Mail

This month's letters to the editor.

Off the Market, Back in Business

As a publisher, I loved Bo Burlingham's feature about the sale of Inc. [The Anatomy of a Sale--Ours, September]. The energy from Inc.'s new owner is already evident in the pages of the magazine. I read it from cover to cover, and it's the best issue in years.

I also enjoyed the story about Bill Strickland [What One Man Can Do]. I have heard him speak and read lots of other articles about him. None captured the power of Strickland and his vision like John Brant's piece.

Bobby Stark
President
Parthenon Publishing
Nashville

I'm glad Inc. was bought by someone who will keep it the way it is. I have been a subscriber for more than a year now, and it's the most worthwhile magazine subscription I have ever gotten. I'm 22 years old and attended Penn State for only two years before joining my family's company. Not completing my business degree left me with many holes in my understanding of business. Inc. has given me the knowledge to handle situations and conversations that I find myself in on a daily basis. Keep up the great work.

Brandon Jadlocki
Equipment supervisor
Reed Supply Co.
Huntingdon, Pa.

I'd like to wish everyone at Inc. magazine good luck with their new owner. I read Inc. through the '80s while starting my own business. I stopped reading it and most business magazines in the '90s when the dot-com nonsense appeared to be rotting everyone's brains. Inc. seems to have come back around to being a useful source of knowledge again. I really hope it stays that way.

Gary H. Lucas
Project manager
Dynatec Systems
Hightstown, N.J.

I don't understand how you can publish the details about the sale of the magazine. It seems to me that you included information in the story that violates the confidentiality agreements that bind all parties in a transaction such as this. Without releases from all parties concerned, it seems that you have crossed the line. Yes, there is freedom of the press, but I don't think that grants you the right to divulge information that you gained as an insider. I'd really appreciate your justification for this.

Stuart R. Jordan
Managing partner
Stuart R. Jordan Consulting
Norwalk, Conn.

Bo Burlingham responds: I agree there would be a serious ethical question had I divulged information that I had gained as an insider after signing a confidentiality agreement. In fact, I was not an insider, and I signed no confidentiality agreement. Neither, for that matter, did editor in chief John Koten. The information I included in the article was either public knowledge or freely given to me by the people I interviewed. Did my sources violate their confidentiality agreements? I don't think so, but you'd have to ask them. Generally, such agreements are designed to protect the buyer. In this case, the buyer--Joe Mansueto--waived his protection so that our readers might hear the full story of the sale and learn its lessons.

Ojai Ovation

Having once lived in Ojai, I'm not surprised that the Ojai Valley Inn's management team had such an innovative and caring solution to its renovation dilemma [Rebuilding Shangri-la, September]. Ojai is not just a place; it is a special community of people who not only care for each other but are committed to preserving their serene environment. Even residents who have never set foot on the property are very proud of the inn. Now they have a new reason to feel that way.

Linda Bowen
Sales representative
Weichert Realtors
Jersey City

Cheering for the Competition

My firm has experienced the "free fall," as Norm Brodsky calls it, that happens when demand goes up and the number of competitors skyrockets [The More, the Merrier, September]. This considerable change has caused us, like Brodsky, to evaluate our place in the market.

Like Brodsky, I think the rush of new competition is exciting. The entrance of competitors has educated more potential clients about our services and has given us more business.

David Sonde
President
The Winvale Group
Washington, D.C.

Maybe Norm Brodsky doesn't have as many competitors as he thinks he does--maybe he isn't really in the document-destruction business. He appears to have developed an encyclopedic knowledge of what needs to be destroyed and what does not. He knew the hospital was destroying many more documents than necessary when the hospital's compliance officer did not. Document destruction is an easily entered, easily commoditized business in which it is a struggle to get premium prices for extra services. But if Brodsky started looking at his company as a regulatory compliance business that offers document destruction, he might be able to negotiate better prices for his services.

Michael Schatzki
Principal
Negotiation Dynamics
Far Hills, N.J.