real Estate Matters

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Asset buy createsstate's largest ITservices outsource firm

$4.5 million assisted livingfacility under construction in Provo

In a move to expand its position within the information technology outsourcing market, American Fork-based Integratechs Inc. has acquired substantially all of the assets of DirectPointe, a nationwide managed IT services provider based in Lindon. The combined entity becomes fastest-growing and largest man-aged IT services provider in Utah, serving a diverse and growing cli-ent base across 25 states. Integratechs CEO Erich Pletsch said Integratechs brought 24 employees to the table, while DirectPointe had 62. The firms have combined their operations at DirectPointe’s Lindon facility because it had sufficient space for all. Four new jobs await fulfill-ment. Outside Utah, the combined firm has employees — most doing field service work for national clients and operating out of their homes — in Washington, Arizona, New Mexico and Connecticut. DirectPointe was founded in 2001, Integratechs in 2003. One of the firms’ higher profile local clients is Real Salt Lake.

Pletsch said it has not yet been determined which company name will be used going forward, but a decision should be made within the next couple of weeks. Companies in the managed IT services arena essentially man-age and maintain the IT infrastruc-ture of businesses of all sizes. “We build and install the servers and computers, support their end-users, work with them on planning and budgeting — anything their internal IT depart-ments don’t want to do, we will, 24/7/365,” Pletsch said. “The majority of the work is done over the phone or remotely; we log into their systems. “The real benefit of this transaction to Utah is that with the combined company we have a stronger, more local focus and we are Utah’s fastest growing IT ser-vice provider and we’re now the largest in the state. The big plus is there’s a strong local option for companies that are a looking for outsourced management services within the state.”

An elevation of Our House Assisted Living Center of Provo. It was designed to resemble a large residential home.By Barbara RattleThe Enterprise Ground has been broken in Provo for an approximately $4.5 million, 58-bed assisting living facility that is slated for a soft opening on Feb. 1, 2012. Located at 462 S. 900 E., the facility will be owned by Lon Lewis, a Pleasant Grove general contractor who has been building and operating assisted living centers since 1995. The Provo facility, as is the case with several other assisted living facilities built in Utah by Lewis’ company Lewcon Corp., will be operated by Our House Assisted Living, which manages a dozen smaller (averaging around 20 beds) assisted living facilities

throughout Utah. The Provo facility will be a “Type II” assisted living center, meaning that residents with disabilities will be able to avail themselves of single-person assistance with activities of daily living. Medication management will be offered under the direction of a contract nurse. The 40,000 square foot, single level structure was designed by Cooper Roberts Simonsen Architects. BHB was the structural engineer. The center has been designed to resemble a large residential home, with large gables and brick and stone facade and a two-car, covered parking area at the entrance for pickups

Report details state of commercial real estate market Salt Lake City-based com-mercial real estate brokerage NAI WEST released its 2011 midyear report detailing the highs and lows of the Utah commercial market. Several key indicators in 2011 have had an effect on Utah’s com-mercial real estate market, includ-ing Forbes magazine ranking Utah the No. 1 Best State for Business and Careers, CNBC ranking Utah No. 8 For the Best State for Doing Business in 2011, Fortune maga-zine listing Salt Lake City as one of the world’s 15 “hottest” cities for business and Utah ranking No. 1 for Economic Outlook in the ALEC Laffer Economic competi-tiveness index. Utah is ranked in the top third in the nation for the lowest unemployment rate at 7.3 percent, compared to a national average of 9.2 percent. The num-ber of firms looking to relocate to or expand in Utah continues to be steady, if not increasing. “Utah’s economy, as a whole, continues to outperform other markets in the nation and remains

one of the most fundamentally sound economies in the country,” said Gary Magnum, NAI WEST principal broker/managing direc-tor. “The Wasatch Front commer-cial real estate market does mirror that of the nation, but with a more optimistic outlook.”

Industrial - Salt Lake County As a whole, the Salt Lake industrial market continues to out-perform most of its national coun-terparts. As of midyear 2011, the vacancy rate rose to 6.16 percent. New construction in Salt Lake is as active as it was prior to the downturn in the economy, with 12 buildings containing approximate-ly two million square feet cur-rently under construction. Six of these buildings are being built on a speculative basis and make up almost 75 percent of the new build square footage. The total number of transactions is up significantly from midyear 2010, translating into the most transactions com-pleted in over three years. Due to the geographic con-

straints and the underlying funda-mentals of the Salt Lake Industrial market, steady growth and overall health is projected for the foresee-able future, barring any seismic shifts or catastrophic events in the economy.

Office - Salt Lake County While there is a reasonable level of activity in terms of tenants and buyers looking for space, the midyear numbers do not reflect improvement in the market over-all. Average asking lease rates for office space have made an incon-sequential improvement from $19.46 to $19.62. Vacancy rates have gone up close to three quar-ters of a percentage point from 13.17 percent at year-end 2010 to 13.89 percent. Class B space in Salt Lake County seems to be the most obvi-ous of the continued economic stagnation. Vacancy rates for class B space, now nearing 18.5 per-cent, have climbed upward since the fourth quarter of 2009, when they were hovering around 16 per-

cent. Additionally, owner/user sales have been strong, perhaps in part driven by reduced asking prices from 2008 levels. At this point in time NAI does not expect a rapid improvement in the office market.

Retail - Cache, Davis, Salt Lake, Utah and Weber Counties A consensus is building among retail industry experts that the bottom of the retail commercial real estate downturn has occurred along the Wasatch Front and we are now trending upward, albeit at a relatively anemic pace. The threat of a lethargic rebound or even a double-dip downturn still remains, but many market fun-damentals indicate that markets have rebounded off lows and are strengthening. Retail investment sales have become red-hot, with year-over-year transactions up 80 percent and CAP rates stabilizing. In

see ASSISTED page 2

see REPORT page 2

particular, well-located grocery anchored and single tenant, triple-net investments are approaching CAP rate levels not seen since 2006-2009.Investment - Cache, Davis, Salt Lake, Tooele and Utah Counties Midyear 2011 numbers show a healthy increase in dollar vol-umes across the board and the highest since mid-year 2008. These positive signs show that investor interest is strong and seeking to find quality deals and value added properties. Sales data reflects that core Class A assets are in demand for all property types, as is the competition for note purchases and deeply discounted properties. Class B and C assets have yet to recover their fundamentals and sales remain sluggish. Investment

sales volume is only restrained by the lack of quality product. The market will continue to see more of the same, NAI predicts — a long, slow trend upward. Demand for quality deals will continue to push pricing and hopefully result in more assets coming to the market. Other investment assets will continue to flounder with sales few and far between. Land - Cache, Davis, Salt Lake,

Utah and Weber Counties Land sales activity has reached its lowest point in the decade. Sales volumes for unim-proved and improved land are just 10 percent of the peak in 2007 and about half of what they were this time last year. This reduction is due primarily to lackluster home sales, which in turn has curbed the appetite of home builders for more lots or residential land for lot development. The price disparity between buyers and sellers is beginning to close. Facing a continued difficult economy, lenders are becoming more anxious to move nonper-forming assets off of their books. Reasonable buyers who are will-ing to take on some risk will find the best opportunities to buy in the next 18-24 months.

2 The Enterprise Sept. 19-25, 2011

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Coexisting in a chicken/egg, yin-and-yang relationship, an organization’s brand and culture shape and reflect each other in an interconnected system. One doesn’t change without the other; they can only evolve together. And the workplace is where it all happens.In the symbiotic relationship between brand and culture, brand is the outward manifestation of a company’s DNA and culture is the inward demonstration. The corporate world has been talking about organizational culture for years, but the emergence of brand as a discussion point in the executive suite is relatively new for many organizations. Of course, brand mavens like P&G and Coca-Cola live their brands every day, but at less well-known companies, brand has traditionally been left to the purview of the marketing department. In a competitive marketplace with a multitude of choices, however, organizations are realizing that differentiation is critical to survival and a strong brand can help cut through the clutter.

Today, experts agree that a brand is no longer something you can apply to the surface of an organization as if it were nothing more than a mark on cowhide or a catchy tagline on an ad. Strong brands grow from within. The line between culture and brand thins and smudges to the point that it almost can’t be seen. And if an organization wants to change its brand, it needs to consider whether the culture can support that change. The workplace is a frequently overlooked but critical lever in supporting a brand and culture change. If a culture change is a drama being played out (sometimes literally, as well as figuratively), then the workplace is the theater. Midwest has studied these issues through primary and secondary research, plus field studies with clients, and even uses its own spaces as living laboratories, thereby discover- ing new insights into the tightly connected and changing relationship between culture, brand, and workplace. It is virtually impossible to change an organization’s culture or its brand in significant ways without also changing the workplace.WHERE IS BRAND REFLECTED IN YOUR WORKPLACE? Logos and advertising are still the primary way to express brand in the workplace. At the same time, we understand that the design of the total workplace is a powerful way to encourage behaviors that sync with brand.HOW IS BRAND EXPRESSED IN YOUR WORKPLACE? Because space has such power to influence behavior — how we feel, how we interact with others, our productivity — its role in shaping culture and, as a result, a brand is imperative. By recognizing that the total workplace is an opportunity to successfully refine or redefine their culture, organizations can be poised to respond to the fast-changing dynamics of globalization, technology, Gen Y presence and influence, real estate compression, economic recession, and other operational and market challenges.BRINGING BRAND INTO WORKPLACE DESIGN With the growing importance of brand, many organizations are thinking about where to start. There are many ways to approach defining and designing spaces that will support a company’s brand.First, understand your organization’s brand intent. Understanding the right questions to ask is the key to defining the strategy for a workplace that will support your brand: • What are your key business goals? • What is your brand promise? • What do you need people to do in order to achieve the goals and deliver on the brand promise? • What behaviors do you need to encourage to ensure people are living the brand?THE BOTTOM LINE Exploring the questions of brand and culture and their relationship to the workplace is no longer a “nice to do.” It’s imperative for organizations that want to compete in an increasingly crowded marketplace. Gone are the days that companies could put forth one image to the public and keep its internal behaviors behind the curtain. Employees are the ambassadors of the brand, andthat doesn’t mean just executives or the sales force. Every person who touches the customer in some way — from the people in the shipping department to those who answer the phone — have an opportunity to shape the company’s reputation and, therefore, its brand. When an employee feels an emotional connection to brand and “at home” in the workplace, an organization is on its way to both a stronger, richer culture and a more authentic, successful brand.

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and drop-offs. Each resident room will measure about 300 feet and be accompanied by its own private bath. “We’re offering full services — salon, laundry facilities, large dining area, living room/congregation area, a private dining facility the residents can use if they choose,” Lewis said. Rental rates have yet to be determined, but will be competitive, he added. Located in a quasi-commercial area, the facility will be adjacent to the Mountainland Health Services Center and will face State Street. Lewis said Central Bank is providing both construction and permanent financing for the project, which necessitated the demolition of a former Fraternal Order of the Eagles building.

ASSISTEDfrom page 1

REPORTfrom page 1

The president and CEO of SnugZ USA, a Holladay-based promotional products firm, has acquired 100 percent of the com-pany. Brandon Mackay has been a stakeholder in the company since 2005 and bought all interest from a handful of other share-holders. Founded in 1989 with a 10 employees making customiz-able eyewear retainers, SnugZ has grown to more than 250 employees and now manufac-tures lanyards, pouches, badge reels, tradeshow organizers, neck wallets and bags, water bottle straps and wine glass holders, pet products, lip balm, headbands, keychains, bracelets, card hold-ers, luggage spotters, whistles, sunscreen, sanitizers, lotions and gels and other promotional prod-ucts that can be custom-branded. The firm was recently ranked on the Inc. 5000, which indicated the company had revenues of $24.8 million last year.

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The EnterpriseSept. 19-25, 2011 3

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Wealth management firm opens Utah office Gentry Wealth Management, a Scottsdale-based financial plan-ning firm, has opened their first Utah office at 292 E. 12200 S., Draper. The company specializes in retirement planning, income man-agement, philanthropic planning and estate and legacy planning. Clark Morzelewski has been hired to manage Utah operations.

He previously worked at Fidelity Investments as vice president and senior account executive. While at Fidelity he managed 350 rela-tionships with a combined net worth in excess of $1 billion, and received the President’s Award on multiple occasions, recognizing his outstanding client relation-ships. Gentry Wealth Management

employs a diversified, multi-man-ager approach that utilizes both traditional and non-traditional investments designed to achieve portfolios that not only perform in a good market, but help protect assets during poor market perfor-mance. The Utah office marks the firm’s first foray out of its home state of Arizona.

Law firm purchases Salt Lake City building Winder & Counsel, a Salt Lake City law fi rm specializing in commercial and business litigation and transactions, has purchased an approximately 5,700 square foot building at 460 S. 400 E. and plans to be up and operating there by Oct. 31. The fi rm is currently located at 175 E. 200 S. in a structure in which Winder & Counsel principal Donald Winder held an equity

interest for many years. Winder said the new location offers about the same amount of usable square footage as does the 200 South offi ce, but provides a basement that will be valuable for storage. “We’re trying to get rid of that stuff called paper but we don’t seem to be completely succeeding,” he said. Winder & Counsel, founded in

1983, has four full-time attorneys, three of counsel attorneys and two law clerks, one of whom has taken the bar exam and hopefully will become the fi rm’s fi fth full-time attorney. Winder said he bought the 400 East building because “now the market’s very good to be an owner again. Business after the start of the Great Recession was not very good, but it’s been recovering and we’ve had a nice year.” The building purchase transaction was brokered by Rich Nordlund and Alison Beddard of Commerce Real Estate Solutions.

Vital Signs Staffing acquiresSandy-based On Call Solutions Vital Signs Staffi ng, Murray, has acquired On Call Solutions, an after-hours nursing triage service located in Sandy. Vital Signs gained eight employees, who have been integrated into Vital Signs’ Murray location, in addition to several good-sized customers, including one with facilities in Hawaii, California, Texas and Georgia, said Vital Signs owner Steve Whitworth. The combined fi rm now is responsible for more than 3,000 patients in the Wasatch Front area. Vital Signs was already in the after-hours nursing triaging business; the acquisition served to more than double that business. Vital Signs employees fi eld calls from patients and/or their family members when the patient — most living at home or in a hospice environment and near

death — experiences a medical diffi culty such as an accident or a fall or their pain medications are no longer effective. “We’ll walk the patient or the family member through if we can,” Whitworth said. “If we can’t, then we notify a nurse in the local area. If it’s in the Wasatch Front area we send the nurse out to do the visit. If it’s outside the state then we contact one of [the clients’] employees to go out and do a visit.” On Call Solutions was founded roughly six years ago. In addition to after-hours nursing triage services, Vital Signs places registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and certifi ed nursing assistants. Earlier this year, it purchased Home Option Personal Care, which performs non-medical staffi ng services.

Salt Lake City-based Henriksen Butler (H/B), a firm specializing in interior design and custom furniture solutions, recent-ly remodeled its main 14,000 square foot showroom at 249 S. 400 E., part of its effort to keep in line with the latest architectural and design trends. “We’re in a very fashion-for-ward business so things change,” HB president/CEO David Colling said of the two remodels, which cost $400,000. “We need to keep up on design trends. It’s like being an auto dealership and not having the latest line of new cars. There are significant changes in design trends in terms of products and layouts architects are specifying; it has driven the need to update our showroom with the latest and

greatest products.” H/B has been Utah’s sole distributor of Herman Miller office furnishings since 1989, and the newly remodeled showroom incorporates Herman Miller’s Canvas Office Landscape systems furniture, which features lower panels and more glass to allow light into the workspace. One showroom highlight is an artist-designed digital wallpaper by Maharam and DIRTT wall solu-tions featuring back-painted glass and textiles. Henriksen Butler was found-ed in Salt Lake City in 1980, with satellite offices in St. George and Las Vegas. The firm had revenues of $30 million in 2010 and expects to gross $37 million in 2011, a 30 percent increase.

Henriksen Butler invests $400,000 in remodel of Salt Lake showroom

BANKING• This month Zions Bank

is celebrating the completion of 1,000 Financial Peace University (FPU) classes in Utah and Idaho. Since Zions Bank began support-ing this community-based finan-cial education program, more than 30,000 participants have attended the program locally. FPU, devel-oped by best-selling author Dave Ramsey, is a 13-week series

designed to help families save money for emergency expenses, get out of debt, and build wealth. A recent survey of past Zions Bank sponsored participants revealed that the average household has been able to add $15,600 to their savings and pay off $16,300 in debt. Moreover, 33 percent have paid off all consumer debts, and 38 percent have increased their 401(k) contributions by an aver-

age of 6 percent. • U.S. Bank has appointed Michael Cureton as a wealth management advisor for The Private Client Reserve of U.S. Bank, a unit of U.S. Bank’s Wealth Management Group that serves clients with more than $1 million in individual or family wealth. Cureton and teams of specialists help clients work towards their financial objectives by providing

comprehensive wealth manage-ment services in the areas of pri-vate banking, personal trust, and financial planning. Cureton reports to Michael Poulter, market leader for The Private Client Reserve in Salt Lake City. Cureton has more than 25 years of experience in the banking industry. He has held positions as a private banker with U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo Private Bank and is a graduate of Dixie

College in St. George. • Wells Fargo recently installed a new generation of Envelope-Free ATMs across Utah. The new machines no lon-ger require envelopes for deposits and allow customers to stack and deposit checks and cash togeth-er at the same time. Following a successful pilot in Colorado, Wells Fargo has now installed 139 brand new ATMs across Utah featuring this new technology. Customers no longer need to write on an envelope or key-in a deposit amount. Once cash and/or checks are inserted into the ATM (up to 30 checks and/or bills at a time), the machine converts the paper checks into digital images, which appear on the ATM screen and on the receipt. The ATM also sorts and counts the cash and verifies the amount. • Frontier Bank, Park City, has hired Catherine Cimos as assistant vice president and branch manager. Cimos, a life-long Utah native and 16 year-resident of Park City, graduated summa cum laude from Westminster College of Salt Lake City, holding a B.A. degree in accounting. CONSTRUCTION • The U.S. Green Building Council has awarded a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver Certification for Commercial Interiors to the intellectual prop-erty law firm Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione for the firm’s offices at 222 S. Main in Salt Lake City, Utah’s first LEED Gold-certified high-rise. LEED for Commercial Interiors is the green benchmark for the tenant improvement mar-ket. It is the recognized system for certifying high-performance green interiors that are healthy and pro-ductive places to work, that are less costly to operate and main-tain, and that have a reduced envi-ronmental footprint. The architect was Method Studio, a full-service architectural and design firm in downtown Salt Lake City, and the contractor was design-build firm Bonneville Builders.

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• Salt Lake City-based ajc architects has promoted Joshua W. Greene to associate principal of the firm and Kent Rigby to associate architect. With more than 16 years of design experience, Greene has been with ajc archi-tects since 1995, and has worked with a diverse range of clients and projects, from neighborhood visi-tor centers to 100,000 square foot life science buildings. An eight-year ajc architects veteran, Rigby has been in the industry for 30 years of experience, specializing in quality control. EDUCATION/TRAINING • Michael S. Bassis will retire as president of Westminster College, Salt Lake City, at the conclusion of this academic year, July 2012. Bassis has served as the college’s president since July 2002. The college’s board of trust-ees will begin a national search for Bassis’ replacement, whom they expect will be in place by summer, 2012. • The University of Utah has climbed up one spot to 79th in the Academic Ranking of World Universities by the Center for World-Class Universities of Shanghai Jiao Tong University. In the latest issue of U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges” rankings of undergradu-ate programs, the David Eccles School of Business at the U made a very strong showing moving up 12 spots to number 55 in the nation. • LDS Business College officials will celebrate the school’s 125th anniversary Sept. 21 with a downtown party on the plaza south of the college at 95 N. 300 W., Salt Lake City. The “Neighborhood Celebration,” scheduled from noon to 3 p.m., will open with an official cake cutting, and fea-ture party treats, entertainment, displays, games and prizes. At about 12:30, 1,000 ping pong balls will be tossed from the roof of the 10-story building with 125 marked for prizes. In 1886, 10 years before Utah became a state, a group of resourceful Salt Lake City businessmen, under the direc-tion of John Taylor, then president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, founded LDS Business College, known then as Salt Lake Academy. • The Natural History Museum of Utah at the University of Utah will dedicate its new home, the Rio Tinto Center, on Nov. 17. The new building will officially open to the general pub-lic on Nov. 18. The museum, an active research institution, cares for 1.2 million objects from the state and around the region. The total square footage of the new building is approximately 163,000, and its size and design allows for 50 years of future collection growth. The Museum is seeking LEED gold certification for the

Rio Tinto Center, which features many “green” elements and is situated on a 17-acre site located above the shoreline of ancient Lake Bonneville. INSURANCE • Metro National Title, Salt Lake City, has appointed Blake T. Heiner vice president and gen-eral counsel. He has more than 30 years of professional title insur-ance and will be responsible for risk analysis, claims review and underwriting transactions as well as escrow closings. Heiner got his law degree from the University of Utah. Previously, he worked for more than 16 years as regional and senior claims counsel for First American Title Insurance Co. • XSI Sports Insurance, a Lehi-based provider of supple-mental insurance aimed at every-day athletes, is now offering its products to snowboarders and skiers. Plans begin at $15.40 per month per individual. XSI Sports Insurance’s supplemen-tal insurance plans cover snow-boarders and skiers on and off the slopes. Unlike health insur-ance plans, supplemental insur-ance pays cash to the policyholder when claims are approved. • Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Utah has hired Scott Thompson as its new media relations manager. He was previ-ously with the Utah Department of Transportation where he served as its public involvement manager in the Orem Office. He has over 20 years of experience working in communication roles for state government, nonprofit organiza-tions and television broadcasting. LAW • Chad S. Pehrson has joined the Litigation Practice of the Salt Lake City law firm of Parr Brown Gee & Loveless. He specializes in complex commercial litigation, including intellectual property disputes, patent infringe-ment claims, securities litigation, health care litigation, antitrust suits and government investiga-tions. Previously, Pehrson was an

associate with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in Palo Alto. • Jones Waldo will host the fall meeting of the Legal Netlink Alliance, a global alliance of inde-pendent law firms selected for their commitment to high qual-ity and integrity, Sept. 21-24. The gathering will include an over-view of city development from the Downtown Alliance along with sessions on client service and mar-keting. In addition, a panel of top executives will discuss legal issues and trends in the direct sales industry, and University of Utah law professor Wayne McCormack will address “9/11: A Decade After and a Decade to Come.” • Holland & Hart LLP, which has an office in Salt Lake City, has been named among the nation’s 50 Best Law Firms for Women by the National Association for Female Executives, a division of Working Mother Media and con-sulting firm Flex-Time Lawyers. This is the second time the firm has been listed as one of the top 50 firms in the nation for creating a supportive work environment for women. Holland & Hart was also named to the 50 Best Law Firms for Women in 2009. MEDIA/MARKETING • Clarus Marketing Group, a technology firm based in Middletown, Conn., has opened an office at 50 W. Broadway, Suite 1016, Salt Lake City. The firm owns, operates and manages e-commerce websites. Its largest site and flagship business is free-shipping.com. C. J. Jedrziewski, director of partnership marketing, said the Utah office will focus pri-marily on partnership marketing

while customer service and all IT and operations will be run out of Connecticut. • Crowell Advertising, Marketing & PR, Salt Lake City, has added five new employees. Marshall Mann has joined Crowell as an interactive account exec-utive. Mann worked at another local agency in a similar role and graduated from the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business with a bachelor’s degree in business marketing. As an account services coordinator for Crowell, Amelia Hall previously worked as a features journalist at an Australian media company pro-moting her clients in sometimes scary or inedible ways. Connor Crowell is working on many proj-ects, such as media coverage man-agement, new business develop-ment, creative services support, client events and office manage-

ment. A new sales account coor-dinator serving Crowell’s business development team, Julia Breinholt helps create new business oppor-tunities, researches prospects, and provides project management sup-port services. Brittany Jacoby is the agency’s production coordina-tor.

NONPROFIT • The Historic 25th Street Business Association in Ogden will present the 10th annual America First Credit Union Harvest Moon Celebration Sept. 24. from noon until 10 p.m. The community will celebrate the end of summer, KBER’s 25th anni-versary and the XTERRA USA Championships and Trail Run Nationals in Ogden. More than 25 family-friendly activities are

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6 The Enterprise Sept. 19-25, 2011

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• Sept. 20, 8-9:30 a.m.: “European Regulatory Affairs — Update on Medical Device Directives,” sponsored by the Utah Technology Council. Dr. Michael Rinck, CEO of MT Promedt Consulting in Germany, will review of the changes over the past year and to provide infor-mation on how Utah companies can maintain compliance with the EU regulations. There will be Q & A session following the pre-sentation. Location is the Little America Hotel, 500 S. Main St., Salt Lake City. Cost is $15 for UTC members, $30 for nonmem-bers. Register at www.utahtech.org. • Sept. 20, 6 p.m.: Rotary

Club of Salt Lake City Centennial Gala, “A Century of Service — A Future of Opportunity.” The cel-ebration of the club’s 100th anni-versary will include a reception, dinner and presentation by honor-ees who exemplify Rotary’s motto of “service above self.” Honorees will be Ezekiel Dumke, Jr., co-founder of The Katherine W. and Ezekiel Dumke Jr. Foundation; Kem Gardner, chairman of The KC Gardner Co.; Jon M. Huntsman Sr., founder and chair-man, Huntsman Corp.; President Thomas S. Monson, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; Beverley Taylor Sorenson, co-Founder, Sorenson Legacy Foundation; and Maj. Gen.

Brian L. Tarbet of Utah National Guard. Location is the Salt Palace Grand Ballroom, 100 S. West Temple, Salt Lake City. Cost is $50. Register at www.slcrotary.org or by calling the Rotary office at (801) 363-8415. • Sept. 20, 4-7 p.m.: Contractor Lien and Bond Seminar, sponsored by Bank of American Fork. Many changes to Utah lien and bond law place new burdens on contractors to protect their lien rights. To help subcontractors understand these changes and how they will be affected, Dana Farmer, an attorney with Smith Knowles, will address a number of issues. Location is Cabela’s, 2501 W. Grand Terrace Parkway, Lehi. Free. RSVP at www.bankaf.com/events or (801) 642-3139. • Sept. 20, 11:30 a.m.: Utah Advertising Federation September Luncheon. Stephen Freitas, chief marketing offi-cer of the Outdoor Advertising Association of America, will dis-cuss new technologies to reach consumers and measure effective-ness, such as the new EYES ON audience measurement system, as well as advancements in digital formats and how the industry is addressing environmental stew-ardship. Location is the Salt Lake Hilton, 255 S. West Temple, Salt Lake City. Cost is $25 for AAF members, $35 for nonmembers. Register at http://aafutsep2011.eventbrite.com. • Sept. 22, 8 a.m.-noon: Free

Business Conference, present-ed by UBS Financial Services. Several local business experts will speak about increasing sales through branding, social market-ing and interactive advertising; how a securities-backed line of credit works and why it may be valuable to your company; strate-gies to earn more interest income on your company’s working capi-tal and cash reserves; getting the most out of a company 401(k) plan; understanding the benefits of an employee stock ownership plan; addressing difficulties through business turnaround and restruc-turing strategies; taking advan-tage of SBA resources; learning what community banks have to offer; and when accounts receiv-able factoring or invoice financ-ing might make sense. Location is the Wells Fargo Building, 299 S. Main St., Suite 2100, Salt Lake City. Free. Breakfast and lunch will be served. Register with ben.driggs@ubs.com. • Sept. 23, 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m.: Business Sustainability Conference, presented by Net Impact Utah Professional Chapter.Keynote speakers will include Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon; Pete Ashdown, founder and owner of XMission; and Terri Holland, owner and founder of Home Caregivers Home Health. Net Impact is the leading business sustainability organization glob-ally with 20,000 members in 70 countries affiliating with under-graduate, MBA and professional chapters. Sustainable businesses use the “triple bottom line” to measure their success, generat-ing positive environmental, social and economic impacts — or peo-ple, planet, profit. Location is the Wasatch Retreat and Conference Center Episcopal Church Center of Utah at 75 S. 200 E., Salt Lake City. Cost varies. For more infor-mation and registration, visit /www.regonline.com/Register/Checkin.aspx?EventID=978610. • Sept. 28, 8 a.m.-3 p.m.: Smart Women Smart Money Conference, presented by Zions Bank’s Women’s Financial Group. Guest speaker will be actress Geena Davis. Breakout sessions will show participants how to trav-el at full speed toward retirement, how to fuel a business career, and how to navigate the financial free-way with a budget. Davis’ keynote speech will motivate the audi-ence to drive the road to success by highlighting the importance of gender equity and empower-ment for success in life, finance and business. Location is the Salt Palace Ballroom, Salt Lake City. Free, but registration is required.

Register at www.smartwomen.zionsbank.com or by calling 800-737-6586. • Sept. 28, noon-1:30 p.m.: “Advances in Neuroprosthetic Implants and Regenerative Medicine,” presented by the Utah Technology Council. Patrick A. Tresco, Ph.D., profes-sor and chair of the Department of Bioengineering, College of Engineering at the University of Utah, will talk about advances in neuroprosthetic implants that allow patients with profound dis-abilities to use their thoughts to control computers and machines. He also will introduce a novel approach to rebuild bodily tissues with natural biomaterials harvest-ed from living cells. Tresco has served as a biomateri-als consultant to such companies as Bard Access Systems, Fresenius and Microislet. Location is the Little America Idaho Room, 500 S. Main St., Salt Lake City. Cost is $35 for UTC members, $60 for nonmembers. Register at www.utahtech.org. • Sept. 30, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.: Dave Ramsey’s EntreLeadership Nationwide Simulcast Training Event, presented by ChamberWest and hosted by the Salt Lake Community College Jordan cam-pus. Cost is $39. Register at www.chamberwest.org or by contacting Holly at (801) 673-332 or holly@chamberwest.org. • Oct. 28-29: Women in Business Conference, spon-sored by the BYU Management Society and the Marriott School of Management at BYU. Keynote speakers will be Cathy Chamberlain, managing director of market strategy for Deseret Book Co.; Linda Daines, man-aging director for private client services at Goldman Sachs; and Jan Saumweber, senior vice presi-dent of Global Walmart Team Sara Lee Corp. There will also be a number of breakout sessions and speakers. The Oct. 28 events run from 5:30-9 p.m. while the Oct. 29 events run from 7:30 a.m.-4:15 p.m. Location is the BYU campus in Provo. Cost varies depending on number of events attended. Registration deadline is Oct. 14. For more information and to reg-ister, visit www.wibc.byu.edu. • Nov. 4, 7 p.m.: Utah Technology Council 2011 Hall of Fame Gala. Keynote speaker will be Larry Ellison, founder and CEO of Oracle Corp. Location is the Grand America Hotel, 555 S. Main St., Salt Lake City. A networking session will begin at 6 p.m. Cost is $300 for UTC members, $450 for nonmembers. Register at www.utahtech.org.

Sept. 19-25, 2011 The Enterprise 7

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planned for all ages including live music, kid’s activities and downtown criterium races. For additional information visit www.historic25.com or call (801) 644-4068.

REAL ESTATE• Red Ledges, a private

mountain golf community in the Heber Valley, said that Kevin Price Designs has released a new selection of home designs for The Cottages collection. These new homes will start at $850,000. Kevin Price Designs, a firm with 34 years of experience in building and designing in high-end luxury communities, has enhanced The Cottages to provide buyers with increased value. The collection includes five floor plans ranging from 2,766 to 3,549 square feet, each featuring three bedrooms, three and a half bathrooms, three fireplaces, a laundry room, wide-open living spaces, a mudroom and a patio. The Wasatch floor plan, which is 2,766 square feet, is the most recent addition to The Cottages. • Everest Realty Group, an independent real estate companies, has become a franchise brokerage fi rm of the CENTURY 21 System, and is now known as CENTURY 21 Everest Realty Group, Midvale. Everest Realty Group opened its doors on June 1, 2009. In the fi rst six month of business, the company grew to approximately 50 sales agents and today has more than 100 agents serving the Wasatch Front market and surrounding areas.

RESTAURANTS • Salt Lake City-based New Golden Dragon restaurant is moving from its present loca-tion at 1518 S. Main to 1716 S. State, according to owner Tak Siu. Siu purchased the approximately 11,000 square foot building in April, which used to be home to Rolling Thunder Cycles, and is in the midst of having it completely remodeled. The owner hopes to open the 200-capacity facility by mid-October, pending approval from state health department and building inspector. The restaurant will remain open at its present location until the move is final-ized. The New Golden Restaurant is open for lunch and dinner and offers traditional Hong Kong Chinese fare, in addition to dim sum. • Chick-fil-A will open its newest Layton location at 651 W. Antelope Road on Sept. 22, and will award a free year’s supply of Chick-fil-A to the first 100 adults in line that morning. Nearly eight years after it debuted at an Arizona grand opening, Chick-fil-A’s First 100 celebration ushers in each grand opening around the country. The parking lot party draws from

miles around Chick-fil-A’s loyal customers who come equipped with couches, TVs, computers, tents and other gear as they count down to the newest restaurant opening. • Salt Lake City-based TCBY, The Country’s Best Yogurt was presented with the Prepared Foods Excellence in Innovation Award for its development of Super Fro-Yo at the Prepared Foods New Products Conference in Naples, Fla, recent-ly. Co-sponsored by Prepared Foods and the American Egg Board, the Excellence in Innovation Awards are designed to recognize innovative new prod-ucts introduced nationally during 2010 through 2011, and the inspi-rational teamwork and creativity that made those new products pos-sible.

RETAIL • WhatTheyThink.com, a media outlet in print-ing and publishing, has cho-sen AlphaGraphics CEO Ken Cushing has been named the Print CEO of the Year. The award, in its second year, acknowledges the work of print CEOs who have been in their positions for at least two years and show innovative and inspirational leadership of a successful printing company. This success is quantified in revenue, profit growth, corporate transfor-mation initiatives, environmental leadership and other qualifications as seen by those who nominate leaders. AlphaGraphics is head-quartered in Salt Lake City.

SPORTS/FITNESS • Gold’s Gym of Northern Utah is giving the community the opportunity to workout at their facilities at no cost during September with the “Everyone’s a Member” campaign. Individuals (18 and older) and companies are invited to try the gym for 30 days, no purchase necessary. Group fi tness classes, cardio equipment, weights, steam room, sauna, pool and basketball and racquetball courts are all included during the

free month membership. There are no limits on access during the trial. Nursery services are available for an additional charge. The pass is inclusive to all three northern Utah Gold’s Gym locations — Roy, Layton and Ogden. Former members of Gold’s Gym are not eligible for the free trial. Details are available at www.trygoldsgym.com. • The Riverside Country Club in Provo has opened its newly renovated clubhouse. Originally built in 1960, the

restored 52,000 square foot clubhouse includes new meeting spaces, expanded dining options, added spa and salon offerings, an updated reception venue and the addition of a state-of-the-art fi tness center and kids club.

TELCO • More than 13 million AT&T wireless customers, includ-ing more than 50,000 customers in the Salt Lake City area, will soon enjoy unlimited mobile calling to

any mobile number in the United States — regardless of the wire-less service provider — at no addi-tional charge. AT&T has added Unlimited Mobile to Any Mobile calling to more than 13 million customers with an unlimited mes-saging plan and a qualifying voice plan. This addition expands the calling scope for qualified cus-tomers from the current 85 million AT&T wireless customers to the more than 250 million wireless phone numbers nationwide.

from page 5

The Enterprise Sept. 19-25, 20118

Focuss p e c i a l

report

LABORATORIES

HIGHLIGHTING BUSINESSES THAT WERE CREATED IN UTAH AND CONTINUE TO BE OWNED BY UTAHNS

By Brad FullmerThe Enterprise Spend a few minutes walking through Harmon’s newest state-of-the-art, 69,380 square foot Station Park supermarket in Farmington with owners – and local semi-celebrities – Bob and Randy Harmon and it becomes quite obvious that the lifetime grocery retailers have an overwhelming passion for good food. Whether they’re showing off the store’s spacious lobby with its myriad displays of fresh fruits and cheeses and unique locally produced sundries, offering up a slice of house-made chicken pizza with white sauce or extolling the virtues of dry-aged prime beef, the Harmon brothers seem to be rel-ishing the fruits of their 21st century busi-ness model. That model includes reinvesting con-siderable dollars back into their company, a rather remarkable concept during a reces-sionary period of vast economic uncertainty. Harmon’s has a current annual sales volume of approximately $430 million from 15 Utah-based stores (No. 16 opens February 2012 in downtown Salt Lake) and oper-ates on razor thin profit margins. Yet, the company is thriving under the leadership of third generation members who have a firm belief in the concept of reaping what you sow. “We have put a tremendous amount of resources back into our company,” said Bob Harmon, 50, vice president of customers. “Since 2003 we’ve reinvested $76 million into renovations, training and equipment. When everyone else was ‘leaning out,’ we actually grew our company staff by more than 25 percent. We added 460 jobs – pastry chefs, artisan bakers, butchers, houseware specialists. We added all of these into our business. “At this point it’s been very success-ful,” Bob said of the way Harmon’s has improved and enhanced its operations since the turn of the century. “We knew back in the late ‘90s that our industry had changed dynamically. Bigger boxes [i.e., corporate retail behemoths like Walmart, Target and Kroger] had more leverage in procuring

products at a very low price point and we knew we didn’t have that same leveraging power. We knew [their presence] was going to change market share and that we needed to do something entirely different than what we were providing, and something uniquely different from our competitors. That’s when we started on the path of finding great value.” Bob says this like the past dozen years have been something of a Yellow Brick Road kind of journey for the Harmons and their extended company family of 2,700 employees, or “associates” as they’re referred to. In many ways, it has indeed been a twisting, turning, winding road that has led them to this point. “We knew all about Walmart before they even entered this market,” said Randy Harmon, 51, vice president of consumer affairs. “We’re members of a national orga-nization of family-owned grocery busi-nesses and the first thing they told us was ‘don’t play the price game, because you’ll lose every time.’ “Instead of the philosophy ‘pile it high and watch it fly,’ it’s more about being edu-cated on what we sell, and in turn educating our customers,” added Randy. “It’s changed our entire business. The more we learn about food, the more passionate we become about it, and we’re attracting more passion-ate employees as well. It’s made our lives a lot more fun to share that with people.” “We were concerned with Walmart and seeing other locally owned grocers that were selling out to bigger companies, and we didn’t want to do that,” said president Dean Peterson, a 38-year Harmon’s veteran who started stocking shelves as a teenager in 1973. “But we wanted to survive and that meant making significant changes.” “We had to re-think our entire busi-ness,” said Bob. “We’re trying to hit some-thing different than price. We were always a good operator, but it seemed like everyone was offering the same shopping experience. In order for us to retain our market share and grow customers, we had to differentiate ourselves from our competition.”

By Brad FullmerThe Enterprise Mike Pratt, principal owner and found-er of Bluffdale-based OGIO International Inc., has always has always had an inclina-tion for developing new concepts for prod-ucts. Twenty-five years ago while working out at a local gym in Park City, Pratt was flummoxed by the shape of his duffel bag, which fit awkwardly in the gym’s vertical locker. So Pratt started looking at his bag from a user perspective, and concluded that it would function better if it were shaped more like the locker. He went home and designed his first product, the locker bag. He had some sample bags made, found a factory in Asia that could manufacture the products and, voila, the company was launched. From those humble roots, OGIO has blossomed into an award-winning, inter-nationally renowned leader in sports and lifestyle bags, apparel and accessories. The company has grown consistently since it began in 1987 and is on track to do more than $60 million in revenues in 2011, according to Pratt. “This will be our best year ever in terms of sales,” said Pratt. “We have major growth potential. Conservatively, I would put our growth for next year between 15 and 20 percent, and my belief is that in three to five years we’ll have a huge uptick in sales, where we’ll potentially double or triple in size if we’re smart.” The 50-employee company has actu-ally slimmed down its operations in recent years, going from a 100,000 square foot office to one that is 30,000 square feet. OGIO has more than 100 independent rep-resentatives in North America and a series of distributors across the U.S., which reduc-es the need for inventory space. Pratt’s optimism stems from having a revolutionary line of stylish, cutting-edge products and gear, and a collection of great in-house talent, including CEO Tony Palma, whom Pratt hired in January 2010 to help spur OGIO’s growth. “We have the right leadership in place to take advantage of patents we own that will allow us to become a larger player in some of the silos we’re doing business in,”

said Pratt. “I think we have the right ideas – we just need to execute.” “OGIO is a unique company,” said Palma, a former CEO of Easton Sports who helped that company increase its sales five-fold over a 15-year period to more than $750 million annually. “I’ve known these guys for years and knew they designed phe-nomenal bags and felt that in order for them to get to the next level they needed some fresh thinking. Very few people talk about a bag as being a unique product, but it’s what we do.” “Hiring Tony is one of the better deci-sions I’ve made,” said Pratt. “I needed someone to run the business. We were using Tony as an advisor and saw an opportunity to bring him in. I’m not a CEO; my first love is product development and branding. Before Tony came on board it was difficult to get traction everywhere we needed and he has the ability to be on top of the every day details. He’s making sure we’re moving forward.” When Pratt started OGIO – a random name his wife came up with – he focused primarily on duffel bags and backpacks before eventually branching out into high-performance golf bags and gear bags for the motocross and snowmobile industries. Pratt was virtually a one-man show during the company’s first few years in business, and had considerable success early on. He said that by the second year OGIO had sales of $8.4 million with just one bag that came in three colors, which fueled his outlook. “It was a fun experience at the begin-ning,” said Pratt. “I started out approach-ing department stores and sporting goods stores, companies like Foot Locker and Nordstrom. I did a lot of persuading at the time.” Pratt soon realized that in order to grow his business further he needed to expand OGIO’s product line, and began developing different kinds of bags and packs. After a decade in business, he saw a major need in the golf bag industry and in 1998 began making bags with unique features and styles that bucked traditional trends. OGIO’s golf bag line has been a major success over

Harmon's thriving with 21st century ideologyNearly 80-year-old family-owned company has redefined its image in past

decade, with emphasis on quality, variety and supporting local vendors

see HARMON'S page 10

OGIO leaders optimistic about sales growth potential

Bluffdale-based firm has established itself as an innovator in designing stylish, user-friendly sports and lifestyle bags

Shoppers converged on Harmon's newest venture at 1706 E. 1300 S. in Salt Lake City on the Sept. 14 grand opening. The smaller-scale store occupies what formerly was Emigration Market.see OGIO page 11

The EnterpriseSept. 19-25, 2011 9

The Enterprise Sept. 19-25, 201110

Deep Community Roots Harmon’s nearly 80-year history has always been steeped in its local roots and close community ties. It began in 1932 when Jake and Irene Harmon started a local fruit stand in Salt Lake City at 3300 S. Main St. that expanded over the next decade to include a greater variety of goods. In 1942, a truck crashed into the front of the store, causing major structural dam-age and coming within feet of hitting Bob and Randy’s father, Terry Harmon, who was just a toddler. That forced the Harmons to start a café for a couple of years before eventually opening up the first Harmon’s Market in 1945 at 4000 West and 3500 South, which Bob and Randy affectionately refer to as “The Green Store” because of its muted green, sagebrush-like exterior color. Terry Harmon and wife Doreen “were always at the store,” Randy recalled, and the kids were allowed to help out at an early age in the late 1960s. “It was a fun time; Saturday mornings dad would get me up early and I’d go over and help him set produce, sort bottles, bag groceries. It depended on how much I worked that day whether I got a [toy] model or a doughnut,” he chuckled. From the mid-1940s to the late 1960s, Harmon’s gradually expanded its product line to become more of a mercantile opera-tor, which made sense because there sim-ply weren’t other nearby options for local residents to get essential food, clothing and household items. Harmon’s was an integral part of Salt Lake’s west side community, a company that truly cared about its clientele. Post-World War II was a challenging time for many local families; Harmon’s would often accept barter or trades from some custom-ers, or would extend credit to people so they could feed their families in tough times or between paychecks. “We have people who still come into our store – from third generations like us – and talk about that,” said Randy. “They remember our grandparents extending cred-it during hard times. It was important to them to support the community.” Another calamity struck Harmon’s in 1969 – a fire caused significant damage to the Green Store, forcing the Harmon family to reconsider its overall business approach. They ultimately rebuilt the West Valley store to be better than ever. Bob said his grandfather would visit grocers in other states and incorporate the best aspects of those stores into his own operation, a tradi-tion company executives have successfully replicated in recent years. “After they remodeled, it was really the first ‘super’ store in the state, with a deli, meat department, pharmacy, dry cleaning, post office – no other store was like it,” said Bob. Over the next 25-plus years, Terry and Doreen Harmon eventually took over as second-generation owners, and oversaw the expansion of the firm to eight Utah stores by 1998. Terry Harmon died in 2004 at the age of 64; Doreen, who is now 71, remains company chair and principal owner.

21st Century Innovations; Focus on Quality, Selection

The influx of giant corporate retailers into the Wasatch Front grocery market at

the end of the 20th century meant Harmon’s had limited options for continued long-term success. Competing against the likes of Walmart on sheer cost would have been a losing proposition. And the option of selling the nearly 70-year-old family business – such as Smith’s Food & Drug did in 1997 to Fred Meyer (which was ultimately bought out by Kroger in 1999) – was far from palat-able. In addition, retail grocers in general were competing against societal trends that saw young individuals and families spend-ing more of their food budget eating out and less buying traditional groceries. So the Harmon family rolled up its col-lective sleeves and began to reinvent itself, which started with an intensive education process for company executives, associates and, eventually, customers. “The fast food revolution hit first – people were eating out five days a week,” said Randy. “They just didn’t go grocery shopping. We saw the need to educate our customers on how to cook, and educate them on the freshness of items.” “Randy and I, and all our associates, have learned more about food – where it comes from, its life cycle and all those nuances – in the past 10 years than we ever thought about it before,” said Bob. “It used to be you buy it, you market and merchan-dise it, and you sell it. Our people are much more passionate about our product because they’re making it in-house.”

And just like Grandpa Jake did eight decades ago, Harmon’s is committed to buying its fresh, non-commodity products – namely meats, cheeses, dairy, fruits, veg-etables, even organic flour – from as many local suppliers as possible. This “buy local first” mentality means a much higher per-centage of consumer dollars spent in a Harmon’s store stays in Utah’s economy. “We’ve found things along the way to stay competitive, and buying local is one of them,” said Bob, adding that Harmon’s supports more than 700 local companies and spends nearly $250 million annually on buying local products. “Buying direct, buying closer to home, and manufacturing it ourselves has helped us procure items at a better cost; plus we’re providing a higher quality, fresher product.” David Nimkin, co-founder and co-chair of Local First Utah, a not-for-profit organization that promotes local, indepen-dently owned businesses throughout Utah, said companies like Harmon’s reap many benefits from buying local products. “Harmon’s, to their credit, is doing what we hope for other local businesses that are similarly structured,” said Nimkin. “We want all local businesses to embrace their local brand and promote localness as part of their identity.” “We are a local company – 100 per-cent of our people live in this state,” said Peterson. “It makes sense for us to lever-age that. Bob and Randy are accessible to our customers, which I think is unique in itself. There are not many owners walking the sales floor interacting with the public,

which is to our advantage.” “Helping to promote and sustain the community is very important to us,” Bob added. “We’re supporting local businesses who provide jobs to people. When you buy local, those dollars are staying in our com-munity. It’s meaningful, and we’re trying to do our share of getting even more local-ized.” The Harmon brothers admit that cer-tain commodity-type and non-food items may cost more at their stores than a big-box competitor, but they hope consumers are savvy enough to look at the overall value and experience of shopping. In addition to top-notch quality and selection of goods, Harmon’s newest stores like Station Park in Farmington and Bangerter Crossing in Draper offer ameni-ties like an in-store barista serving cof-fees, pastries and Italian gelato, fresh salad and soup bars, pizza and deli counters, an upstairs mezzanine with comfortable spaces to dine, and a cooking school for patrons to learn directly from Harmon’s own culinary chefs. The company takes great pride in having specially trained, highly educated associates, including cheese mongers, arti-san bakers, dietitians and pharmacy techni-cians. “For a lot of people it’s all about price; we focus on value, convenience and qual-ity,” said Randy. “There’s more to shopping than just price. [Large corporate competi-tors] are so big, they don’t have the culture we have, and they can’t provide the training we give our associates or match our cus-tomer service.” “What people are realizing is the value and quality of what they’re buying and making healthier choices,” added Bob. “You pay for what you get. We want to offer something that is this much better; it will be a little more [expensive], but it will last you longer at home and it will taste better. There is a value in that beyond price point – our customers understand that. When it comes to specialty foods, organic natural foods, we are as aggressively priced as anyone.” “We do 1,000 price checks a week,” said Randy. “Commodities like flour, frozen orange juice, canned goods. We’re checking them; they’re checking us. One thing we’ll never do is think our customers don’t know. If you ever feel like you can take advantage of a customer, you won’t be in business long. We make a little bit of margin, but we never take more than we should. Price is

just one thing about value. In our industry you can take value a long ways – friendly staff, clean stores, excellent variety and quality. It’s not hit and miss – it’s every day.”

Bright Future Harmon’s will soon boast 16 stores across in Utah stretching from Ogden to St. George. The Emigration Harmon’s store celebrated its grand opening Sept. 14 at 1706 E. 1300 S. in Salt Lake City – site of the old Emigration Market. The 10,000 square foot building marks a new concept for Harmon’s – a store that is one-sixth the size of a typical one, a true “neighborhood market.” Next February, Harmon’s will unveil the only full-service grocery store in Salt Lake’s central business district when it opens the 43,410 square foot City Creek Harmon’s at 135 E. 100 S. in Block 74 of the highly-anticipated $2 billion City Creek Center development. The City Creek store will cap an era of unprecedented growth – eight new store locations in fewer than 13 years. The future looks bright, and the company is well-posi-tioned to continue its legacy as a family-owned business with strong input from a veteran leadership and 2,700 associates. “It’s exciting for our associates to be allowed to incorporate their own vision into a product and not be held back,” said Peterson. “Not everything we do works, but we keep trying new things. Jake Harmon was like that.” Bob and Randy Harmon will con-tinue to serve as company spokesmen and consumer relations specialists, while sister Jamie helps out with promotional events. A fourth generation of Harmons, three of Randy’s four children and all five of Bob’s, work for the company in various capaci-ties. “I read a statistic where 65 percent of second generation businesses either fail or do not have succession,” said Bob. “For the third generation, it was a 90 percent failure rate. We’re well-established for the fourth, trying to honor what our grandparents and parents have done. “The success we’ve had now, and going forward, is because of our people,” Bob added. “You can build amazing facili-ties and have all the state-of-the-art equip-ment and tools you need, but to be success-ful you have to have the person that brings it all to life, that engages the customer, that has ownership.”

HARMON'Sfrom page 8

Bob (left) and Randy Harmon at their Station Park store in Farmington, which opened in May. A downtown Salt Lake City Harmon's is slated to open February 2012 next to City Creek Center. (photo by Brad Fullmer)

“Instead of the philosophy ‘pile it high and watch it fly’,

it’s more about being educated on what we sell, and in turn educating our customers."

the past 13 years, to the point where other manufacturers have incorporated many of OGIO’s concepts into their own golf bags. “Back in ’98 I saw golf bags as having an old man, country club feel,” said Pratt. “I saw an industry that was not young and edgy and when I looked at bags I saw a lot of improvements that could be made. I wanted to make something that was sporty, more for the younger crowd. That first year I designed a see-through golf bag and at trade shows I put smoke machines and funky tube lights in my booth. It took people off guard, but I was trying not to be the same as every-one else. What it comes down to is you need a great product that people will buy, and one that has shelf appeal.” For Pratt, one of the main “hot but-tons” in designing any product is what he calls “touch points” – something to differ-entiate his brand and make it stand out. “I look at things like the handle, the zipper, things that needed to be special and better than competition,” Pratt said. For example, OGIO golf bags have individual slots for each golf club, rather than a stan-dard bag that may have only three slots. Another feature is a zipper-less golf ball compartment that the user can simply pop open to get another ball.

OGIO is also well known for its design of gear bags for motocross and snowmo-bile enthusiasts, which it started making in 2001. Being a motorsports enthusiast him-self, Pratt figured it was another market that would help OGIO’s overall brand appeal, one that catered to a young, hip audience. The company has also had great suc-cess getting professional athletes to endorse its products. Popular golfer Fred Couples and motocross daredevil Travis Pastrana are perhaps the most well-known of the dozens of pros who use OGIO travel and gear bags. Pratt said he met Pastrana when the X-games phenom was still a relatively unknown teenager and over the years the two have developed a longlasting friend-ship. Pratt said he’s served as somewhat of a mentor to Pastrana, giving him tidbits of advice about life in general. “It’s more than just a business relation-ship,” said Pratt. “When we talk it’s a more personal type of conversation. I have his cell phone number and I’m sure he’d take the call because of our history, not because he’s a sponsor.” Pratt said one of the reasons athletes

like OGIO products is because of their styl-ish, edgy design. “When you’re working with athletes, these guys are brands unto themselves and they have to associate with products that make them look good,” he said. “When they see a product like OGIO, they look at it as a way to enhance their own image, so some-times they’ll strike an interesting deal with us. We’ve seen some high-caliber people who look at us as an edgy brand.” Palma said OGIO’s newest product, which will be unveiled in March 2012, is a gear bag designed for endurance athletes such as those who compete in triathlons. “It’s a more specialty product,” said Palma. “It has pockets for high-end gog-gles, sunglasses, a place for wetsuits, some unique carry systems, anti-microbial pock-ets – it’s what OGIO is known for. The ini-tial focus group studies are fantastic; no one has seen this kind of a product before.” Another new feature in various OGIO bags, backpacks, and messenger bags is a reactive suspension system, which is designed to protect a laptop computer or tablet against unwanted impact. The user

can “drop” their portable device into the bag without worrying about damaging it. “It’s like having an integrated ham-mock in the bag,” said Palma. “We wrap it in a façade that is very stylish, something we call an ‘adrenaline look.’ We’re very focused on designing bags that have a

unique style and look. Our brand appeals to young professionals or the young at heart, someone with a swagger in their step who wear a bag as part of their fashion state-ment. Bags to OGIO are like bags to Louis Vuitton.”

The EnterpriseSept. 19-25, 2011 11

Founder Mike Pratt (left) and CEO Tony Palma are the key executives of Utah-based OGIO, which specializes in custom made sports and lifestyle bags.

OGIOfrom page 8

“Our brand appeals to young professionals or the young at heart,

someone with a swagger in their step

who wear a bag as part of their fashion

statement. Bags to OGIO are like bags to Louis Vuitton.”

The Enterprise Sept. 19-25, 201112

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Edward Ashwood, M.D., is the presi-dent and chief executive officer at Salt Lake City-based ARUP Laboratories, and a professor of pathology at the University of Utah School of Medicine. ARUP is one of the top four national reference laboratories in the United States. The Enterprise had the opportunity recently of getting some unique insight into ARUP from Dr. Ashwood’s perspective. Enterprise: What is ARUP’s mis-sion? What core services does ARUP provide? What segment of your business is responsible for most gross sales rev-enue? Ashwood: ARUP’s mission is to sup-port our clients first and foremost through high quality diagnostic laboratory testing services. We also provide strategic busi-ness planning resources and innovative lab informatics tools. We specialize in provid-ing testing services to hospitals, offering more than 2,500 test and test combina-tions. Because of their smaller size, most hospital laboratories can offer about 500 different tests. As their reference laboratory,

we provide the remainder for the needed laboratory services. Our economies of scale support our large number of specialists and our huge equipment investments. Enterprise: Who owns ARUP? Ashwood: ARUP Laboratories is a nonprofit enterprise of the University of Utah and its Department of Pathology. Enterprise: ARUP is one of the larg-est full-service reference laboratories in the nation. Who are the others? Ashwood: The top competitors include Quest Diagnostics, Laboratory Corp. of America and Mayo Medical Laboratories, a division of the Mayo Clinic. Quest and LabCorp serve physician’s offices as well as hospitals. Mayo and ARUP do not. Because we have focused on all aspects of hospital diagnostic testing, we have become one of the leaders in that market. Enterprise: When was ARUP found-ed? What does ARUP stand for? Who are the founding members and current key executives? What inspiration was behind the formation of this company? Ashwood: ARUP Laboratories was

founded in the early 1980s and officially opened their doors for business in June of 1984. Originally, ARUP stood for Associated Regional and University Pathologists, Inc.

– this was a modification of Associated University Pathologists (AUP), the original holding company. “Regional” was added to emphasize the company’s service to region-al clients. Today we serve clients, mostly hospitals, in all 50 states, so a few years ago we officially changed our name to ARUP Laboratories, which is not an acronym. Our company was founded by faculty and staff of the Department of Pathology in the University of Utah School of Medicine. Some notable names from our early days include Lloyd Martin, the business manager in the department of pathology whose idea it was to start the lab and really was the energy behind the idea. Dr. Ernst Eichwald was the chair of the Department of Pathology in the early 1970s and had created AUP to support Lloyd’s idea. Dr. John Matsen joined the department of pathology in the early 1980s and, as chair of the department, served as ARUP’s first president and CEO. Dr. Joe Knight, Dr. Harry Hill, Dr. Owen Ash, and Dr. Carl Kjeldsberg were all key players in the early days of our company. The inspiration behind our company was very simple: we wanted to be able to grow the department of pathology. The best way to do that, we thought, was to start our own diagnostic reference labora-tory. Looking back it was a very bold and risky move, but with a lot of perseverance, dedication, optimism and support from the University of Utah and University of Utah Hospital, it has all paid off in spades. Enterprise: How many employees does ARUP have? How many employees did company start with? Ashwood: We started with 100 employees in 1984, and some of those folks are still here. ARUP currently has around 2,800 employees. We’ve added about 1,000 positions over the past 10 years. Although we added a large number of employees three years ago, we are currently holding steady. Enterprise: How has ARUP grown in recent years? Ashwood: ARUP Laboratories has seen consistent, positive growth as a busi-ness and in terms of market share in the industry. Data from Medicare indicates that laboratory services have grown about 6 percent per year for the past three years. In that same period, ARUP grew 25 percent. Enterprise: What are ARUP’s

Q&A with Dr. Edward Ashwood of ARUP Laboratories

ARUP uses robotics technology to assist the efforts of its approximately 2,800 employees, 1,000 of whom were added in the last decade.

see ARUP page 17

The EnterpriseSept. 19-25, 2011 13

In 2008, seven local high school students killed a 37-year-old Ecuadorian immigrant who had lived in their New York village for 13 years. When arrested, they said they were “looking for a Mexican” to beat up. Not in Our Town tracks the steps one town took to repair a community that has been torn apart by bigotry and fear.

Wed. Sep. 21, 9PM

Not in Our TownLight in the Darkness

By Brad FullmerThe Enterprise What started out in 2005 as a modest group of volunteer Utah-based business owners hoping to better educate the public and other companies about the benefits of buying local goods and services has mush-roomed into an organization with roughly 3,000 members statewide. Local First Utah is a nonprofit group whose mission is to strengthen communities and local economies by promoting local, independently owned businesses all across the Beehive State, and to better educate the public and government about the myriad benefits of buying local. The organization is open to all Utah businesses that are least 51 percent locally-owned and make their business decisions independently; there is no class of membership and there is no charge to join. The only requirement, says co-founder and co-chair Betsy Burton, is to be as active a participant as possible and to consider the importance of supporting local businesses. “People need to understand that when they shop, they are shaping the places they live with the dollars they spend,” said Burton, co-owner of King’s English Bookstore in Salt Lake City. “We ask peo-ple to understand the consequences of their spending habits.” “If you’re a local enterprise, your money is generating more economic activity in your community,” said David Nimkin, Southwest regional director of the National Parks Conservation Association

and another co-founder and co-chair of Local First Utah. “There is a real feeling of identity and character that local enterprises reflect. We define neighborhoods by the businesses that have been there for a long time. We articulate the goal of promoting local and independent business and want people to understand these elements; it’s about public education. We hope people recognize that they do have an influence on where they spend their money. If they value the local economy and community, we encourage them to find products and

services that local businesses can provide.” Burton and Nimkin said Local First Utah has made a significant impact in its six years in operation, mainly through educa-tion. One of the main points of emphasis is helping people realize that for every dollar spent in a locally owned independent busi-ness, as much as three times that much is re-circulated in the community compared to if that dollar is spent at a national chain store. “I’ve been an active participant since its inception,” said Steve Rosenberg, owner of Liberty Heights Fresh in Salt Lake City. “When you support a local business, the dif-ference is so multi-faceted and beneficial. That business offers a personal touch, is hiring local workers, and the dollars stay in our community. If that business is fortunate enough to earn a profit, that profit is often reinvested locally. Local businesses allow local people to work at often times better wages and better conditions than a large chain.” “For a business like mine, I want to make other businesses and people aware that we are a local company,” added Pete Ashdown, founder and CEO of Salt Lake-based XMission, and a Local First Utah board member. “It’s a great organization.” Local First Utah originally started out as an offshoot of Salt Lake Vest Pocket Business Coalition, according to Burton, but wanted to expand its presence beyond Utah’s capital city and impact businesses all over the state.

Nimkin, who worked for the Utah Microenterprise Loan Fund for 18 years, was state director of Utah Small Business Development Centers in the early 90s, and worked under former Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson, was instrumental in help-ing with the organizational aspect of Local First Utah. He said that buying goods and services from local businesses helps with the issue of unemployment. “At a time when everybody is talking about job creation, we don’t have to look to the federal government for jobs; there are ways, with the purchasing power we have, to have a significant impact on creat-ing jobs locally,” said Nimkin. “If we want to promote local businesses, ultimately it’s customers and the community who make that decision.” The organization has a strong presence in Salt Lake City and County, Ogden and Moab, and this year has placed a greater emphasis on reaching areas such as Cache Valley, Wayne County and Washington County. Besides Burton, Nimkin and Ashdown, other current Local First Utah board mem-bers include treasurer Jorge Fierro, founder of Rico Mexican Market in Salt Lake; Suzy Dailey, owner of Ogden-based Grounds for Coffee; Leigh von der Esch, director of the Utah Office of Tourism; Jim Rizzi, publish-er of City Weekly in Salt Lake; and Jocelyn Kearl, co-owner of Third Sun Productions of Salt Lake.

Six years later, Local First Utah still going strong

The Enterprise Sept. 19-25, 201114

They’re doing it again. Changing their name, that is. I’m talking about the tele-phone company. You know, that one that used to be Qwest, which before that was U.S. West, which before that was Western Bell or Intermountain Bell or something like that … or was it both, which before that was Bell Telephone, which we all referred to as “Ma Bell.” And those are the names it’s been known by in just the last 40 years. OK, I know. The tele-phone industry ain’t what it used to be. Dereg’d and all. The intro of cellular, the legal insistence that the big compa-nies let little companies use their lines, the move away from landlines, the broaden-ing of the market to let cable companies provide phone service and phone companies to provide programming and, of course, voice over Internet protocol or VOIP. And let’s not for-get the death of the Yellow Pages. But y’know what? The big phone companies – Ma Bell spin-offs in particular – have had literal-ly decades to figure this all out. I’m talking about figuring out how to go from a monopoly to a company that simply has to be responsive to customers in a competitive envi-ronment. That has to compete in product proposition, value proposi-tion, price and customer service in a “we aren’t the only game in town” world. You can argue the reasons for name changes until you’re blue in the face, but I would argue, even if officials at the company would dis-pute my assertion, that the change from U.S. West to Qwest, and now, even more so to CenturyLink, has a great deal to do with an inability to overcome a persistent perception of a company that provides poor customer service, is unresponsive and generally pisses customers off. Believe me, name changes in big companies are not taken lightly. The CEO doesn’t wake up in the morning and say, “Wow, looks like a great day to change the name of our company!” The infrastructure ramifica-tions alone can be mind-boggling, not to mention incredibly expen-sive. Everything from changing letterhead and business cards to re-painting (or re-wrapping) every vehicle in the fleet. Just changing the automated phone system that keeps customers in on-hold hell forever is a daunting proposition. So you can bet that Qwest was in the think about and planning stages regarding this name change, probably for two or three years, maybe more. Which gives us a very impor-tant insight … At some point, the company realized that it wasn’t going to be able to shed its lousy service image, no matter what it did. Too many

people had been handled too poorly for too long. They were losing cus-tomers too fast and too steadily and couldn’t seem to stop the bleeding. Of course, this is speculation to some degree on my point, except that I was one of those customers. I finally left Qwest for Comcast about a year ago. This, after prob-ably four or five years of trying to find an alternative that would work. I talked to dozens of Qwest customers over the years of my dis-satisfaction, and they all agreed.

And here’s the ultimate iron: Comcast isn’t really any better than Qwest. In fact I’ve come to the conclu-sion that my Comcast Internet service is actu-ally inferior to Qwest’s. And while their cus-tomer service has been OK (no better than OK, but at least OK), they pulled some of the

same pricing bait-and-switch crap that I used to get with Qwest. As a consequence, I’m paying signifi-cantly less than I paid with Qwest, but significantly more than what I expected to be paying when I signed up with Comcast. These kind of shenanigans give the whole industry a bad name and I think the companies tend to think consumers will just throw up their hands and say, “They’re all just as bad, so I might as well stick where I’m at.” Or maybe they think there will always be a lot of shifting, but in the end, we’ll keep our share of the business. Obviously not the case with Qwest or there wouldn’t be a need for the name change. In this case, I actually approve

of the decision to change, although I’m not sure about the new name itself and I’m even less impressed with the “slinky” ads on TV. (Slinkys aren’t chains. They don’t “link,” and if that’s what they’re after, I’m not sure it works.) Anyway, if the company decided it couldn’t win as Qwest, I think they were right, and as expensive as it is, the change was necessary. The question is, will it work? And I think it has a chance. Their five-year $19.95 Internet promise is actually a very compelling offer, especially if it’s a no-contract-required deal. So it leads me to believe that the execs are waking up from their 40-year nap. After all, isn’t that the way it should be? Shouldn’t people be able to vote with their feet and their wallets? If they all did that, don’t you think the whole industry would serve the whole customer base bet-ter? And, if finally, they can just do something about that customer ser-vice. If they can, they may provide a real link to the next century for their entire industry.

Jim Ackerman is a Salt Lake City-based marketing speaker, marketing coach, author and ad writer. For his speaking servic-es, go to www.marketingspeak-erjimackerman.com or contact him directly at mail@ascend-marketing.com. Subscribe to his VLOGS at www.YouTube.com/MarketingSpeakerJimA, where you get a video marketing tip of the day, and at www.YouTube.com/GoodBadnUglyAds, where Ackerman does a weekly ad cri-tique and lets you do the same.

©2011, Jim Ackerman All Rights Reserved

“Jeffrey, what’s the BEST way to make a sale?” When I’m asked this ques-tion (I’m asked it all the time), what the salesperson’s really ask-ing is, “What’s the EASIEST way to make a sale?” EASY ANSWER: The easi-est way to make a sale is lower your price to a point that you make no profit. Not a good option. REAL ANSWER: There is no EASIEST way to make a sale. And, just like there is no easiest way to make a sale, there is no BEST way to make a sale – but there are several elements that contain the word BEST that you must self-eval-uate in order to discover why the sales takes place, or why not. KEY POINT OF UNDERSTANDING: Selling is NOT manipulating. Selling is har-monizing. Oh, you can occasionally make a manipulative sale. But if you’re still in the 1970s trying to “find the pain,” or “sell an up-front contract,” or “make a cold call,” or “close the sale,” you’re toast. Sales toast. Here are the BEST ways to make a sale: • The best way to make a sale is to have your reputation precede you by word of mouth from your Google ranking, and from your business social media presence. • The best way to make a sale is to be known as a valued resource before you start. • The best way to make a sale is to be friendly before you start. • The best way to make a sale is to meet with the CEO or actual decision-maker. • The best way to make a sale is not to be salesey, or cocky, or condescending. • The best way to make a sale is to find some common ground before you start the selling process. • The best way to make a sale is to ask intelligent, emo-tionally engaging questions that draw out both needs and buying motives. • The best way to make a sale is to walk into the meeting with two ideas in favor of the customer. • The best way to make a sale is to have done pre-call prep-aration in terms of the customer. • The best way to make a sale is to convey value rather than features and benefits. • The best way to make a sale is to focus on how they profit and produce. • The best way to make a sale is to focus on outcomes and

ownership. • The best way to make a sale is to relax throughout the entire sales conversation. • The best way to make a sale is to respond in a heartbeat. • The best way to make a sale is to make yourself available when a customer needs you. • The best way to make a sale is to support and prove all your claims with video testimoni-

als from existing cus-tomers who love you and are loyal to you. • The best way to make a sale is to ask for a date of beginning, or some type of commit-ment to move forward, AFTER you are certain you have removed all risks and removed all barriers from your pros-

pect’s buying process. • The best way to make a sale is to have multiple relationships at different levels and departments within the same company. • The best way to make a sale is to earn the status of trusted advisor. • The best way to make a sale is to create the atmosphere where the customer wants to buy. • The best way to make a sale is to make the passion of your belief transferrable. And there are questions you must ask yourself that enable the list of the BEST ways to make a sale: • Am I always achieving my PERSONAL best? • Am I always PREPARING my best for every sales call? • Is my ATTITUDE set on positive, and positive outcome? • Is my BELIEF in product, company and self always at the highest level? • Do I believe in my HEART that the customer is better off hav-ing purchased from me? • Am I always doing my BEST for every customer, every time? REALITY: As a customer, I do NOT need a salesman. I need productivity, an idea, morale, a profit provider and a trusted advi-sor. Is that you?

Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of Social BOOM!, The Little Red Book of Selling and The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude. President of Charlotte, N.C.-based Buy Gitomer, he gives seminars, runs annual sales meetings and con-ducts Internet training programs on selling and customer service at www.trainone.com. He can be reached at (704_ 333-1112 or salesman@gitomer.com.

© 2011 All Rights Reserved

How is your abilityto make the sale?

Jeffrey Gitomer

CenturyLink — what to you think?

Jim Ackerman

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With the coming and going of the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, the American news media have noted hundreds of changes wrought on our nation by those attacks. And, granted, there are many. But, am I the only one who noticed no attacks on Sept. 11, 2011? And don’t you think a sig-nificant date of remembrance such as that would have been a superb time for terrorists to celebrate by creating even more mayhem for us? Kudos to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which has indeed increased the “hassle factor” at airport check in; and kudos to the redesigned air-ports that no longer permit crowds

of people to send us off at airline boardings; and kudos to the flight attendants who no longer put up with unruly passengers; and kudos to those who have made scores of other changes that made this Sept. 11 safe and secure. It came and

passed without any terror, which is just the way we like it. The only thing that actually happened was the hijacking of an NBC News Twitter feed by a group known as “The Script Kiddies” on the Friday before Sept. 11 and using it to publish hoax tweets claiming that terrorists had used passenger jetliners to attack ground zero in Manhattan. So, a hoax was the worst thing that happened. True. The nation’s overall economy slowed down after those attacks 10 years ago, but in the years since, it has shown remark-able resilience. The growth in the gross domestic product slowed only temporarily, and although the Dow lost almost 700 points when the stock market reopened after the attacks, it gained 5,000 points over the next six years,

Sept. 19-25, 2011 15The Enterprise

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The Quest is a masterpiece;add it to your business library (Editor’s note: Each month Jack Covert, founder of 800-CEO-READ, reviews the best recently released business books. Jack is coauthor of The 100 Best Business Books of All Time, released in March of 2009. 800-CEO-READ is a leading direct supplier of book-related resources to corporations and organizations worldwide, and specializes in identifying trends in the changing business market.)

The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern

World By Daniel Yergin, The Penguin

Press816 Pages, $37.95, Hardcover

For almost 30 years, I have made a living telling people about business books that are important. There are nearly 11,000 business books published each year, so this job requires me to make quick judgments based on those years of experience. Because of the num-ber of books that cross my desk, I really gravitate to shorter books. So it is extraordinary for me to read — no, devour — a 700-plus page book cover to cover. The book is The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World by Daniel Yergin, and it is a masterpiece. Ten years ago, the author wrote a book called The Prize, a Pulitzer Prize winner that told the history of oil. In The Quest, he uses a wider lens to capture the larger energy picture: oil as well as coal, nuclear, and natural gas used to generate electricity, drive our cars and heat our homes. This book takes the reader through the early part of the 20th century when gas was cheap, through the creation of OPEC and the oil embargo of the ‘70s, and then into this century with the Gulf War and the nightmare of the Japanese nuclear disaster. He also digs into the other sources of energy — solar, wind, biofuels — which aren’t exactly new, but being revalued by investors and consumers alike. Yergin has a real talent for

explaining complicated issues with great story telling. For exam-ple, his two-page explanation of the evolution of climate change becoming a cultural divider and a universal concern is read-out-loud brilliant and easy to under-stand. From the Caspian Sea to China, Africa to Hugo Chavez and Venezuela’s oil production, Yergin shows us the interconnec-tivity of the world, giving it life and context. This book will help you to understand some of the complex issues regarding energy that we will need to deal with globally, and will keep you thor-oughly entertained along the way.

Uncertainty: Turning Fear and Doubt into Fuel for Brilliance By Jonathan Fields, Portfolio240 pages, $25.95, Hardcover

Business is not just a creation, it is a creative process. Jonathan Fields recognizes this, and has written a book addressing a key part of that process — uncertainty. Having left the six-figure income he made as a lawyer to work as a personal trainer and open a yoga center in New York City (the day before 9/11, no less), it is a topic he knows something about. And he knows that life with-out the unknown is life without innovation. If we were sure of everything we did before we did it, we would have never discov-ered fire or invented the wheel. Ambiguity has unseen opportu-nity, uncertainty is rife with poten-tial. As the author notes: “The more you’re able to tol-erate ambiguity and lean into the unknown, the more likely you’ll be to dance with it long enough to come up with better solutions, ideas, and creations.” But we all fear the unknown, and when it comes down to your life’s work, it can be downright terrifying. That’s not going to go away, but you can frame it dif-ferently. Writing of “The Myth of the Fearless Creator,” Fields notes that prolific creators learn to expe-

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rience fear as attention and moti-vation, like a mountain climber on a precipice. He tells the story of how Sebastian Junger, the author of Perfect Storm and maker of the film “Restrepo,” learned to deal with this fear. Junger explains: “I start feeling it and then I … just unhook from it. … I was a climber for tree companies and I’m scared of heights, but I never got over my fear of heights. I just figured out how to not think about it. It was really simple.” Uncertainty will help you become more comfortable living amidst the mystery, embracing the unknown so that you can exploit it’s potential. As Fields poignantly remarks, “Genius always starts with a question, not an answer.”

The Big Enough Company: Creating a Business That Works

for You By Adelaide Lancaster and Amy

Abrams, Portfolio288 pages, $25.95, Hardcover

Entrepreneurship. Starting your own business. Running your own company. These words and phrases are ripe with potential, optimism, freedom. They mean realizing your dream, saying no to the corporate grind, being your own boss, setting your own value. But of course it is far more complicated than that. Once you get your business off the ground, once your business becomes a success, it’s entirely possible that your little business, much like a child, will have developed a mind and personality of its own. And, as a result, you really aren’t going to have a lot of freedom, and you’ll be too tired for a lot of optimism, and identifying more potential will also mean more work. Unless, of course, you have a plan — a plan that can help you establish and sustain a “big enough company,” big enough by your standards and no one else’s. Adelaide Lancaster and Amy Abrams, owners of In Good Company, a community for women business owners, have authored a new book to show you how to develop such a plan. The Big Enough Company follows the bifurcated advice the authors give on how to create a company that fits: “It is not enough for your business to be a means of ful-filling your personal motivations.

Your business needs a purpose of its own in order to last in the mar-ketplace.” The first half of the book is absolutely stuffed with real-world examples and case stud-ies of entrepreneurs who followed their own authentic vision for the creation of their company. In the second part they get more pre-scriptive, concentrating more spe-cifically on the decision-making and networking needed to help you keep your company doing the right things the right way. The Big Enough Company tackles a timely topic while offer-ing a fresh voice that defends the choice to create a company that is specific to your needs and val-ues, and the right to say no to the chorus of “grow! expand! merge! sell!”

The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically

Successful Businesses By Eric Ries, Crown Business336 pages, $26.00, Hardcover

Each startup is begun with a leap of faith; no entrepreneurs know for certain who their cus-tomers are or how they will act. Planning and developing a com-pany based on uncertainty is a difficult skill to be sure, but one that can be learned. In his new book, The Lean Startup, Eric Ries asserts: “Startup success is not a con-sequence of good genes or being in the right place at the right time. Startup success can be engineered by following the right process, which means it can be learned, which means it can be taught.”

The book digs deep into the process and shows how entrepre-neurs need to have more than a big idea, a business plan, some research and funding. They need to have a sort of purposeful flex-ibility, where reactions can be addressed in small increments, minute by minute. These pivots and shifts continuously test the vision of the idea, and when pre-pared, entrepreneurs can shape the business into the right model rather than continuing to, as Ries describes it, “achieve failure.” Ries lays out a type of pro-cess management that many might not have considered. After all, any idea can seem really good until the world tells you it’s not as good as you thought. Ries elaborates: “Entrepreneurship is a kind of management. No, you didn’t read that wrong. We have wildly divergent associations with these two words, entrepreneurship and management. Lately, it seems that one is cool, innovative, and excit-ing and the other is dull, serious, and bland. It is time to look past these preconceptions.” This is a critical book for those itching to quit their jobs and start their dream business, and just as important for those who have been an entrepreneur for years. With Lean Startup as your guide, not only will your failure rate decrease, you’ll dis-cover things about your ideas and about business that you never did before, because you’ll be open to that discovery and prepared to act instead of wondering why the results aren’t what you planned.

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Sept. 19-25, 2011 17The Enterprise

and reached its highest point ever in October 2007 when it leaped above 14,000. Passengers on U.S. air carri-ers numbered more than 56 mil-lion in August 2001, then dropped to only 30 million that September. Some said the airline industry would never recover, but they were back above 56 million pas-sengers by September 2004. Not bad for a business that some said was doomed. And that’s not all. There are more hotels than ever, more car rentals, more cruise passen-gers, more resorts and particularly more all-inclusive resorts. And as for getting to travel destina-tions, people are not only flying, Amtrak business is up, bus travel is on the rise and auto trips are at an all time high. Come to think of it, and this is not based on a scien-tific study, but I think I’ve noticed more walkers, joggers and bikers on my daily trip up the canyon with my dog. Even with the current eco-nomic stagnation, which has noth-ing to do with terrorist attacks, unless you think loan officers who offer mortgages to people who can’t pay them and bank-ers who fund such an enterprise qualify as ... well, never mind. Anyway, despite the current diffi-culty in the economy, which isn’t a result of what happened Sept. 11, 2001, travel is up. The people who have the money to go some-where for fun are on the move. And the bargains are galore. You can rent a car for a daily rate

that is no more than you would have paid 20 years ago. You can go on a cruise for much less than 20 years ago, which is unbeliev-able. Hotels are offering all sorts of deals, including in many cases a free night if you book three, four or five nights. Group travel, which is at an all time high, offers such tremendous rates that some-times it seems as if it would be less expensive to go on a group tour than to stay at home. And air fares have just recently dropped. Yes, they have been reduced. And oh, by the way, when you consid-er inflation, the cost of air travel is much less than it was 10 years ago. So, yes, things have changed since that awful day 10 years ago, but in almost every case it seems to have been for the better. Not only are the various entities that serve us more alert, but we are as individuals. Passengers have become part of the solution, often detecting and reporting suspicious activity, and as a result, prevent-ing bad things from happening. Travel is far bigger than it was. More places are easily acces-sible, and we have more means of getting to wherever we want to go, and more accommodations and fun things to do once we get there. But most importantly, it is truly safer than it has ever been.

Don Shafer has been hosting radio travel shows in Salt Lake City for more than a dozen years, and was taught everything he knows by travel experts he has interviewed. Although some have called him “The Travel Doctor,” he holds a Ph.D. in a totally unrelated field, religion.

SHAFERfrom page 15

growth goals for the last quarter of 2011, and for 2012? Do you anticipate adding more staff in 2012? Ashwood: Our goals for the rest of this year are to keep grow-ing, and serving our clients by providing excellent patient care. We are always hiring talented peo-ple as we have a young, mobile and educated workforce. We have excellent tuition benefits. Thus, many of our staff are in college and take out-of-state positions upon graduation. The esoteric lab testing mar-ket is growing, and we continue to be a market leader and gain market share. I am most excited about our genetics division; it is growing by adding a large number of innovative laboratory tests. Our anatomic pathology division has benefited from the addition of a new medical director, Dr. Mary Bronner. She is a pathologist that we recently convinced to leave the Cleveland Clinic. Pain manage-ment is also a growing segment. In addition to our lab testing we are putting resources into our newly created marketing infor-matics division. With health care reform efforts under way in the United States, the value and role of the laboratory and its services are vital. We are developing new services and better ways of using our existing services, that will help our clients and their physi-cians improve the quality of medi-cine they deliver to their patients. Enterprise: How has the recession impacted your busi-ness? Ashwood: We have seen several effects from the recession; budgets are tighter, hospitals are looking to make the most of every penny they have. Thus, the poor economy has led to an increase in pricing pressures from clients. Health care reform brings a differ-ent set of challenges to the health care industry, mostly because of the unknown. We simply don’t know how this new legislation will impact health care and for us how it will affect independent labs such as ARUP. Despite the current challenges, opportunities abound and ARUP’s patient-first philoso-phy is perfectly aligned with many of the goals and objectives of health care reform. We may not be able to predict the future, but our longstanding philosophies have positioned us perfectly to take advantage of the changes. Enterprise: ARUP is a “business-to-business” company, so you’re not necessarily dealing with patients directly. Who are your main clients? What per-centage of your business comes from Utah-based hospitals? Ashwood: ARUP Laboratories serves hospitals

across the country, including more than half of all academic hospi-tals. Other clients include regional and other national reference labo-ratories. We serve a number of hospitals in the state of Utah, including University Hospital, Huntsman Cancer Institute and Intermountain Healthcare. About 15 percent of our work is from within Utah. Enterprise: What signifi-cant services does ARUP offer clients that the general public may not know about? Ashwood: We have long seen the importance of technology information in laboratory medi-cine and as part of medical care. We have a talented informatics team that works with some of our current offerings and is current-ly working to develop new tools to benefit our clients and their patients. We have a free award-winning website, ARUP Consult, designed for physicians. Our med-ical directors and research and development staff publish medical articles frequently (more than 200 in the past 12 months). We are also a training site for University of Utah students, pathology resi-dents, and fellows. Enterprise: Describe your journey from starting at ARUP 26 years ago and what you did initially, compared to where you are now. Ashwood: I started at ARUP in December 1985, after Harry Hill convinced me to leave a fac-ulty position at the University of Washington. Thus, I left a labora-tory with 300 staff to join one with only 100 staff. Since then, ARUP has grown in revenue 45-fold, and our staff has increased 28 times. My old UW lab has doubled. My first ARUP position was entirely focused on informatics, but in 1988 ARUP executives asked me to take the automated clinical chemistry laboratory. The next year I stepped in to direct all clinical chemistry laborato-ries. I joined the ARUP executive team in 1996, became director of Laboratories in 2002, and was appointed as president and CEO in 2009. Enterprise: At the time, could you ever have imagined that you’d be president/CEO

of one the nation’s largest labs, overseeing over 2,800 employ-ees? Ashwood: Not only could I not image that future, I wasn’t even trying. I sought instead cost-effective excellent patient care and exciting new tests. The pro-motions followed. Enterprise: What are some keys to ARUP’s growth over the years? Ashwood: The keys to our success and growth as a company have been very simple: focus on people. The three “people” that are key to our success are our employees, our clients and their patients. This has been our phi-losophy from the very beginning; the decision to put people ahead of profits wasn’t done because it was a good business decision, it was done because it was the right decision. As it happens, this philosophy is a sound business strategy. Enterprise: Is there any particular device(s) or technol-ogy that has been invented in past 25 years that really stands out as something that has been a great boon to the lab industry? Ashwood: Two newer tech-nologies stand out in laboratory medicine: (1) techniques for DNA amplification and sequencing, and (2) mass spectrometry, which allows accurate and precise mea-surement of chemicals based on their electric charge and atomic mass. When ARUP started we had no DNA tests. We now offer more than 100 tests in genetics, oncol-ogy, and infectious diseases. In the early 2000s, we purchased our first mass spectrometer. We now have more than 40 mass spectrom-eters in five different laboratories. Enterprise: How much focus goes into the company’s R&D? Ashwood: ARUP Laboratories has a very robust R&D division; our Institute for Clinical & Experimental Pathology has more than 100 staff and 40 medical directors. Together they publish more papers than any other lab in the industry. They are charged with constantly improv-ing the tests that we offer, devel-oping new tests and searching for solutions, through diagnostic testing, for medical diseases. Enterprise: What does the future hold for ARUP? What is the underlying theme of every-thing your company does? ARUP is very fortunate to be part of the University of Utah. The fit is so good, that we hope it continues far into the future. We were not founded to be a spinoff, nor are we positioning ourselves for that outcome. The synergies of academia and clinical service make us very competitive. I anticipate, and hope, that we will remain so.

ARUPfrom page 12

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Both as governor of Texas and as the leading Republican presidential candidate, Rick Perry has established himself as a harsh critic of federal programs — and, in particular, as a “state’s rights” advocate who accuses Washington of gross ineptitude and waste in providing services such as health care for the poor and elderly. In his 2010 book Fed Up and in his campaign speeches, Perry has often asserted that the states, simply left to do the job without federal interfer-ence, could perform far better. The theme is highly popular, like Perry himself, in Tea Party circles. “It is through states that the American people get the job done every day,” he wrote in his book, “often in spite of a deeply flawed bureaucratic federal government.” Late last year, when he proposed that Texas drop out of Medicaid altogether, he said: “We know

how to deliver health care to more people in a less expensive way than what the federal government does. I need more states to stand up and say we don’t want your strings attached. We don’t want you down here telling us how to

run our business.” If only Texas could operate wholly independently of federal rules, he insisted, “you will see more people in the state of Texas who will have more coverage and frankly we’ll save money at the end of the day, as will the federal government.”

Although Perry was forced to abandon that scheme when a state report showed that leaving Medicaid would cost Texas bil-lions (and leave even more Texans uninsured), he still claims that the federal government should stop trying to make sure that more Americans have health care, and that programs run solely by the

states would be more efficient. But lately the facts about Perry’s own record as governor have begun to emerge — and they don’t support his argument. Over the past several weeks, a Dallas TV station has exposed the “golden teeth” Medicaid scandal in Texas, now under investigation by the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services. The Perry appointees who run Medicaid have allowed hundreds of millions of dollars to be misspent on orthodontic brac-es for children who don’t need them — with huge profits for pri-vate dental clinics owned by Wall Street hedge funds. Nor is that the only aspect of Perry’s record that belies his boasting. One of the most embar-rassing episodes during his first two terms as governor involved a plan to let private firms run Medicaid, replacing state employ-ees. The privatization plan was an “innovation” that was supposed to save money. What it accomplished

instead was to earn enormous sums for contractors like Deloitte Touche and Accenture (along with their Texas lobbyists), while cost-ing taxpayers still more hundreds of millions of dollars — and all without achieving its most basic objectives. Four years after the plan was implemented in 2003, the Austin American-Statesman published a thorough report on its results, and what the newspaper found was a project “in shambles.” The state had been forced to cancel its con-tract with the Accenture group and continue to use state employees to perform necessary work on an outdated computer system, exactly the same as before Perry’s privati-zation scheme began. How much had this great innovation cost the state? Approximately $500 mil-lion, not including the amount spent using the old system, at roughly $1 million a month. Unfortunately this fiasco wasted more than money and time, as paperwork vanished

and patients suffered. As the Statesman reported, it may well have cost a 14-year-old boy named Devante Johnson his life. Left without health insurance for sev-eral months because of the Texas Medicaid enrollment bureaucracy, the Houston boy could not get treatment in time to save him from the kidney cancer that eventually killed him in March 2007. While it isn’t clear yet wheth-er his administration’s Medicaid operations were corrupt or incom-petent or both, none of this has fazed Perry at all. He went on to reappoint the Texas health and human services commissioner who oversaw the entire mess — and then to run for president himself, as the populist who will “reform” Social Security, Medicare and, of course, Medicaid.

Joe Conason is the editor in chief of NationalMemo.com.

Copyright 2001Creators.com

How Texas Medicaid wasted vast sums, lethally

Joe Conason

The Enterprise Sept. 19-25, 201118

Those who are impressed by words seem to think that President Barack Obama made a great speech to Congress earlier this month. But, when you look beyond the rhetoric, what did he say that was fundamen-tally different from what he has been saying and doing all along? Are we to continue doing the same kinds of things that have failed again and again, just because Obama delivers clever words with style and energy? Once we get past the glowing rhetoric, what is the presi-dent proposing? More spending! Only the words have changed — from “stimulus” to “jobs” and from “shovel-ready projects” to “jobs for construction workers.” If government spending were the answer, we would by now have a booming economy with plenty of jobs, after all the record trillions of dollars that have been

poured down a bottomless pit. Are we to keep on doing the same things, just because those things have been repackaged in different words? Or just because Obama now

assures us that “every-thing in this bill will be paid for”? This is the same man who told us that he could provide health insurance to mil-lions more people with-out increasing the cost. When it comes

to specific proposals, President Obama repeats the same kinds of things

that have marked his past policies — more government spending for the benefit of his political allies, the construction unions and the teachers’ unions, and “thousands of transportation projects.” The fundamental fallacy in all of this is the notion that politi-cians can “grow the economy” by taking money out of the private sector and spending it wherever

it is politically expedient to spend it — so long as they call spending “investment.” Has Obama ever grown even a potted plant, much less a busi-ness, a bank, a hospital or any of the numerous other institutions whose decisions he wants to con-trol and override? But he can talk glibly about growing the econo-my. Arrogance is no substitute for experience. That is why the coun-try is in the mess it is in now. Obama says he wants “fed-eral housing agencies” to “help more people refinance their mort-gages.” What does that amount to in practice, except having the tax-payers be forced to bail out people who bought homes they could not afford? No doubt that is good poli-tics, but it is lousy economics. When people pay the price of their own mistakes, that is when there is the greatest pressure to correct those mistakes. But when taxpayers who had nothing to do

with those mistakes are forced to pay the costs, that is when those and other mistakes can continue to flourish — and to mess up the economy. Whatever his deficiencies in economics, Barack Obama is a master of politics — including the great political game of “Heads I win and tails you lose.” Any policy that shows any sign of achieving its goals will of course be trumpeted across the land as a success. But, in the far more frequent cases where the policy fails or turns out to be counterproductive, the politi-cal response is: “Things would have been even worse without this policy.” It’s heads I win and tails you lose. Thus, when unemployment went up after the massive spend-ing that was supposed to bring it down, we were told that unem-ployment would have been far worse if it had not been for that spending.

Are we really supposed to fall for ploys like this? The answer is clearly “yes,” as far as Obama and his allies in the media are concerned. Our intelligence was insulted even further in President Obama’s speech to Congress, when he set up this straw man as what his crit-ics believe — that “the only thing we can do to restore prosperity is just dismantle government, refund everybody’s money, and let every-one write their own rules, and tell everyone they’re on their own.” Have you heard anybody in any part of the political spectrum advocate that? If not, then why was the President of the United States saying such things, unless he thought we were fools enough to buy it — and that the media would never call him on it?

Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305.

Copyright 2011Creators.com

Back to the future?

Thomas Sowell

Sept. 19-25, 2011 19The Enterprise

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