Letter from the President

John Hathaway-Bates
President & Executive Director

Please Note: The "Letter from the President" evolved in 2001 from the "Tomorrow's News" that we had published in The Business Forum Calendar & Update since 1984.  It started out as a simple way for me to convey the benefits from conversations I have with leaders in Government, Academia and Business and the potential problems that I learn about during my occupation as the Moderator of Think Groups for The Business Forum.  However, since we began publishing on-line it has over the years become a personal "Bantering" from someone (me) surrounded day by day in the endeavor of Change. Usually it is whimsical in nature, and nothing more than my viewpoints on what I see happening around me, or to me, on a daily basis.  The "Letter from the President" therefore, has little or nothing to do anymore with The Business Forum, it is just me sharing my thoughts, concerns and ideas with anyone who cares to read them.  Please feel free to publish it or pass it on.

Over the last few weeks a few of the original partners in The Business Forum and I have talked about exactly what we have been doing for the last quarter of a Century.  Then I called some of our members and continued the conversation, and the funniest thing happened.  One of my Jewish friends for more than a decade explained to me that I was not a businessman in his eyes and that he saw me more as a Rabbi (and I am a High Anglican), a friend, a mentor and someone he could always call upon if life dealt him yet another "lemon”.

Another member told me that he had been a member all these years only because he knew that if and when something came up he had not had to face before; he knew that I would know someone who could put it right for him.

Another told me that she had only had three jobs in twenty years, and that just by knowing me had got her two of them.  Several people in fact told me that they stayed members out of gratitude because I had in one way or another helped them get the job that today supports their family.  Several people told me that they had saved their jobs by attending one of our forums and belatedly realized that they had a problem, luckily in time to solve it before they got canned.

Today I get emails from all over the world thanking me for things most of my friends take for granted.  For example, a chap in Yemen and another in Pakistan recently sent me an email thanking me for a white paper we had posted for IBM – and I realized that for some people, who do not live in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Newport Beach or Los Angeles where they can attend our Forums, we are the one way for them to stay up to date – not promoted by an in-house sales team.

Almost a thousand Universities from Australia to Latvia can today download our World Information site – without cost – and share it with their students.  God knows how many schools are doing it.  All paid for by the generosity of our members and at no cost to the students.  I have just recently been asked by Loyola University in Chicago if I would be prepared to give a lecture on Etiquette to graduate students, based upon the Etiquette of Formal & Business Dining we posted a couple of years ago - that is getting over 40,000 hits a month these days from all over the world!

So what have we actually created here with The Business Forum in twenty five years?  My partners (who have refused to allow us to post a profit for all that time, insisting that anything we made should be plowed back in) tell me we have created a trusted information source and a network of friends – our members and sponsors tell me that we have helped to create the greatest economy in the world in the Pacific States of America by bringing honest information and open discussions to the decision makers who built this world leading economic powerhouse.

My partners over the years, without whom I could have done nothing, and have helped me create this strange association range from an African American Buddhist woman to a Hindu woman, from a devout Catholic man to an orthodox Jew, from a Japanese American Architect to a Hispanic Civil Servant.  Name it, and we probably have one.  Also, when I started out, I wanted a cross section of professionals from the managing partners of two of the largest Law Firms in California, to the Senior Economist of one of California’s largest Banks, from one of America’s top 100 Interior Designers to the Chairman of an International Construction firm, from a Professor of Marketing to the Technology Transfer Officer of one of the world’s largest aerospace and defense contractors.  From the Human Resources Director of a major American University to the Head of Research & Development for a world famous aircraft company to the Controller & Treasurer of one of America’s largest newspapers.

We filled the ranks of our Partnership easily, but there were others who supported us who could not get a seat on the Partnership Board, from the General Manager of Los Angeles County to the Local Director for NASA, from the Chairman of one of the largest financial organizations in America to the Chairman of one of America’s largest Insurance companies.

So you ask why I am not a millionaire and The Business Forum a multinational corporation!

Roger Shultz (one of our original partners) put it best when he said “It is all a matter of trust – if you are in it for the money, your judgment will always be clouded by that fact and the results will suffer.” 

In a matter of a few months we shall celebrate our twenty fifth anniversary and the question is where do we go from here?  I have an idea, but I do not know if it will fly!

What we did back in the 1980’s everyone told us at the time was impossible, before we did it and if that idea was way out there then, the one I have now is clipping the outside of the Solar System.

So here goes, for what it is worth, and I am ready for the ridicule and laughter at my little dream.

What if I could get 5,000 decision makers from all over the world to join in our mission as members and promoters and each of them contributed $100 per year (tax deductible as a business expense of course) to cover the overhead and then agree that they would act as ambassadors and mission leaders for The Business Forum across the planet!

What if they then established their own networks, backed by The Business Forum, as we did back in the 1980’s to foster the spread of “unbiased information sourcing” to their peers?  The original partners paid thousands of dollars each, knowing that they would never see it come back to them - but that was a different time when "helping" others was important to us - often today (in a world of no trust, real estate investment, religious fundamentalism, growing nationalism, and IRA's people think differently and are to my mind less than people were back then) things are different today to say the least, but there are still people out there who care about the less fortunate and about the future I wish to believe.

What if these new Members we recruited were to build their own networks of decision makers and shared them with us, in the way back in the 1980’s all of my partners and friends shared their rolodexes with me and provided me with a personal introduction to their friends saying that they should get involved and that they could trust me? What sort of international network would we be able to build?

I know it all sounds a little quixotic, but why should it be impossible?  It would cost no one anything except a little time and the ability to trust us.   Let me give you some of the results that we have achieved in the last twenty five years and then ask you if you can see the benefit you might be able to add to our efforts and become part of something that just might increase the value of life for millions of people all over our planet.  Read them my friends and bear with me, the point I will make afterwards I think is important.

I commend The Business Forum for once again providing this important opportunity for the exchange of ideas and information.

Senator Barbara Boxer
The United States Senate

The Business Forum is clearly well recognized in the West Coast business community. It is clear that senior business people value the process.

Alan S. Reiher, Commissioner.
The State of Victoria, Australia

The Business Forum is unique on the West Coast for its ability to assemble a representative sample of the right people and engage them in commercial dialogue.

William H. Spuck, Program Director for Industry Affairs.
Jet Propulsion Laboratories

The Business Forum gives professionals a convenient way to network with their peers, exchange views on current trends, manage risk and identify opportunities to lower cost and improve the customer experience.

John Radford, State Controller.
State of Oregon
President: National Association of State Auditors, Controllers and Treasurers   

Nevada officials were amazed at the quality and level of contacts we gained from luncheons with The Business Forum.

Robert Schriver, Executive Director.
State of Nevada Commission on Economic Development

(We) are familiar with what you have accomplished sponsoring events that lead towards strengthening our economy ... and we support your efforts.

Robert Stark, Director.
NASA

Where else can I have access to so many people in the business community, network with my peers, hear world-class experts on subjects I need to keep up with and get a completely free first class lunch with absolutely no obligation afterwards, and you pay for my valet parking?

Matt Gonzales, National Facilities Director
Toyota Corporation

The Business Forum has the perfect vehicle for sourcing Business Information, a concept with 19th Century sophistication and charm, 20th Century acceptance and trust in the business community and 21st Century answers and solutions. A real class act!

Henry Guttentag, President
Sunway Products Inc.

We believe that The Business Forum participation and 'can do' attitude has bridged the gap of transferring space applications to commercial users.

Dean A. Farmer, Technology Transfer Program Manager.
Rockwell International Aerospace Corporation

I just wanted to thank you for yesterday's Forum at The Biltmore in Los Angeles. What can I say?  That you can get Adobe, IBM, Cisco, Intel, Microsoft, SSP, SolSoft and SafeNet to participate at the same table is unequalled. The only other organization I know of that could put those eight companies into the room to be asked questions, is the Justice Department, and they could only do it by legal means. Then you pack in 36 of the top CIO's and CISO's in Los Angeles County! Absolutely brilliant - and the food and the service were 5 stars to say the least!

Paul Rosenthal, Professor of Information Systems
California State University, Los Angeles

The Business Forum provides a compelling setting for sharing the latest pragmatic ideas and best practices for improving business operations and performance through Information Technology.  The emphasis on discussion and debate leads to very real insights for everyone involved.

Bob Kalka - Security Business Unit Executive
IBM - Tivoli Group

Just a quick word of thanks for the success of the recent business forums.  It has been a great opportunity for Cisco to discuss issues with customers on a face-to-face basis outside of the normal sales process. We've been using it as a focus group without the one-way mirror.  It lets us get frank feedback and opinions from some very hard to reach executives.

Kevin Flynn - Senior Manager, Security Technology
Cisco Systems, Inc.

Many thanks to my good friend John Hathaway-Bates for providing this energized forum for interacting with seriously interested IT leaders across multiple industries. 

The wealth of experiential knowledge gathered enabled us to refine our go-to-market plans and develop customer advisory contacts quickly and effectively.  I would recommend the Business Forum to my colleagues without hesitation."

Michael Lundblad - Director of Application Integration Management
Candle Corporation

The fact that you were able to arrange to have senior members of the Federal Bureau of Information, world class Internet and forensic experts and a cross section of leading Information Technology vendors together for five hours and openly and interactively address the issues affecting corporate managers, in a non-attribution environment, is unequaled. What is even more impressive, is that you replicated this program across half a dozen cities in four states over three months. We will be following up the contacts we developed through The Business Forum for months to come. Your program works!

Daniel T. Woolley, Vice President 
Memco Software Inc.

Time and scheduling does not permit me to attend as many of your meetings as I would like, but the few that I have been privileged to attend have been a tremendous value.  The presenters were knowledgeable and the wealth of information that is shared informally among meeting attendants is invaluable.

Violet M. Vernon
Aerojet Corporation

(Your meetings are) great opportunities to stay informed and up-to-date and to network with other professionals who face the same challenges we do.  Good resource."

Sandy Ends
Urban Education Partnership