Labora: BSoR's Journal of Entrepreneurship (Fall 2020)

Fall 2020

Mike Kehoe ’84 A Master of Risk [COVER STORY]

Benedict’s Rule As it Relates to Business

Breaking Stereotypes A Surprising Entrepreneur

A Successful “Image” Booming Homegrown Business

Fall 2020

JOURNAL OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

F E AT U R E

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A Master of Risk Mike Kehoe stays cool under pressure.

ENTREPRENEUR PROFILE

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FAITH AND BUSINESS

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S TA R T U P

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Take Another Look

What Would Benedict Say?

All in the Family

Don’t let Joe Swedish’s pedigree fool you.

Five principles for success as told by Rich Boehling.

Debbie Berger and crew had “vision” when it came to imaging.

INTEREST

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Business Culture on the Silver Screen

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E D U C AT I O N

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National and Local Entrepreneurial Programs

THE L ABORA MAGAZINE Labora is a publication of the Benedictine Schools of Richmond, a unified organization of Benedictine College Preparatory and Saint Gertrude High School, focusing on entrepreneurship, innovation, and the evolving world of business.

— LET TER FROM THE PRESIDENT —

— W E L COM E — Benedictine and Saint Gertrude Family, Welcome to the first joint publication of the Benedictine Schools of Richmond, Labora – An Entrepreneur’s Journal. In this inaugural issue you will find feature stories about four of the graduates of our schools: Clara Burrow ’64 and Debbie (Burrow) Berger ’87, Joseph Swedish ’69, and Michael Kehoe ’84. Besides the obvious connection of having shared experiences at Saint Gertrude and Benedictine, these alumni have one thing in common – they are all entrepreneurs!

Throughout the most recent capital campaign whose fruits generated the gorgeous new McMurtrie-Reynolds Pavilion, the state-of-the-art home to Cadet and Gator athletics, a theme became clear: Benedictine and Saint Gertrude have produced an incredible number of entrepreneurs in their alumni ranks. In fact, across the country you find successful entrepreneurs who were once taught the motto of “ora et labora” by the Benedictine sisters and monks.

Perhaps it isn’t surprising. Throughout history, the members of the monasteries of Saint Benedict have been quite entrepreneurial. After all, it was the Benedictines who pioneered modern farming practices, built the first Catholic schools, and perfected the fermentation of champagne and beer (for those we are eternally grateful!). These examples demonstrate something very valuable, something very entrepreneurial, is at the core of Saint Benedict’s motto of “prayer and work.” In fact, both history and modern business practices prove that at the convergence of contemplation, hard work, and thinking differently we find the entrepreneur. Sometimes she’s at the head of the board room; sometimes he’s in a monastic habit.

The purpose of Labora is to bring these stories to you and inspire a future generation of entrepreneurs. When the entrepreneur creates something new, he or she engages in an activity that is uniquely endowed to the human race by our Creator. One famous author described the entrepreneur as living in the place where the mind “vibrates at the speed closest to the divine.” This publication celebrates our alumni who take the risks inherent with creating something new and the educational tradition of Saint Benedict that helped mold their vision.

Yours in Prayer and Work,

J E SS E G R A PE S PRESIDENT, BENEDICTINE SCHOOLS OF RICHMOND

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— ENTREPRENEUR PROFILE —

At Second Glance When first considered, the shift of Joe Swedish from highprofile leader of one of America’s largest corporations to the role of entrepreneur appears to be a 180-degree shift. In reality, it’s just another logical step for him.

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e enters the lobby of Richmond’s Jefferson Hotel at precisely 5:27 p.m. Even though he’s flown in from Colorado, dealing with all the hassles that cross-country travel entails, he’s still thirteen minutes early for a scheduled interview (“If you’re always early, you’re never late”). Hollywood’s central casting could do no better than choosing Joseph Swedish to play the role of a high-powered businessman. He sports a shock of white hair that belies a seemingly endless supply of youthful energy. Bedecked in a sharply tailored navy-blue suit and bold, red tie, Swedish (Benedictine Class of ’69) bears the buttoned-down look of a CEO or chairman of the board. And he should, for those are roles he recently filled astride the peak of the Fortune 500 pecking order. Yet, Swedish lives the life of an entrepreneur — and he is smashing stereotypes as he does so.

If asked to conjure the image of an entrepreneur, you might think of a 20-something toiling away in his garage on some world-changing gadget, or you might come up with the college freshman tapping out code with his dorm mates vying to create the next Instagram or WhatsApp. While those folks certainly exist, they really aren’t the personifications of entrepreneurship.

For every Mark Zuckerberg, there are hundreds whose imaginative creations and dreams never live to see the light of day. Nevertheless, their persistence and devotion to a cause mark their entrepreneurial spirit, as does their willingness to take on risks.

Many others lack the acumen to steer their creations through the maelstrom that is the global business landscape. While their

creations may be genius, these innovations die on the vine as a result. “Those garage stories — the Bill Gateses and the Zuckerbergs — are great,” shared the Duke (Fuqua School)-educated Swedish. “But the fact is, an entrepreneur can point to the success originally created well into their 30s and 40s. There are very few overnight wonders and many more failures.”

In his latest venture, after stepping down as chairman and CEO of Anthem in 2017, Swedish is co-founder and partner of a private equity firm called Concord Health Partners that is focused on healthcare services. In addition to its venture investments, his company created a $300 million fund known as a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) that was oversubscribed with 74 institutional investors.

A SPAC is an investment fund that allows public stock market investors to invest in a private equity-type transaction that becomes an Initial Public Offering.

As you might expect, given Swedish’s background, Concord Health Partners specializes in working with partners in the medical and healthcare world. The goal is to work with earlystage ventures, providing talent, assessment, and mentoring, as well as advice and counsel to make them thrive in the market.

The long-term goal, however, is to leverage those efficiencies into improved quality, and greater affordability for the consumer/ patient. The firm invests in companies that have the potential to enhance the value of healthcare through technology and solutions •

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“Entrepreneurial engagement isn’t about R&D and finding solutions. It’s about bridging the market. That’s where we come in.”

Are You a Contender or Are You a Pretender?

When Joe Swedish considers partner companies, he is binary in his final assessment. “There are contenders,” he notes. “And there are pretenders.”

The terms are fairly self-descriptive. Contenders are those entrepreneurs in possession of solid business cases, founded upon grounded assumptions and constructed with realistic numbers.

Pretenders come in two stripes. The first are those who have come up with a product, process, or service that they feel is revolutionary. The typical problem with such entrepreneurs is that there is an unreasonable understanding of the commercialization challenges. In other terms, it might be a grand idea that just doesn’t translate into achieving financial expectations.

The second type of pretender is the type who has a compelling sales pitch, but whose offering collapses under the weight of scrutiny. The Irish have a term for such promoters: “A fair face but with naught behind.”

You may recall the dot-com bubble burst of 2001. The advent in popularity of web browsers, the availability of cheap cash, due to lowered interest rates, and lowered capital gains rates (because of the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997) resulted in vast investment appetites.

Leading up to that financial collapse, plenty of pretenders worked their ways into the hearts (and checkbooks) of venture capitalists and Main Street investors, alike.

Swedish saw some pretending first-hand. “Some health systems were investing in deal du jour concepts — a nearequivalent of the dot-com bubble,” he recalled.

At times, he had to work a company out of difficulties created by investments in enterprises that were not clearly understood; to unwind bad deals. But, as he has always done, he learned.

“I saw imprudent decisions and flash-in-the-pan commitments that didn’t provide results or that caused damage.

“I made a career out of fixing problems created by others, built on a career commitment I made many years ago.”

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that lower costs, improve quality and/or expand access to care.

“It’s the strategic accelerated adoption of great technologies and services to provide better and less expensive healthcare around the country,” explained Concord Health’s James Olsen, a founder of the company and long-time acquaintance of Swedish. “We’re doing well and doing good.”

Olsen realizes he struck gold when Swedish agreed to come on board as a co-founder and partner. “I was well aware of the fact that he was talking to several major firms in the [healthcare] industry,” he recalled. “When Joe called to let me know he was joining me, I was absolutely thrilled. It was a jolt of excitement: a game-changer for our trajectory.”

In just two years, the firm has amassed a portfolio of companies that run the gamut from proton therapy development to healthcare focused cybersecurity detection and response. While Swedish and company are quite methodical and deliberate in their selection process, it really boils down to whether the company being courted is a contender or a pretender (see side bar for more on that). “You’ve got to know who you are,” stresses Swedish. “You’ve got to know your value and your ability to perform. Investors are looking for people who can develop, operate, and grow.”

Swedish, himself, has developed a lifetime full of business experience, callused by the challenges he has faced and faced down. “I made the decision early on in my career that I preferred to lead complex organizations,” he shared. “I felt, as a change agent, that I was able to apply the lessons I learned to organizations that needed massive change and were receptive to that change.”

These were also organizations that were open to the concept of “intrapreneurship.” Simply stated, that concept is merely in-house entrepreneurship. A concept that really got legs in the 1980s, its most famous example was Lockheed Martin’s “Skunk Works” that was brought together during World War II to build the P-80 fighter jet. Entrepreneurship evolved into a means by which some of the more conservative-appearing corporations generated creativity and risk-taking. While such traits were organic to Swedish, he supplemented those natural tendencies by becoming uber-educated on the subject.

Indeed, Swedish came by the entrepreneurial chops early in his career, peppered with positions that sizzled with risk. As

JOE SWEDISH’S ENTREPRENEURIAL THOUGHTS:

is logical, they were the kind of opportunities that, if realized, offered huge rewards for his companies. Failure was highly possible and, if realized, could be catastrophic.

An example of such risky ventures came in 1999, when Swedish became the CEO of Centura Health. Based in Colorado, the system was plagued by a number of ills, including the need to take loans to meet payroll for 12,000 employees, loan default exposure, and junk-rated bonds.

By the time Swedish wrapped up his work, six years later, Centura was a stable organization on solid footing: AA-rated bonds, new hospitals and a larger workforce. The momentum he started continues unabated. His work also resulted in some personal recognition, as Swedish was recognized as an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for 2003 — Rocky Mountain Region award. This award is widely thought of as one of the most prestigious business awards.

But where he really first caught entrepreneurial fire was during an earlier executive position, in 1987, when he created Horizon Health Corp, a subsidiary of Memorial Mission Medical Center, in Asheville, N.C. He stepped in as CEO of a start-up enterprise serving 17 counties in the western part of the Tar Heel State.

At the time, healthcare organizations began building taxable subsidiaries. Swedish aggressively built out this subsidiary to where it created the second largest home care company in North Carolina, as well as a rehabilitation hospital and real estate portfolio.

It was his first CEO role, but “ever since, in any CEO role I’ve served, I applied those change skills,” he noted. It was in that

— On Mentoring — I’ve had many mentors in my life – at least 10, probably more. They came from all walks of life – priests and nuns, executives, colleagues. Some didn’t even know they were mentors – but they were because I was constantly observing their behaviors, actions, and performance. They all played a big part in guiding my life in the right direction, and helping me grow and ultimately succeed – as a corporate and community leader and also as a husband and father of three.

I can’t stress enough the importance of developing and nurturing good mentoring relationships throughout your life. You never know when they will come into your life, or from what direction.

Oprah Winfrey said it best: “A mentor is someone who allows you to see the hope inside yourself.”

Too often that hope is clouded by fear, or by uncertainty, or by failure. Good mentors can help cut through this uncertainty and darkness – sometimes with positive encouragement, sometimes with tough love. And when a new path is revealed and chosen, there is no limit to how far you can go.

It’s important to understand that mentoring is more than getting advice or finding sympathy – much more. It’s about building enduring relationships based on deep trust and candor. Good mentors can focus your eyes, sharpen your ears, stimulate your brain and open your heart. They can bring clarity and a fresh perspective, sometimes when you need them most.

That said, if mentoring doesn’t occasionally make you uncomfortable, then you’re not doing it right. My mentoring experiences forced me to become more vulnerable and exposed, including in my beliefs and assumptions about various aspects of my professional, personal, and spiritual life. They helped me make the necessary and sometimes painful changes so I could grow and succeed in my career, and also become a better person.

— Excerpt, graduation speech to the Benedictine Class of ’19

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Swedish’s resume features a 40-plus year run in the healthcare field, spending 15 of those years as CEO for Catholic healthcare organizations. During nearly 30 of those years, he has served as a chief executive officer, nine of which as CEO of Trinity Health, building it to become, at that time, the nation’s second-largest Catholic health care system, as well as six years as head of Centura. That seasoning turned out to be one of the reasons that Anthem, Inc. (then named Wellpoint) turned to Swedish for his leadership.

The wisdom of this selection soon became apparent. Under Swedish’s leadership, Anthem’s market value tripled and its stock has traded at over $300 per share, well beyond the $60 price it saw at Swedish’s arrival. role that he became closely aligned with the “intrapreneurship” concept cited earlier. “I always immersed myself in risk,” he noted, adding there is a principle in leadership that “there is always a solution for the unsolvable.”

There is also vision. As CEO of Trinity Health, he made the decision to make very substantial investments in information technology. “He was way ahead of the industry,” recalled Olsen, who was involved in the discussions around the move. “It was at the point where key industry players were questioning the how and the why, as Trinity invested hundreds of millions of dollars.

Yet, by the time the Affordable Care Act was enacted (in 2016), what Joe envisioned and executed many years earlier was mandated and [Trinity] was then well-positioned for the future.”

As CEO of Anthem, Swedish orchestrated the company’s $54 billion acquisition of Cigna in 2015. The deal was ultimately called off due to regulatory challenges. At Anthem, he was regarded as a strategic thinker, willing to make dramatic, though wellthought out moves. “I believe I can emphatically state that, as CEO of a multi-billion-dollar company with tens of thousands of employees, I still had, and demonstrated, an entrepreneurial spirit,” said Swedish.

The advancement of success factors included growing Anthem’s customer base by a full 11 percent (to 40 million insured members, 78 million total customers) during his tenure. Likewise, the company’s share price quadrupled with Swedish through regulatory and financial turbulent waters.

That unflappability was witnessed first-hand by Bonnie Jacobs, who served as vice president of corporate communications under Swedish. “He knows what he’s doing and has the focus of a CEO, but he’s also thinking of the human side, and always able to pivot to it,” she noted. “He is a visionary CEO, who changed [Anthem] from a stodgy insurance company to one that cares about people’s healthcare for their entire life.”

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Two things, in particular, are of note about the progress Swedish made at Anthem. And by “of note,” we mean “remarkable.”

First, he had never run an insurance company before, with all of his prior experience coming in the delivery of healthcare. While there is a belief in the business world that “a good manager can manage anything,” having a grounding in the thing one is taking on is always an advantage. “That was an unprecedented move,” said Olsen. “It was bold, and it sent shockwaves through the industry, forcing the best of the best to rethink where healthcare was headed, with more collaboration (between provider and payer), focus on the consumer, and leverage of data analytics.”

Second, he was able to accomplish what he did while the Affordable Care Act (otherwise known as Obamacare) was being fully implemented. Short of the implementation of Medicare and Medicaid during the 1960s, there has been no more significant impact to the health insurance industry since its inception as a business. Swedish’s efforts did not go unnoticed: In 2016, his name was included on the “Top 100 Innovators” list, as determined by the business publishing conglomerate Crain.

Under Swedish’s leadership, Anthem consistently grew revenue, membership, and earnings per share, (the triumvirate of meaningful metrics within that industry), with operating revenue increasing 20 percent, to more than $78 billion.

Much of the success has to be attributed to the “One Anthem” program Swedish initiated in early 2017, one that was designed to completely transform the organization. “It changed the enterprise,” recalled Jacobs. “This was true transformation to address all aspects of how we performed. He focused on building culture and instilling values, on innovation, breaking silos, and making faster decisions.”

Serving in such high-powered positions, as he has throughout his career, Swedish looks to his faith for guidance. “I’d rather change

by inspiration than desperation,” he shared. “Pope John Paul’s favorite saying applies to all we do — ‘Be not afraid’.”

While his numbers are impressive, Swedish has not lost sight of the human side of his business, nor has he forgotten his roots.

That humility is grounded in his parents’ experience as refugees to this country (from Eastern Europe) following World War II. “The kindness they were shown by their Catholic sponsor, coupled with the struggles to establish a new life in our society, affirmed their desire to instill Catholic values in me,” Swedish told us.

“As Catholics, I am certain they believed core values such as Benedictine’s would help me grow and prosper — both religiously and professionally.”

That spiritual growth continues to bear fruit. “My achievements are because of my Catholic education and my leadership experiences in Catholic healthcare,” he shared. “I have come to the realization that so much of what is accomplished is in God’s time, but we need to support the journey through the lens of faith with listening skills, patience, and seeking the common good in people we serve.”

Those are more than mere words. That level of faith manifests itself in how his companies conduct themselves. To wit: Under Swedish’s CEO leadership, Anthem was named by the Ethisphere Institute to its list of World’s Most Ethical Companies for 2018.

With that award, Anthem joined a list of other similarly-recognized

companies, such as USAA, 3M, and IBM. (Of note, Swedish also serves on the board of IBM.) He also has a strong dedication to diversity, having held the chair of the Institute for Diversity for healthcare management.

With a lifetime of impressive accomplishments and developmental experiences behind him (including grooming a number of subordinates to take on national roles), Swedish is well-positioned to offer advice to those who wish to take up the mantle of entrepreneurship: “You need to learn to differentiate, tell your story, learn how to raise capital to execute your vision, and then execute the plan.”

He is a man who is known to keep a notepad handy, in which he jots down quotes he hears that might come in handy at a later date. At the same time, this layered man is quick to offer his own quotes for those interested in starting up: “Go out and get experience that pushes your limits. Find organizations that reward you for being entrepreneurial, that encourage you to take risks and be creative. Unfortunately, there are many pretenders.”

Additionally, he advises: “Be prepared to fail. Oh, yes, I’ve had failures but, in the end, they were all opportunities.”

Fall down, get up, renew your spirit, and get back into the fray.

Joe Swedish has been doing that for over four decades. It appears he’s poised to continue doing so, well into the future.

Optionality Optionality — it’s not a word often used, but I’ve found that it’s what you get from the success of your entrepreneurial vision.

Generally, we all want options. We’re Americans and we like the freedom to make choices. Also, we know that God wants us to be happy, which implies that He also wants us to make choices. So, if there is a link between choice and happiness (which I believe there is), then optionality may be equivalent with “the pursuit of happiness,” what our fellow Virginian, Thomas Jefferson, was writing about in the Declaration of Independence so many years ago.

My experience tells me that taking the risks necessary to create value as an entrepreneur, while it does take an incredible amount of work and will keep you awake some nights wondering if you made the right call, those bold choices create optionality in your personal and charitable life. For example, early in my career, I took over management of a hospital in Virginia that was in poor shape.

The future of the hospital looked bleak; even my mother told me

that I had made a bad choice in taking the position. I didn’t think so.

I knew that I had to accept a position of vulnerability so that I could learn and grow stronger from the opportunity. It was a major risk; I could have failed and derailed my whole career. Someone wise once told me not to go looking for failure, but know that failure is always looking for you. If it finds you (like it was staring at me), failure is not the problem; it’s what you do with it to seize the opportunity that counts. I believed we could rejuvenate the hospital so I accepted the risk and the opportunity. Turning around that hospital was a key to the freedom that I now enjoy. Today, my ability to help others is the optionality that risk created. My choices are many more now than if I had followed a safe path then. I choose to participate in leadership opportunities at the Benedictine Schools of Richmond and at Duke University as a board member and a donor. I choose to help young people with their education because I put my own education to work for me…and I took a few risks along the way!

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— FAITH AND BUSINESS —

— W H AT WOU L D —

BENEDICT SAY? — B Y R I C H B O E H L I N G B H S ’8 0 —

In this age of information overload, social injustice, stock market crashes, and COVID-19, life grows ever more chaotic. Our 21st century challenges not only affect the way we relate to our community but to ourselves as well. We need a clear, calm, and confident mind more than ever.

I

am 58 years old, a husband, a father, a Catholic, and an entrepreneur. As I sit through COVID lockdown, I reflect upon some principles I have come to adopt in my personal and professional life: simplicity, perseverance, continuous improvement, servant leadership, and lifelong learning. To attribute these five principles solely to success would be an oversimplification, yet when I look back, these resonate. I can’t help but wonder: Are they still relevant?

Are these principles the right ones? If they are, I imagine, they must have stood the test of time. They have for me.

So, there must be historical evidence that these principles support calm and confidence in the midst of chaos. Can I find answers within codified processes and practices of the past that I believe still matter today? Enter the Rule of Saint Benedict, and my journey begins.

Saint Benedict, or Benedict of Nursia, lived around the year 500 AD. His “Rule of Saint Benedict” is one of the most influential organizational structures in the western world.

The Rule itself, 73 chapters in all, contains much surprisingly pragmatic advice on how to be successful as a person, a parent, and a leader. It is very down-to-earth and free of mystique and symbolism. Interestingly, the Benedictine

monastic system, back in the Dark Ages was decidedly not dark. For centuries, Benedictine monasteries maintained a role as an economic hub and job creator for the greater community.

As I learned, the Rule of Saint Benedict has been at the heart of the advances of Western Civilization for centuries in areas such as culture, knowledge, business, engineering, and technology. Some of the great accomplishments of Benedictine communities during the early Middle Ages include commercialization of the horse-drawn plow harness, creating the first knowledge sharing networks, the application of the water mill for industrial purposes, doubleentry bookkeeping, standardization of farm productivity through soil engineering (lime), mining, and still today the world’s best beer. All of these accomplishments (and more) attest to the openness and entrepreneurial spirit of a Benedictine community.

I discovered the Rule of Saint Benedict does contain key community-based principles related to modern personal and professional life. Benedictine communities have existed continuously for 1500 years. I found the principles are

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holistic, rooted in scripture, and reinforced by the Benedictine community motto “Ora et Labora,” Pray and Work. My five contemporary principles are promoted, individually and collectively, throughout contemporary business literature.

Do they relate to the Rule? While most businesses may not be driven to seek the Kingdom of God as a primary focus, today’s leaders should be responsible for the proper care

and treatment of peers, employees, and customers similar to Benedict’s view of the Abbot. Curiously, I began to see connections that I never knew existed. I will share my findings on the five principles that have helped guide my success and that I have accepted as the most relevant for today’s small business organizations. In fact, in my experience, if we only master these five in our life and community, we can be successful.

— PRINCIPLE 1 —

Regula et Traditio: Simplicity Simplicity is the first of my key principles. To me, simplicity means a playbook that is easily understood, pragmatic, and habit-forming. Effective teams and communities require simple,

Kim Spivey (SGHS ’80) MANAGING PARTNER, SPIVEY CONSULTING GROUP

I started my business after 25 years of working for a big company. I had learned so much and built friendships with many wonderful people, but was putting more energy into navigating the myriad, complex rules for meeting expectations than I was putting into doing meaningful work. Now, as a business owner and thought partner to other leaders, I’m getting to experience the power of simple rules –– the short list of things that keep us focused on what’s truly important and that allow space for people to bring their gifts to bear in ways that make for thriving businesses.

documented, rule-based frameworks that help guide the cohort.

These are rules and traditions to Benedict, or the “Seven Deadly Wastes” in Lean (see contemporary reference below). Both suggest that written rules establish the basis for easily understood processes which can evolve and be adapted to meet changing needs. Needed changes are suggested and reviewed by a counsel of subject matter experts and approved by an accountable authority. It is always best practice to establish simple processes and to be held accountable to them. I discovered Chapter 3 of the Rule which outlines how as new needs emerge, they are systematically reviewed by a council and approved by the Abbot. Benedict writes, “… and after hearing the advice of the brothers, let him ponder it and follow the wiser course” (RB 3.2). And as it turns out, Benedict appears to have been a stickler for process and procedural discipline, not for every condition mind you, just for those that reinforce the highest standards of excellence and support the community purpose. Benedict may have possessed the first business mind that understood the power of simplicity, or “lean” as we call it today.

C ONTEM POR ARY R EF ER ENC E

• Lean Six Sigma Pocket Handbook, Michael L George, 2004

— PRINCIPLE 2 —

Stabilitas: Perseverance Perseverance is the second of my main principles and is outlined in the Rule as stability — or stabilitas as it is called there. Perseverance, or stabilitas, means not walking away from something to which one has committed. So, despite the hard times that we will face, we need to muster courage and work harder. What I particularly like about the idea of stabilitas is that it takes away any grandeur. It is a grounded

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way of saying that once you commit to a vision, you stick to it.

Equally important is how you stick to it. To Benedict, the means matter as much or maybe even more than the end. However, it doesn’t imply that we are blind to roadblocks, errors, and misunderstandings. The Rule anticipates these problems by seeking counsel to consider revision and re-proof of plans and actions.

Stabilitas also implies temperance or “grace-under fire,” particularly when it comes to the “perseverant” leader.

Sometimes we just need to let things play out and let the team solve the problem themselves. I rather like how Benedict brings wisdom into the picture of perseverance: a leader must know when and where to intervene, and more importantly, when not to. Today, some might call it “empowerment,” but in Benedict’s form of empowerment, the leader does not abdicate authority. Rather, he chooses to show restraint when an intervention might be counterproductive.

Mike McRoberts (BHS ’80) HEAD OF AGENCY LENDING, PGIM REAL ESTATE

Freddie Mac has been vilified by many as the cause of the Great Financial Crisis of 2008-2010. I was a senior manager there and found myself in the middle of the stress and drama of that time. Along with my contemporaries, we worked to repair the damage to the firm’s financial condition and tarnished reputation. Facing severe pressure from the public, politicians, and regulators during those years; we did not relent; we worked, we persevered, and Freddie Mac was able to emerge intact and today is part of the backbone of the US housing finance system.

C ONT E M P O RA RY R E F E R E N CE S

• 5 ways to Master Persistence That Make a Great Entrepreneur, Patel Deep, 2017 • The Success of Persistent Entrepreneurs, Sarah Jane Gilbert, 2009 HBS Working Knowledge

— PRINCIPLE 3 —

Conversatio: Continuous Improvement My third important life principle, Continuous Improvement, is found in Benedict’s conversatio morum. It is a bit hard to translate, but it means something like “conversion of life.”

The Japanese call it “Kai Zen” or “good change.” According to Benedict, although the work methods can change, the path never

Chris Lewis (BHS ’80) CEO, CONQUEST GRAPHICS

Conquest Graphics has experienced a lot of change since taking over my grandfather’s company (circa 1922) in 1984. Back then, we used a letterpress, a technique where individual letters are placed or set by hand.

Today, it is high speed lasers and inkjet technologies. What we used to do in days now takes minutes. Keeping up with the technology has required continuous change and improvement. Today, all jobs are entered via the web (eCommerce print) and are ready to run. I challenge our Conquest Graphics community to continually improve our systems, our equipment, and our skill to embrace new technologies when they become available. Otherwise, we won’t survive.

waivers. This rings true in business. Our path is to provide value to our customers and to our employees, though our tools and methods can and do change from time to time. For Benedict, life is a continuous journey in which you keep improving yourself all the time. The word conversatio also implies a commitment to believe and keep one’s mind open to possibilities. Broadly translated, it means we should stay optimistic and open to any ideas and help that we find along the way. I feel Benedict is telling us to open our minds and see what others may be unwilling or unable to see, and to remain hopeful. Essentially, be open to all opportunities to get better and advance the cause. So while on our journey, we welcome and appreciate any help along the way.

Edward Deming was a proponent of this practice in his now famous four-step continuous improvement process “Plan Do Check Act” or Kaizen in Lean Manufacturing.

C ONTEM POR ARY R EF ER ENC ES

•O ut of Crisis, W. Edward Deming, 1986 •8 D Team Based Problem Solving, Marc Possley, 2013

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— PRINCIPLE 4 —

Obedientia: Servant Leadership This brings us to a fourth principle: to serve others as the leader. To understand how Benedict may have seen this, I had to understand perhaps the most challenging aspect of Benedict’s

Jon Barlow (BHS ’80) PRESIDENT, VALLEY GROUP INC.

“Throw away that degree of yours; your dad wasted a lot of money,” he told me on my first day in 1986. Little did I know what the foreman meant at the time. I have taken over for my father now. He listened, he served his employees, and so do I. Our business is risky, and it’s our employees doing the work that are often in harm’s way. Together we win. I am a degreed engineer, yes, the degree not really wasted over 36 years, but I understand now what he meant: serve as the leader. We listen to and serve one another, making our company successful.

Success in any venture relies on the contributions of the team at large. The leader’s job is one of a shepherd to the flock, always accountable, always vigilant, and always committed to serving (versus dictating to) the members of the enterprise or community. A leader must first listen to serve. Saint Benedict in Chapters 2 and 7 of the Rule goes into great detail on the role of the leader to support the community. Essential to his model is humility that places others ahead of self, with each member of the community committed to doing the same.

Simply put, we are to practice mutual obedience (Chapter 71). Benedict tells us in RB 72.3, “This, then, is the good zeal which monks shall foster with fervent love: They should each try to be the first to show respect to the other (Romans 12:10).” A servant leader fosters a community where all seek to give of their unique talents — selflessly — to the work; a community listening to one another regardless of rank or background, because all persons have equal dignity.

We discuss things openly and voice concerns honestly, in an environment of mutual trust and respect — a tall order, indeed.

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rule: obedience (obedientia). Benedict tells us to be obedient to our superiors and to each other. That sounds old-fashioned and against today’s strong focus on freedom, equality, and selfdetermination. It would be, if it meant that we follow someone else’s orders blindly. But that is not at all what obedientia means.

The term obedientia comes from the Latin word audire, which means listening. It means that you listen attentively and look carefully around you and embrace all available information through thoughtful analysis, counsel, and reflection, and then you act accordingly. It means you are always trying to learn from your environment in a structured and ordered way.

Interestingly, obedientia implies taking responsibility for your own actions by holding oneself accountable to another. Benedict states in RB 5.13, “Men of this resolve unquestionably conform to the saying of the Lord: I have come not to do my will, but the will of him who sent me (John 6:38).” To trust (obey) one another was foundational to Benedict. This principle promotes humility and works against the kind of pride that builds arrogance and self-importance. And through the lens of humility, we see perhaps the most important aspect of the Rule: the leader as servant.

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• T he Servant as Leader, Robert Greenleaf •S even Pillars of Servant Leadership, James Sipe and Don Frick

— PRINCIPLE 5 —

Lectio Divina: Lifelong Learning As I have discovered, the process for effective learning hasn’t changed much over the course of history. No leader’s list of principles would be complete without an expectation of acquiring knowledge through guided self-learning, lectio divina to Benedict, and goes like this: we (1) study quietly, (2) reflect patiently, (3) act accordingly, (4) assess progress, and (5) repeat.

Learning starts with our basic attitude. Benedict tells us in Chapter 7 that through humility we can be open to means of

Kim Spivey (SGHS ’80) MANAGING PARTNER, SPIVEY CONSULTING GROUP

I’ve always loved reading and learning.

Earlier in my career, I spent countless hours studying to be fully prepared and have all the answers before a meeting or presentation. In recent years, as a business owner, I’ve come to appreciate the magic that happens when we don’t start with all the answers, when we are open to the experience of learning together. Particularly in these times, bringing to the table both what we know and what we’ve yet to learn creates space for me, my colleagues, and our clients to grow and adapt.

improving ourselves and the methods we use to perform work.

However, we must first seek understanding of ourselves and the world around us. We must become lifelong learners (Chapter 48).

Additionally, Benedict implies a required state of mind. He asks us to abandon pride even if we are already great at something (Chapter 57). This makes one realize that there is always more to learn, and, perhaps more importantly there is always someone from whom to learn. We must remain open to the notion that we do not know it all. Critical to this principle, in my opinion, is fearlessness when faced with the unknown. Being fearless requires courage and self-awareness. Ultimately being a learner allows one to embrace the risk of failure by accepting that failing is but a part of learning. And as all entrepreneurs know, failure and disappointment make rich soil for growth.

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•B uilding a Learning Organization, David A Garvin, HBR 1993 • T he Fifth Discipline, Peter Senge, 1990

CONCLUSION I suppose you are getting a sense now of what Benedict is trying to tell me through his Rule. My five principles belong together and add up to an image of a community led by courageous people persevering to continuously improve their own craft and impact lives of others with modesty, while graciously accepting any help and opportunities that come their way.

Finally, I imagine Benedict would say, “Keep going.”

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— F E AT U R E —

RISK

Where others view business risk with fear, Mike Kehoe ’84 sees opportunity.

And, he’s made the most of it.

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here are some who view the word “risk” with trepidation. Others see it with skepticism. Others, still, tremble at the very mention of the word.

Then there’s Mike Kehoe. The Benedictine graduate (Class of ‘84) thrives on risk. Not only does the company he founded deal directly in risk management, it was founded in the riskiest of times: the wake of the Great Recession.

Kehoe’s steely eyes underscore his unflappability. Graced with a runner’s body, he’s also blessed with a calming confidence, one that has been called upon many times.

And at no time was it more critical than when he founded Kinsale Capital Group (NASDAQ symbol: KNSL).

“You need confidence to be an entrepreneur,” said Kehoe. “And I had confidence in the strategy.”

It’s one thing to strike out on your own when there’s no attractive alternative. But, in this case, Kehoe retired from his position as chief executive officer of James River Insurance Company in early 2008. Because of his non-compete with the parent company of James River, he was effectively sidelined for a full year and a half.

“James River was executing a fine strategy,” said Kehoe, in explaining his rationale for departing. “I just had a

different idea on how a business could be run. And companies are not democracies.”

Indeed, Kehoe wanted to place singular focus on the Excess and Surplus (E&S) side of commercial insurance, and felt he could best do so via an entrepreneurial play.

He was only able to start up Kinsale in June 2009, which wasn’t the rosiest of times to be getting into the start-up business, particularly one that so strongly linked to the world of finance. Compounding matters was a lawsuit filed against Kinsale by a competitor. While it could generously be called frivolous (and less generously a nuisance), the lawsuit was yet another obstacle in this entrepreneur’s drive toward success and, critically, toward amassing the $80 million in start-up capital that he required.

What might be the most impressive part of the birth of Kinsale is what wasn’t included in it. The vast majority of significant start-ups hire an investment banker to help lubricate the process. Kehoe went a different route, stating, “I just did it on my own. Why pay millions in fees if I can do the same thing on my own?”

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“Starting a business from scratch is a tough endeavor.”

He was no fresh-faced rookie, though. Kehoe had been a critical part of the startup of James River Insurance. “My boss did a good job of laying the groundwork (for James River),” Kehoe shared. “The capital was committed.”

Meanwhile, in the larger economy, the worst of the impact came during 2008, with Kehoe waiting things out as he honored his non-compete agreement with his previous employer. He remained unfazed. “[My experience] reinforces the idea that good ideas can still draw interest from investors,” he said.

And, in fact, in spite of the state of the economy, Kehoe’s combination of a healthy contact list of well-positioned investors along with his own elbow grease enabled him to raise the start-up capital.

“On day one, we had no computers and not even a pencil,” chuckled Petrucelli. “I probably should have been more nervous than I was. But we had a lot of confidence to pull this off.”

Mike Kehoe takes a rare break from his duties to take in a bit of winter sports with his wife Bevin

significant chunk of capital in what could generously be termed tumultuous times. According to the Department of Labor, approximately 8.7 million jobs (roughly seven percent of total employment) were shed from February 2008 to February 2010.

Additionally, real GDP shrank by 4.2 percent between the fourth quarter of 2007 and the second quarter of 2009. Those numbers made the Great Recession the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

“Richmond was tough,” noted Bryan Petrucelli, one of Kehoe’s chief lieutenants and an early sign-on to Kinsale. “Genworth had layoffs, Circuit City had dropped, Reynolds Metals had been acquired and had shifted.” There was lots of disruption.

“Starting a business from scratch is a tough endeavor,” Kehoe noted. “And insurance is tough because you need a lot of capital, due to [regulatory] requirements around the strength of the business.”

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Many entrepreneurial ventures start out small and, when the business takes off, its founders shift to a scramble mode to adjust for growth. In Kehoe’s case, the opposite took place. “This business was designed to be larger from the start,” he noted. “Early on, we managed Kinsale to public-company standards, because that was our long-term goal.”

With a chuckle, Kehoe added, “We had a bit too much management on day one, but we grew into it quickly.”

Slow growth was not an option, given that his investors were keen on seeing a solid return. Things got a bit sticky when Kinsale’s returns over the first two years fell below projections. “[The investors] became concerned,” recalled Kehoe. “They started talking about new ideas.”

Rather than making significant course corrections, Kehoe stuck with his original strategy: maintain underwriting discipline and sustain the confidence of the investors.

He quickly brought a second employee on board. In fact, he entered the fray two days after Kehoe’s start date. Kinsale’s first hire was Petrucelli, a veteran of Ernst and Young’s audit arm, who

MIKE KEHOE’S ENTREPRENEURIAL THOUGHTS:

was well-suited to jump in on the finance side of things.

It didn’t hurt that Petrucelli was also a Benedictine Class of ’84 grad. In fact, a look at the yearbook from that year shows that Kehoe was a lieutenant in the Headquarters Company that Petrucelli commanded. But this wasn’t a move to take care of an old classmate. It turns out that Petrucelli had the exact skillset that Kehoe needed at that moment. As the company has thrived, so has Petrucelli who, today, serves as executive vice president, chief financial officer, and treasurer.

“When he asked [me to come on board], it didn’t take long for me to say yes,” Petrucelli shared. “I saw what Mike had done at James River. (Petrucelli had been part of the Ernst and Young audit team there.) I knew his business plan was a good one, and I was confident in his ability to lead.

“Mike is focused and has a different view of the world, with a contrarian mindset that has... been a key driver in Kinsale’s success.”

While certainly not unique to the world of business, Kehoe is a lawyer by training, having graduated from the T. C. Williams School of Law at the University of Richmond in 1993. Rather than go the legal-eagle route, he opted for a different world, perhaps with his appetite whetted during the two years he worked in underwriting (with AIG in Philadelphia) following his graduation from Hampden-Sydney in 1988. “When the right position didn’t come along, I fell back to insurance.”

Indeed, Kehoe started out with a specialty insurance company called Colony, which began operations in 1988 (although under a different name). While the company was bought and sold by a couple of different conglomerates, Kehoe worked his way up, and then over, to James River, where he emerged as the 36-yearsyoung president of the James River Insurance Company, a subsidiary of the James River holding company.

Kehoe was a great student of what those positions had to teach, amassing a trove of industry-specific knowledge while crafting a strategy based on data analysis and integration, cost containment, and opportunity identification and exploitation.

— On Taking the Plunge — Mike Kehoe didn’t start up Kinsale merely to survive. “I’m a competitive person,” he stressed. “I want to win. It’s no different from [Benedictine’s Head Football Coach] Greg Lilly marching out the team.

“We want to be the best and deliver value to our customers and to our shareholders. As CEO, I’m steward of a lot of people’s money.”

Before entering the entrepreneurial fray, Kehoe emphasizes the criticality of doing one’s homework, because those who might be interested in funding you will be doing theirs. “If you’re an investor in a start-up company, you know that a high percentage don’t work out,” he stated. “So, you want to know [the entrepreneur’s] strategy, track record, and his ability to lead and execute, who he intends to hire, etc. Nobody writes a $60 million equity check without doing a lot of homework. A big part of that decision comes down to: will you be working with high integrity people who are likely to focus on the job at hand and deliver good results?”

In Kehoe’s case, he had a strong record from his years of work in the E&S side of the insurance business. Belief in oneself is an additional factor. “You need confidence to be an entrepreneur,” he said, “Confidence in yourself, the team, the investors, and the business strategy.”

Through it all, Kehoe has maintained the proper perspective.

Despite starting up a hugely successful business that provides services to every state of the union and a paycheck to hundreds of employees, “I’m most proud of my marriage and my family,” he stated, noting that his wife, Bevin, has been a stalwart supporter.

They married 22 years ago. Together they have four children, aged 12 to 21. “Bevin was pretty sanguine about the decision (to strike out on his own). After I resigned from my prior job, we both enjoyed the year and a half I was retired (due to a non-compete agreement) – the kids were young, and it helped having another set of hands around. Of course, even during the retirement period I was still working. During that 15 months I took 21 trips to NYC to meet with prospective investors plus multiple trips to Boston, Charlotte, Philadelphia, Kansas City, and around Virginia.

“It was a bittersweet moment when the capital was raised, the non-compete expired and the time had arrived to launch the business - it was time to get going, but I knew I was going to miss so many moments with our children and with each other. Those moments are priceless, especially given how quickly your children grow up. It’s exciting to achieve some level of business success and to lead an organization from startup through an IPO. But as incredible as it’s been, it doesn’t begin to compare to the joy of being a good husband and father.”

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“Mike Kehoe is clearly tied to its success and Kinsale has been remarkably resilient through a wide range of markets and within its own industry.”

Under Kehoe’s command, Kinsale has realized growth in its scope, as well. Today, subsidiaries of Kinsale Capital Group include Aspera Insurance Services, Inc., Kinsale Insurance Company, Kinsale Real Estate, Inc., and Kinsale Management, Inc. Kehoe attributes his company’s success to its business model. “It has some competitive advantages and durability,” he noted.

One area in which Kinsale holds a significant competitive edge is in its underwriting profitability. That profitability is driven by an 85 percent combined ratio (expenses, payouts, and loss reserve), whereas most competitors are well above the 90-percent mark (with some in excess of 100 percent).

Gross written premiums are a critical metric in the insurance business. Kinsale has realized remarkable and sustained growth in that area, nearly doubling over the past five years. Kehoe is quick to point to his company’s expertise in data, as manifested in the company’s proprietary models and personified in its brigade of “quants,” as the proximate driver of that growth. “There’s a cliché that E&S is part art, part science,” he stated. “We push more of the science.”

That science is chiefly driven by the in-house development of vital technology platforms that comprise the enterprise system at the core of Kinsale’s business model. That enterprise model was designed and constructed by Kinsale employees. It is designed to provide clean data in real-time fashion.

“As a property casualty insurance company, Kinsale operates in an industry where the customers care intensely about the cost of the product. Accordingly, we constantly work to lower our internal expenses so we can offer more value to the buyer and an attractive return to our stockholders. Kinsale operates with significantly lower expenses than many of our competitors.”

Kinsale’s investors have greatly benefited, as well. At the company’s initial public offering on the NASDAQ (in July 2016), it realized a per share opening price of 16 dollars. Steady, nearly straight-line growth has seen Kinsale’s price break the 200-dollar mark. That growth has been substantiated by strength in the company’s underlying business, in both scope and profitability.

(Even the recent coronavirus-fueled market volatility has not nearly shaken Kinsale’s market valuation as dramatically as it has most of the rest of the market.)

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The strong performance has attracted its share of fans. George Smith is co-manager of the Davenport Small Cap Focus Fund (DSCPX), part of local investment powerhouse Davenport & Co. That fund includes about two percent of Kinsale stock in its mix, a significant load by any measure. “We’re attracted to great businesses with owner-operator structures,” said Smith.

“Mike Kehoe is clearly tied to its success and Kinsale has been remarkably resilient through a wide range of markets and within its own industry.”

The company’s growth has manifested itself in an additional, more tangible fashion. This past September, Kehoe moved his operations to a brand-new, five-story office building owned by his company.

The new facility will enable the company to accommodate its tremendous uptick in employees while keeping them in one place, a goal that Kehoe had since Kinsale’s conception.

Located near the intersection of Staples Mill Road and Broad Street, the 150,000 square foot building will have 50 percent of its available space occupied by Kinsale, with the remainder being filled by tenants.

Given the strong growth rate that Kinsale has experienced, it’s a safe bet that that extra space will come in handy in the not-toodistant future and that Kehoe will continue to drive that growth along with a group that is clearly dedicated to him. “Mike is an incredibly generous man,” noted Petrucelli. “He’s a very balanced human being in how he lives his life.

“He’s exactly who you see: a man with tons of integrity. If he tells you something, you can count on it.”

“He’s very focused on his company’s success,” noted Smith.

“He’s very driven: You can sense the enthusiasm, and it’s what you’d expect from a founder. It’s refreshing.”

What is also refreshing is Kehoe’s appreciation for the more than 250 people who make up his company. “We have all types of personalities,” he stated. “Some positions require very specific job skills, but in general we look for people who are honest, smart, hardworking, with good interpersonal and communication skills.”

Just like the man at the top.

What is E&S? As with just about every other industry, the world of insurance has its own vernacular, one that is difficult to understand by those outside of it, or who don’t deal with insurers on a regular basis.

While you may be quite familiar with such industry terms as premium, liability, and policy, there are many terms that may be less familiar to you. Blanket insurance, performance bonds, and loss control are three such phrases. Another might be excess and surplus lines or E&S. Mike Kehoe has spent nearly his entire career working that side of the insurance business. In its barest form, E&S is mostly commercial insurance coverage that is offered to those entities that are in what are considered high-risk businesses. The risk may come in multiple forms: too many losses, a business located in a litigious venue, a dangerous operation or product, or a new business without a track record of careful management, or even a disbarred lawyer who gets his license back.

E&S companies use higher rates and more restrictive coverage to provide competitively priced insurance for businesses, but also to generate higher risk-adjusted returns than do standard line insurance companies. In effect, done right a “high risk” policy becomes “low risk” because the profit margins are superior. It’s underappreciated even in the property and casualty industry that E&S companies are typically more profitable than standard lines insurers. Quantifiably, the E&S market makes up about 15 percent of the commercial insurance universe or about $50 billion in annual premiums.

In a way, the E&S market is comparable to the “underserved” market of the banking world, which is largely characterized by serving those with low FICO (Fair Isaac Corporation) scores. Just as lending to those in the underserved market is a riskier proposition, so insuring those in the E&S market carries higher risk. Clients may range from a day care to an oil driller to a trucking company or a product manufacturer.

Because of its favorable return prospects, the E&S market attracts many competitors. The five largest writers include Lloyds of London, AIG, Richmond-based Markel, Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway, and WR Berkley. Although over 50 companies compete in the E&S space, the top five control about 44% of all annual premium. By comparison, Kinsale was ranked 30th in size in 2018, but will likely move up the ranks when the 2019 statistics are released.

There is also the need to be nimble and to quickly build expertise in the target business. That is where Kehoe feels Kinsale is especially competent: using technology and systems to reduce costs, provide superior customer service, and to collect tremendous amounts of statistical information to better manage the business over time.

Of note, Kinsale, while solely based in the Old Dominion, provides nearly half of its coverage to businesses in three states: California, Texas, and Florida, which are marked by litigiousness or vulnerability to nature (or both).

Similarly, Kinsale has found one of its largest markets in the construction industry, which has its own unique set of risks. Ultimately, Kinsale follows the risk — as long as it can generate an attractive return in the process.

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Dream.

Image.

Succeed.

A family’s idea of mobile medical imagery services has blossomed into the epitome of focused care for those most in need of it.

And the image of the future looks quite rosy.

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— S TA R T U P —

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onfetti. It looked just like confetti.

Debbie Berger (Saint Gertrude High School ’87) had returned to the home she and husband Dean shared after making yet another run for their fledgling business. Upon entering the foyer, she was greeted by a scene that rivaled the aftermath of a ticker-tape parade through New York City’s “Canyon of Heroes.”

Only, there was little celebration to be had.

In reality, the Bergers’ new dog, a beautiful golden retriever named Bodie, had destroyed the bundle of mail that the mailman had earlier dropped through the door slot. Left with the run of the house, Bodie had himself quite a time, treating the letters, bills, and catalogs as his personal chew toys.

Debbie’s heart froze. Three months into her startup, she and Dean were nearly broke. They’d liquidated their IRAs and nearly maxed out their credit cards. Some documentation errors had resulted in non-payment for the vast majority of services they’d delivered, and they were waiting for a check — a big one.

And Bodie had gone to town on the mail.

Except one piece. For reasons we’ll never know, he’d left one envelope unscathed, and in it was a check for services rendered in the amount of $10,000. Bodie had saved the company. Or, at least, he’d avoided putting it into bankruptcy with his chewing antics. “I don’t know what we were thinking,” Debbie recalls mulling at the time.

That was in August, 2005, when Dean and Debbie were in the hectic, frantic — but ecstatic — days of the birth of Dynamic Mobile Imaging. Back then, they were facing a daily financial pinch, the shadow of creditors and a doubting (though vast) potential market for their services (in addition to dealing with a pair of young sons). Today, theirs is the second-largest business of its type in the nation, delivering medical imaging services, such as digital X-rays, MRIs, and ultrasounds, to the residences of medical patients. The company is especially beneficial to those who are homebound or who live in assisted living facilities or nursing homes.

The win-win of this business is apparent in the following scenario.

A resident of a nursing home has taken a fall. Because of her age and condition, any fall must be taken seriously. The medical personnel at the facility suspect that there might be some internal

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damage, and they have two options: call for an ambulance to take the resident to the emergency room or call for a mobile imaging service.

The ambulance/ER option has some significant downside to it. First, it is pricey, often resulting in a total cost of $5,000 to some entity (usually Medicare). Second, being physically transported may cause physical or emotional (or both) distress to the resident. Third, the emergency room might expose the individual to pathogens she wouldn’t normally experience. Fourth, there may be a long lag time between arrival at the ER and diagnosis.

Back row: Tim Forehand, Debbie Berger ’87, Dean Berger. Front row: Clara Burrow ’64, Theresa Burrow ’89. Theresa is VP of administration and runs the company’s billing arm, Dynamic Medical Billing.

In the event that mobile imaging is utilized, the resident doesn’t leave her bed, let alone the building, mitigating pathogen exposure and stress to her. The turnaround from scan to diagnosis is typically four hours, and can be reduced to as little as sixty minutes. And the price for an X-ray is a mere $220, representing savings in the thousands of dollars. The ambulance trip takes place only if the resulting diagnosis determines the need for it. If the situation is one of obvious criticality, of course, the ambulance is called.

Theirs is a 24/7 operation: Broken bones and strokes, after all, don’t confine themselves to normal business hours. Upon the company’s founding, Debbie and Dean were making all of the calls by themselves. Making things a bit more challenging were the technology limitations, particularly the gaps in wireless network coverage. “When a call came at midnight, Dean would take it,” Debbie recalled. “After he [took the X-rays], he’d drive around to find a hotspot. We called it doing ‘the laptop shuffle.’”

Other times, Debbie would drive out to retrieve the laptop and take it home so that she could forward the results to a radiologist.

At the onset, things were tight. “For our 2006 summer vacation, we went to K-Mart and bought an eighty-dollar plastic pool,” said Debbie. A mere eight feet in diameter, the pool was the focal point for Debbie, Dean, and sons Eric (then three years old) and Alex (who was eight). “That was our summer. Sitting around that little pool with Dean taking calls on his cell phone.”

Tim Forehand was the first employee from outside of the immediate family. “The early days were fun and interesting,” he recalled. “In the beginning we worked out of the Bergers’ home. It was commonplace for the Bergers to buy lunch or send me home with dinner. The Bergers have always treated me as

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family. Despite how the company has grown, they have kept the family atmosphere. They stay active in daily operations and are available 24/7.”

Dynamic Mobile Imaging was built from the sweat of the collective brow of Debbie and Dean along with that of Debbie’s parents, Ron and Clara (Saint Gertrude High School ’64) Burrow, and they grew it all from scratch. (Ron passed away in 2011.)

Going in, however, they had the right skills. Dean was working as a technologist in MCV’s electrophysiology lab. Debbie had been working in sales for McKendree & Company. Meanwhile, her dad was a long-time salesman and her mom ran the imaging department at Saint Mary’s Hospital. For that matter, Clara Burrow has over a half-century of imaging experience. The pedigrees and the experience were there, they just needed the right tool.

That took form in the shape of the Orex processor, an imaging device that had proven to be of indispensable value to U.S. military medical personnel on the battlegrounds of Afghanistan and Iraq. The family took the plunge, shelling out $40,000 for the processor. They were also so concerned about getting it home in one piece that they drove to meet it following its flight from its journey from Jacksonville, Florida. When it arrived at Richmond International Airport, Debbie recalls thinking, “Oh, gosh, please don’t drop that. It’s my retirement.”

The processor was delivered safe and sound and initially resided on the Bergers’ dining room table. Meanwhile, a change in ownership of Debbie’s company resulted in her bidding adieu to that sales position. She was ready to dive fully into the world of mobile digital imaging.

The company went live on August 15, 2005, and on that day, they took exactly three X-rays. Everyone quit their jobs except for Clara. “In case one of us had to feed the rest,” she laughed.

Ron and Debbie spent their time doggedly pursuing sales opportunities. There was also the care of Debbie and Dean’s young sons to consider. Clara would often complete her shift at Saint Mary’s before swapping out uniforms and hitting the road for Dynamic Mobile Imaging. Dean would sleep on the couch, with the phone at arm’s reach.

But even lining up those three sessions took effort. Prior to the go-live, the crew had done a number of demonstrations at nursing homes. Still, they encountered serious resistance. “They would ask us why they should give us an opportunity,” recalled Dean. “But we put our money where our mouth was, telling them that if they were unhappy, we would bow out.”

DE AN AND DEBBIE BERGER’S ENTREPRENEURIAL THOUGHTS:

— Capitalizing on Ideation — Sometimes a great idea sneaks up on the most unsuspecting. Oftentimes, what could be great ideas come and go, passing through one’s thoughts like leaves upon a gentle stream, never to be thought of again.

The lesson from the idea that birthed Dynamic Mobile Imaging is that ideation does not come from thin air. Ideas come from knowing the field, down to its nuts and bolts. Debbie and Dean Berger were both trained and experienced radiological technologists. Debbie and her father were both experienced salespeople.

Thomas Edison’s idea for the lightbulb came about after years of his work with electronics and electricity, as well as with the components that went into the physical makeup of the bulb. Great ideas are often variants of great products or great services. Sometimes they are mere tweaks.

Debbie and Dean, along with Debbie’s parents, had such an idea and, rather than let it pass or continue to dream, seized on it. They were able to combine battlefield-tested technology, emerging mobile communications capabilities, Medicare and nursing homes, and ideas that sprang from the minds of others.

Today, their idea is the second largest mobile imaging company in the United States.

The shove that everyone needed came from Ron Burrow. Debbie’s father had been pushing for a trigger pull, telling Debbie, “You can do this.” One day, Debbie recalled, she just called an attorney asking for incorporation. The intent was for the company to be in just her name. The attorney, however, failed to understand that and, four weeks later the paperwork arrived that reflected that misunderstanding. The company was incorporated in thirds, with Debbie, Dean, and Debbie’s mom each having a third.

Debbie recalls sharing this information. “The good news is that you own a third of a company. The bad news is that you own a third of a company that doesn’t own anything.”

Of course, it wasn’t long before the company was well north of nothing.

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As it turns out, the first customers were quite happy. And they served as the launch platform for initial growth, as word of mouth spread about the convenience, safety, speed, reliability, and cost benefits Dynamic Mobile Imaging brought to the mix. While the Bergers continued (and continue to this day) to work trade shows, most of their marketing is limited to memberships in various associations, such as nursing home groups.

Today, in addition to Virginia, Dynamic Mobile Imaging vans can be spotted dispensing services in Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, and Wisconsin.

The growth extends beyond mere geographies.

The company has seen a 144 percent growth in its revenue over the past eight years (with 72 percent being realized in the past five years). Additionally, the number of employees has doubled since 2013 to over 200. Perhaps best of all is the nonexistence of debt. “This company has been able to execute on tremendous growth,” said Chief Financial Officer Joe Cheely. “And has done so without the need to pursue outside capital.”

DE A N A ND DEBBIE BERGER’S DUA L PA R T NERSHIP:

LOVE AND MONEY (and Business)

You might think that, since both Debbie and Dean Berger have a background in imaging technology, they met while working in the field. Well, put all those sweet notions about love blossoming over an X-Ray scanner to rest.

In fact, each was doing something distinctly different when the two got together. Debbie was working at a florist’s shop in the Tuckernuck Square shopping plaza. She happened to catch Dean’s eye when he was in the process of enlisting in the United States Navy at its recruiting station next door to the flower shop.

Conversation ensued, but with little else resulting.

Upon wrapping up basic training, Dean had a 15-day leave. This time, he dithered little, asking Debbie on a date. Things progressed from there to the point where the pair celebrated a 25th wedding anniversary this past October. (While the florist’s shop is long gone, the Navy recruiting station remains.)

In most marriages, the wife is the true boss. We can’t report on who fills that role in the Berger household, but we do know that Debbie is the Chief Executive Officer of Dynamic Mobile Imaging, 24

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“I couldn’t be happier or prouder to see how the company has grown...”

“I couldn’t be happier or prouder to see how the company has grown,” said Forehand, who is now the executive vice president of the company. “Starting in Richmond with two vans and now to be in 12 states with close to 100 vehicles and over 200 employees is awesome.”

of image repeats, and shadowing of technologists to ensure conformity to process. Under Burrow’s leadership, drive, and dedication, Dynamic Mobile Imagining has earned itself the accreditation of the Joint Commission, which in the healthcare provider field is the gold standard of certifications.

Everyone associated with the business points to quality as its driving competency in differentiating from the competition. That is not surprising, considering the criticality of the services Dynamic Mobile Imaging provides. If the scans they provide, for example, are not readable by the radiologist, it matters not a whit that they were inexpensive or that the technologist was prompt and courteous.

Good scans lead to good prognoses. It’s as simple as that.

While quality is king, the Bergers also emphasize speed as a distinct competence. And while digital imaging is certainly much faster than using film, and going to the patient is faster than sending the patient to the emergency room, being faster than the competition is a third consideration. Toward that end, Dynamic Mobile Imaging’s technologists don’t bide their time at a regional office. Instead, they head out in company-equipped vans to sections of their region. In the Richmond area, for example, there might be a technologist assigned to Chesterfield County, another to Amelia and Powhatan, one to Henrico County and another to Petersburg/Fort Lee/Prince George County. Prepositioning reduces dispatch time, all in an effort to reduce wait time for all involved.

In fact, Clara Burrow, in addition to being a co-owner of the company, serves as the chief quality officer at Dynamic Mobile Imaging. “My job is to make sure we are providing the highest level of service possible to our external clients, as well as our staff,” she said.

Steps to ensure high quality include (among others) multiple controls, checklists, annual inspections of equipment, tracking

while Dean is the Chief Operating Officer. The company has a tripartite ownership, with Debbie’s mother Clara being the third owner. She is also the Chief Quality Officer.

More important than the company, the Berger’s marriage also yielded a pair of sons. Alex, Benedictine ’16, plays quite an active part in the family business, filling a wide variety of roles. Meanwhile, it appears the entrepreneurial spirit has been passed from Mom and Dad to son Eric, Class of ’21. He currently serves as the Cadets’ battalion operations officer (S-3), which is considered one of the top three sponsoring officer slots in the Corps of Cadets. During his junior year, Eric took the initiative of starting a new club for his fellow Cadets. Called “Interact,” the organization is sponsored by the Rotary Club and shares many of the same goals.

Is it nature, or is it nurture?

While there are temptations to branch out their service offerings, as has been done by the other market leaders, the Bergers would rather continue their geographic expansion — primarily looking south and west — while seeking to always be on the cutting edge of the business’s technologies. “Our core is imaging,” noted Dean.

“We are technicians primarily, and we like to stick to our core.”

Today, and on every single day, Dynamic Mobile Imaging medical technologists make hundreds of calls to hundreds of residences, servicing hundreds of customers across a wide swath of the country. While Dynamic Mobile Imaging continues to hit on all cylinders, it bears scant resemblance to the company that was nearly done in by a golden retriever who loved to shred the mail. Those days are long past. And while they may have been disconcerting, the Bergers’ faith was unshaken.

They stuck with it, even in the scariest of circumstances. “At the time, I believed in what we were doing,” said Debbie. “And we had family — we had each other. And that gave us confidence.”

And while that family has been reduced by the loss of Clara’s husband, it is obvious that they still have each other. And they still have that confidence.

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— E D U C AT I O N —

— L E A R N ING —

THE ROPES BABSON COLLEGE

MIT LOCATION

Babson Park, Mass.

(Near Boston)

RANK

1

PER YEAR COST

$52,600

LOCATION

Boston RANK

2

PER YEAR COST

$53,800 ENROLLMENT

4,600

ENROLLMENT

2,400 Students gain real-world experience through the Babson Consulting Alliance program and hone their international business skills through the school’s Global Management program.

At MIT’s Martin Trust Center for Entrepreneurship, the student venture accelerator provides a capstone opportunity for entrepreneurs that prepares them to hit escape velocity and launch into the real world.

INDIANA UNIVERSITY

RANK

3

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LOCATION

LOCATION

Bloomington

Ann Arbor

PER YEAR COST

$36,500** ENROLLMENT

RANK

4

PER YEAR COST

$51,200** ENROLLMENT

33,300 Housed in the Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation, the Institute for Entrepreneurship & Competitive Enterprise (IECE) is an initiative established to enhance the entrepreneurial mindset across the entire Indiana campus.

30,300 Nearly 5,000 students — 10 percent of the total undergraduates — are involved in entrepreneurship activities. The university hosts 15 centers and programs, over 30 entrepreneurial student organizations, 68 classes, multiple pitch competitions, and two accelerators.

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

RANK

5

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA LOCATION

LOCATION

Berkeley

Philadelphia

PER YEAR COST

$43,300** ENROLLMENT

30,900

Features dedicated entrepreneurial pathway (Haas Program), as well as an engineering-specific regimine (Sutardja Center).

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6

PER YEAR COST

$55,700 ENROLLMENT

10,200

A dozen different programs/competitions provide seed money to aspiring entrepreneurs at the oldest business school in the nation.

U.S. News and World Report is famous for its highlyregarded ranking of colleges and universities.

It drilled down to rank the best undergraduate schools for aspiring entrepreneurs.

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS

RANK

7

BAYLOR UNIVERSITY LOCATION

LOCATION

Austin

Waco, Texas

PER YEAR COST

$38,200 ENROLLMENT

RANK

8

PER YEAR COST

$47,400 ENROLLMENT

40,800

14,200

UT-Austin offers a wide and deep range of opportunities, including game development specialization, a community development clinic and a social entrepreneurship and non-profits program.

Baylor has been dedicated to entrepreneurship for over four decades.

Through its Baugh Center, the school has become a national leader on issues at the intersection of entrepreneurship and public policy.

UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA

UNIVERSITY OF UTAH

RANK

9

LOCATION

LOCATION

Chapel Hill

Salt Lake City

PER YEAR COST

$36,200** ENROLLMENT

RANK

10

PER YEAR COST

$30,100** ENROLLMENT

19,200

With an all-elective curriculum, students at the Kenan-Flagler School, choose a path within the Entrepreneurship Concentration: Founder, Funder, or Growth Executive/Intrapreneur.

24,700 Programs, which are open to all students, include workshops, networking events, business-plan competitions, startup support, innovation programs, graduate seminars, scholarships, and community outreach.

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

RANK

11

NEW YORK UNIVERSITY

LOCATION

LOCATION

Los Angeles

New York City

PER YEAR COST

$58,200 ENROLLMENT

RANK

12

PER YEAR COST

$58,300 ENROLLMENT

19,900 USC’s Technology Commercialization Initiative is dedicated to those seeking to take their high-tech ideas to market. Its Venture Fund makes awards ranging from $25,000 to $50,000.

26,700 NYU’s Mark and Debra Leslie Entrepreneurs Lab is a 6,800 sq-ft space where entrepreneurs from across the school can connect, collaborate, and explore how to turn ideas and inventions into startups.

**Indicates out-of-state cost

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LOCAL PROGRAMS OF N I V E R SI T Y OF R ICH MON D’s Robbins U School of Business has its Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program and offers an interdisciplinary academic program, as well as other events and activities to enhance experiential learning for its students.

The academic program, currently administered as a track in the Management Department, includes relevant courses from business disciplines, as well as arts and sciences, leadership studies, and law.

The Entrepreneurship Club attracts a large number of students from across campus. The club engages in a variety of activities to help students engage with successful entrepreneurs and learn how to combine resources to create new value. As an example, the Entrepreneurship Club co-sponsors the annual Business Pitch Competition.

ASH I N GTON & LE E ’s J. Lawrence Connolly Center W for Entrepreneurship is the heart of the university’s innovation movement. The school started a program in 2019 that offers a minor in entrepreneurial studies for students who are not business majors.

The center also offers an annual Entrepreneurship Summit, which is a two-day conference sponsored by the Connolly Center. It began in 2012 with a program attended by 32 alumni and 48 students. Last year, more than 125 alumni and 250 students registered for the event. The Summit attracts students and faculty from across all disciplines as well as alumni from a variety of industries.

The center also hosts the Business Plan Competition, which takes place at the conclusion of both the fall and winter terms and recognizes innovative student business plans. The program was launched in 2010 and quickly became wildly popular.

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HE VCU SCHOOL OF BUSINESS offers a Bachelor T of Science degree with a concentration in management and entrepreneurship.

Student managers carry out their administrative roles by handling such duties as preparing and administering budgets, planning and directing operations, and coordinating employee’s activities. The management/ entrepreneurship concentration empowers students to develop an entrepreneurial mindset and the complementary skill set needed to provide creative solutions for new ventures and existing organizations.

Students gain knowledge of entrepreneurial and design concepts useful for questioning assumptions, exploring alternatives, and developing creative solutions. The curriculum stresses digital literacy, inquiry, and business fundamentals.

T he UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA offers a minor in entrepreneurship. While administratively hosted within the McIntire School of Commerce, the Entrepreneurship Minor connects entrepreneurship efforts among multiple schools at the University of Virginia through a coordinated and collective curriculum. Within the minor, students select one of three concentrations: Technology Entrepreneurship, supported by coursework at the School of Engineering & Applied Science; Social Entrepreneurship, supported by coursework at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy; or Innovation in Business, supported by coursework at the McIntire School of Commerce. More courses are offered by the School of Architecture, the College of Arts & Sciences, and the Curry School of Education.

OF NOTE

Virginia colleges, universities embrace entrepreneurialism

I LLI A M AN D MA RY’S A LA N B. MILLER W E N T R E P R EN E UR SH IP CE N TE R members develop their entrepreneurial thinking toolkit through a wide variety of different avenues. Through its Coaches Network, dedicated office space, internships, and funding opportunities, W&M students have tremendous ways to grow into their entrepreneurial best.

The Center hosts over 100 events per year to get the entrepreneurial gears turning. From weekly events like Rocket Pitch to semester-long projects like the Innovation Challenge, the Center has something for everybody.

I R G I N I A TE CH ’s Apex Center for Entrepreneurs V inspires and empowers students, faculty, and alumni to turn their passion, purpose, and ideas into action.

Its portfolio of programs is inter-disciplinary and provides any Hokie, from any major and any year, the opportunity to engage in all phases of the entrepreneurship and innovation process, and encourages alumni to interface with the next generations of entrepreneurs.

A D F OR D U N IVE R SITY offers an entrepreneurship R concentration as part of its rigorous undergraduate business programs. Students hoping to concentrate on this area must complete the school’s core curriculum as well as the business core curriculum (nine courses).

They then must complete eight courses in the entrepreneurship concentration, including such offerings as Entrepreneurship and Innovation; Owning and Managing a Business; Leadership and Motivation; and Managing New Venture Creation.

Additionally, students in the concentration have the opportunity to pursue studies in such areas as the economics of entrepreneurship, business consulting, professional selling, and market researching.

AMPTON UNIVERSITY’s Center for Applied H Economics and Entrepreneurship prepares students for independent leadership. Individuals seeking to develop entrepreneurial skills should obtain an understanding and appreciation for general business practices and procedures in order to establish an effective knowledge base for: (1) Leadership opportunities; (2) Business ownership; and (3) Employment in high growth industries.

Degrees with both minors and majors in entrepreneurship are offered.

AMES MAD ISON UNIVERSITY’s Gilliam Center J for Entrepreneurship promotes entrepreneurship on and off campus to empower individuals and transform lives. Housed in the College of Business, the Center supports interdisciplinary programs within colleges and multidisciplinary collaborations across campus through active participation, marketing support, academic and entrepreneurial networks, and grant funding.

In the fall of 2018, the largest gift in JMU’s history named the JMU Center for Entrepreneurship in honor of leader and philanthropist Leslie Flanary Gilliam ’82.

IRGINIA STATE UNIVERSITY’s Center for V Entrepreneurship is part of the Reginald F. Lewis College of Business. The school offers a minor in entrepreneurial studies that may be earned by taking six required courses. The center’s mission is to provide high-quality research, entrepreneurship education, and services that spur innovation and small business opportunity throughout Central & Eastern Virginia. The center has a specific emphasis on assisting Richmond/Petersburg/ Fort Lee’s large minority, military and veteran, and student populations with launching and operating successful, socially-responsible ventures that lead to economic growth for those regions.

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— INTEREST —

Want to tickle the spot in your brain that is itching for some entrepreneurial wisdom? Here is our list of some entrepreneurial “must-reads.” But these books aren’t the “how-to” reads that you might expect. These books were chosen for their cleverness and their range.

“SA MSUN G R ISIN G ” (Geoffrey Cain) is an audacious corporate biography about the South Korean conglomerate that traces it from its foundation as a small dried-fish and vegetable trading company to its transformation into the electronics behemoth it is today. “Essential reading for the 21st century . . .

Samsung Rising is a masterclass in business bio-writing — one that reads like a cyberpunk thriller crackling with circuitry, lit by neon and fueled by soju.” — Asia Times

“ G O O D TO G R E AT ” (Jim Collins) “Collins asks the question: why do some companies become great, while others languish at merely good? Is it random chance, or is there some common thread among the companies that achieve greatness? Jim Collins is both a great researcher and an engaging writer, and he illustrates lessons about greatness through fascinating case studies.”

— Business Insider

................................................

“ G R I T ” (Angela Duckworth) “Drawing on multiple studies, Duckworth — a University of Pennsylvania professor of psychology — shook up the education world in 2016 with this book that proves that to succeed you need not only talent, but a blend of passion and persistence and the grit to persevere in order to accomplish your long term goals. Without your grit, your small business may never survive.” — Forbes

“OUTL IERS : THE STORY O F S UCCESS ” (Malcolm Gladwell) looks at individuals who have achieved such a high level of success that they lie outside the limits of normal expectations and experiences. He probes to find the reasons and drivers that fuel such levels with an emphasis on their hard work and innovation. “In the vast world of nonfiction writing, Malcolm Gladwell is as close to a singular talent as exists today...Outliers is a pleasure to read and leaves you mulling over its inventive theories for days afterward.” — New York Times Book Review ................................................

“THE FIFTH DIS CIP L IN E: T H E ART & P RACTICE OF THE L EARN IN G ORGAN IZATIO N ” (Pere M. Senge) “Forget your old, tired ideas about leadership. The most successful corporation will be something called a learning organization.”

— Fortune Magazine

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................................................ “ T H E 7 H A B I T S O F H I G HLY E F F E CT I V E P E O P L E : P OWER FUL L E SS O N S I N P E R S O N A L C H A N G E ” (Stephen R. Covey) Stephen R. Covey has been recognized as one of Time magazine’s 25 most influential Americans, and was an internationally respected leadership authority, family expert, teacher, organizational consultant, and author. His books have sold more than 25 million copies in 38 languages, and The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People was named one of the two most influential books of the 20th century by CEO magazine. — Forbes

— INTEREST —

Great and Powerful, Indeed Businessmen, as portrayed on the silver screen Lately, in the absence of sports (played live, anyway), many have turned to watching movies. While catching some of these flicks, particularly the older ones, one might be intrigued by the treatment of businessmen.

O

ne picture comes immediately to mind, as it shows binary depictions: “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Those of you familiar with the film know that businessman George Bailey, the protagonist, is perhaps the finest character ever to grace the silver screen. Businessman Mr. Potter, George’s antagonist, is a core of evil wrapped in a mantle of greed. At one point, George calls Mr. Potter “nothing but a scurvy little spider.”

“It’s a Wonderful Life” is about a man coming to appreciate the gift of life — of his very birth. But in pitting George’s yin against Potter’s yang (or is that vice-versa?), it also plays into the idea of stereotyping business people into one camp or the other.

And that is but a single movie in a sea of celluloid that does the same thing.

There are other examples of the broad-brush painting of business people. Take 1941’s “Citizen Kane,” which lost out in the Best Picture race to the quite forgettable “How Green Was My Valley.”

Orson Wells’s masterpiece depicts Kane as a conniving, adulterous jerk. He is a man so evil, that greed is his most endearing quality (that, and his love for his sled, Rosebud).

Two years earlier saw the release of “The Wizard of Oz.” While that flick included some passing depictions of businessmen, including the representatives of the Lollipop Guild, the true commercial titan in that flick is the Wizard himself. It is he who sparks the most intrigue.

The Wizard checks off so many boxes. For instance, he (literally) flies into Oz as a complete stranger and, in a short period of time, is running the place. While how he accomplishes that feat is unclear, what is certain is that he’s a great manager. To wit, he has happy employees (singing while buffing individuals made

of tin or stuffing those composed of straw). He also has happy customers, whom he delights while shorting them on what he’d promised to deliver. The Scarecrow remains a dummy even with his new diploma. Why? Because he settled for an unearned scrap of parchment instead of a college education. Same goes for the Tin Man with his cheesy clock and the Lion’s gaudy medal.

The Wizard shows pure genius in how he tends to his competition. First, he accomplishes a marketer’s dream when he successfully has the Witch of the West branded as “wicked.” (Of course, her tossing firebombs and skywriting scary messages did nothing to offset that perception.)

Second, he cleverly plots her demise by tasking Dorothy and Company to “Bring me the broomstick of the Wicked Witch of the West,” when he has no doubt that there is but one way to do so. Third, he successfully outsources the most unpleasant of tasks to a third party, providing compensation, in kind, that is nowhere near congruent to the thoroughness and value of the work provided.

The Wizard might be at his canny best near the end of the movie. Unmasked as a fraud, he quickly pivots his brand into that of an amiable old gent. The people of Oz, rather than feeling bamboozled, embrace this new creation. Meanwhile, this trickster flies off in his hot-air balloon, ditching Dorothy. And the witch’s broom? Well, it is in his possession. Who knows how he can put that to use on an unwitting American public. But, given his slyness (and success) in Oz, it is quite likely that it will go toward getting him out of the carnival business and into something that is quite big, indeed.

Like maybe getting live sports back on the air.

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— INTEREST —

Greatest Inventions of All-Time We’ve come a long way, and mankind continues to make advances in how it works, plays, and lives. The previous two millennia have been filled with such improvements. But, what are the most important ones?

We took a crack at identifying the top individual invention/innovation for each of the past 20 centuries. You might not fully agree with our selections, but at least they are food for thought.

CENTURY

32

INVENTION

WHY IT’S THE TOPS

1st

Bookbinding

Allowed people greater access to the written word. Replaced scrolls.

2nd

Paper

Gave those folks who had invented bookbinding something with which to bind all of those books. Replaced papyrus.

3rd

Constitutio Antoniniana

Granted full Roman citizenship to all free men in the Roman Empire. Seen as the start of universal suffrage.

4th

Stirrup

A boon for all things horse, as it kept the rider from falling from his mount.

5th

Anglo-Saxon Runes Alphabet

The foundation for what became the modern English language.

6th

Anno Domini Calendar System

Gave us our current dating system, including names for June (Junius), July (Julius) and August (Augustus). Did you know there is no Year 0?

7th

Paper Money

Completely changed the face of barter. Folding money made those coins seem cheap.

8th

The Heavy Plow

Another great agricultural advance that greatly increased cultivated acreage, though the oxen weren’t happy.

9th

Gunpowder/Algebra

The one led to a revolution in the way war was waged. The other led to a revolution in how math was waged.

10th

Hops-Based Beer

The marriage of hops and the brewing process gave us the elixirs we savor to this very day.

11th

Canon of Medicine

For centuries, it was the go-to guide for physicians and other healers.

12th

Vertical Windmills

The first “green” energy producer built by man. Sorry to all you Dutchmen out there, they first popped up in England, France, and Flanders.

13th

Optical Lenses

Led to the introduction of eyeglasses, telescopes, cameras, and a vast array of other optical inventions.

14th

Three-Field Crop Rotation

Prevented cropland depletion and remains a force in today’s agriculture processes.

15th

Gutenberg Movable-Type Press

This innovation finally brought literature, primarily bibles, to the masses.

16th

Bottled Beer/Flush Toilet

Talk about convenience on both sides of the equation. Now one never had to leave the castle.

17th-Tie

Newton: Gravity and Calculus

Perhaps the smartest man to walk our planet, Sir Isaac singlehandedly redirected the fields of math and physics.

17th-Tie

The United States Constitution

Mimicked by many, perfected by but one, it is the greatest legal document ever devised

18th

The Steam Engine

Widely regarded as the invention that kick-started the Industrial Revolution.

19th

The Telephone

Although what we call a “phone” today bears scant resemblance to Alexander Graham Bell’s invention, his is what started it all.

20th

Penicillin

Likely the greatest medical advancement of all time, this drug has saved millions of lives since its introduction.

21st

TBD

Genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, and 3-D printing have the current edge, but there’s still a long way to go.

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Life Comes At You Fast.

Get Innovating.

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Call us at 804-708-9530 or email marketing@benedictineschools.org Also, don’t forget to join your respective alumni association:

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