Mail: February 2002

Readers react to articles from the Inc 500 and November 2001 issues of Inc, Plus: Update on two trash-talking CEOs.

"I should be on the Inc 500." It's an assertion we hear all too often. Here the selection process is explained. If, after reading it, you still feel as if you should be on the list -- well, the deadline for the 2002 ranking is now only three months away.

Two Firsts, Both Disputed
This reader took issue with the "family first" policy covered in Susan Greco's article " Little Big Company" (Inc 500 issue), which profiles High Point Solutions, the fastest-growing company on the 2001 Inc 500 list. He also challenged High Point's top ranking.

I read with interest Susan Greco's story on High Point Solutions. I disagree, however, on two points. First, I find it interesting that the company has found success with a corporate credo of "family first, company second." Although it seems to have worked for High Point's founders, I believe that the success of my company allows me to take care of employees and, by extension, their families. Thus, the company comes first.

Second, I question the designation of High Point as the "fastest-growing private company in America." The company's sales grew 29,902% from 1996 to 2000, according to the article. Using the same mathematical formula, my company grossed $10 in 1996 and should gross $50,000 this year -- or 499,900% growth. If percentage growth is so significant, where is my award?

John D. Smith
President and CEO
Clever Covers Inc.
Orlando

The editor replies:
John, in many books your accomplishment is nothing short of heroic -- you got a business off the ground and have kept it running. But ah, it's a bit trickier to make the Inc 500 list than you seem to think. A business had to meet three criteria to be eligible for the 2001 Inc 500: it needed to be an independent, privately held U.S company; to have had sales of at least $200,000 in 1996, the base year; and to have a five-year operating history that included an increase in 2000 sales over 1999 sales. In other words, John, that 10 bucks you grossed in 1996 would have disqualified you -- and so would your current sales.

To give you an insight into our methodology: we choose to honor growth companies specifically because in recent decades they have been the engine of wealth and job creation. We set the base year at $200,000 in sales to distinguish between companies that have grown as a child's lemonade stand might, with sales bursting from $1 to $11 (for 1,000% growth), and companies that have a comparable growth arc in dollar terms that is way more impressive. Finally, we look at a five-year operating history to weed out companies that have stopped growing. We're not saying the companies on the list are perfect, but given their size, their sales growth is truly astonishing.

Director's Guilt
Sarah Gerdes's November Chief Exec column, " Board Stiff," attempts to debunk the myth of the infallible board member. This reader asserts that often a CEO is as blameworthy as his or her advisers.

At the height of the technology boom, board members were greedy, unqualified, and motivated by self-interest, according to your article. But, as I recall, CEOs of a similar ilk were not in short supply back then. The recent tech boom produced the worst crop of CEOs ever to grace the planet.

Leslie M. Tack
CEO
Santa Ana Laser Co.
San Francisco

Big Sky Carpetbagger
John Grossmann's November article " The Most Beautiful House in the World," about Tom Olivo's dream home, irked this reader.

Tom Olivo is just another person Californicating Montana. He has taken land once used to produce food for America and turned it into just another housing development for the out-of-state wealthy. Resources are consumed and, I suspect, a hell of a lot of pollution is produced in the name of one person's dream home. I believe that everyone needs a place to live, but that type of consumerism has nothing to do with needs.

C. A. Prewett
Owner
ESOM of Montana
Fishtail, Mont.

Olivo says that his flight has less to do with consumption than it does with inspiration -- especially for others.

No one could have predicted how our lives and priorities would change in the wake of September 11, 2001. I hope that this article will motivate others to pursue their professional dreams where life-work balance comes first.

Tom Olivo
President
Success Profiles Inc.
Bozeman, Mont.

He's Got a Wicket to Buy
In November's The Inc Life was a profile of Alabama elevator magnate Arthur P. Bagby III, whose fetish for the sport of croquet led him to spend $500,000 on a new lawn at his Birmingham home. This reader raises a mallet to that short piece, written by John Grossmann.

Arthur Bagby's lawn is a waste of both money and a page in your magazine. His story provides no value to subscribers who seek advice on how to create greater efficiency and productivity in their business -- or for that matter, to those seeking a more balanced life. If this CEO manages his business the way he does his personal projects, I question the future of his company.

Sasan Ehdaie
President
CatalystPlanning
Seattle

Durban Pioneer
"Start a Company, Save the World" was the title of a 1997 dispatch from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The consensus at that gathering was that the developing world needed to produce more entrepreneurs. As the elite jet to New York this month for the 2002 forum, a South African reader writes of the challenges he faces -- and of his will to keep trying.