Several recent articles have lauded the success of Ottawa-based Bridgewater Systems. With skyrocketing revenues, a growing market, and money in the bank, the firm’s prospects have never been better. The street appears to love the story. But it was a much more difficult story to sell in 2003, with one notable exception.
Bridgewater was founded in 1997, one of many Newbridge spinouts, a graduate if you will of the Terry Matthews school of stellar startups. The first few years were bumpy as the firm struggled to find its place in the evolving IP telecom marketplace. Matters were made worse in 2000 when its main benefactor, Newbridge, was sold to Alcatel transferring in the process its equity position in Bridgewater. It can safely be assumed that tiny Bridgewater was not atop of the French behemoth’s list of priorities.
At one point, Bridgewater’s board of directors seriously contemplated abandoning the telecom market altogether. They hired Toronto-based Derek Smyth as CEO and tasked him with levering his extensive software experience to move Bridgewater into the enterprise marketplace. But it did not take long for Mr. Smyth to conclude that enterprise markets were not the answer. He quickly returned Bridgewater to the telecom marketplace and focused instead on improving the firm’s sales and marketing effectiveness. Over the next year company revenues and prospects began to improve. Unfortunately, adversity was just around the corner again when in 2003 the commuting weary Mr. Smyth made the difficult decision to leave Bridgewater to join venture-capital firm Edgestone Partners in Toronto. The board immediately set out to find a seasoned CEO to navigate the next leg of the company’s journey. Armed with a promising market, a team of 65 motivated employees and revenues approaching $10mm the board was optimistic that it could recruit an ‘A’ player to the organization.
One can never be certain how the candidate market will respond to a given company/opportunity and surprises are not uncommon. In this instance, despite the company’s apparent promise and momentum, the North American candidate market yawned at the opportunity. Some executives dismissed Bridgewater’s technology as ‘too niche’, others argued that the breakthrough markets would never materialize while yet others scoffed that big-name competitors would ultimately destroy the firm. Still other candidates did not want to move to Ottawa or even commit to the commute. In the end, a great many of the targeted so-called ‘A’ candidates, the proven winners who had taken similar businesses to their new heights, declined. Even those who expressed interest did so skeptically, needing to be convinced. And while the board worked hard to educate them, several of these candidates turned down the opportunity after conducting their due diligence.
And then a certain individual raised his hand. Ed Ogonek was known and respected by several board members having turned-around Ottawa-based start-up Akara and sold it to Ciena. As a condition of that transaction Mr. Ogonek committed for a period to a senior role in Ciena making him unavailable to Bridgewater at the outset of the search. But as the search proceeded, circumstances changed at ever-changing Ciena and Mr. Ogonek expressed interest in Bridgewater. What made him different from almost every other high calibre candidate was the potential he immediately saw in the firm and his confidence that he could help realize that potential. Such certainty in a sea of naysayers, refreshing though it was, made him at the time either prescient or delusional. The firm’s stellar performance under his subsequent leadership has answered that question in no uncertain terms.
Bridgewater’s success can be attributed to many factors. These include market foresight, innovative technologies, the steadfast vision of founder/CTO Russ Freen, savvy positioning, and skillful execution. Bridgewater is also a Paul Masson story of ‘no wine before its time’. The company persevered long enough for its market and technology stars to align, much in the same way that they have at another decade-old Newbridge 'dog-to-darling' spinout, Dragonwave. But make no mistake this is also a story of good leadership, of the decisions made and the steps taken by the last two CEOs, especially those of one individual who could see the opportunities that so many others could not…and knew what to do about it. Hats off to Ed Ogonek and everyone at Bridgewater! They deserve all of the good fortune and accolades they receive..
Robert Hebert, PhD is Managing Partner of Toronto-based executive search firm StoneWood Group (www.stonewoodgroup.com). He can be reached @ rhebert@stonewoodgroup.com or at 416.365.9494x777
Looking for a dynamic HR role? Stay away from the entrepreneurial tech sector.
January 1, 2012
In a recent survey of HR graduate students, the technology sector rated among the most coveted destinations to ply their trade. It is viewed as a world of innovative people, technologies and approaches where progressive talent management, OB/OD and related HR work awaits.
The Cry to Replace RIM's CEOs – A Truly Dumb Idea
October 13, 2011
Leaving aside the recent service outages, the shellacking of RIM in the press is a tad surreal to behold.
For the few Luddites not familiar with the firm, Research in Motion is the successful Canadian smart phone pioneer with revenues of $20bb per year, no debt and cash in the bank. They manufacture products that remain popular around the world and continue to boast technological innovations unmatched by any competitor. Their most recently launched smart phone devices have been well reviewed and appear to be selling well. And though the company's first version of its new tablet, the Playbook, has room for improvement, it is a promising piece of technology.
Context: When Companies Confuse Start-up Experience for Start-up Experience
October 7, 2011
I had the occasion this week to chat with an entrepreneur still licking his wounds from a stalled startup venture. His tale is a reminder of how easily companies misunderstand organizational context when hiring. For startups, such a misunderstanding can be fatal.
The CEO Hiring Practices at HP
October 3, 2011
The press tells us that Hewlett Packard is the largest technology company in the world with revenues of $126bb. Impressive as those numbers may appear, they do not seem to impress HP's Board of Directors. You see they do not believe that any of the firm's 324,600 employees are capable of leading it. Not one person. Not this year or last year when CEO changes were made. In fact they were apparently not capable six years ago or even eleven years ago when CEO changes were also made. But before summarily indicting the firm's succession planning/leadership development programs, it is useful to consider the track record of the external candidates who were considered better choices than the firm's internal candidates. This analysis decidedly shifts the spotlight to the competence of Hewlett Packard's Board of Directors.
The Folly of Believing What You Read
September 19, 2011
Some time ago we posted a blog titled ‘So you REALLY want to be a CEO?' which looked at the human costs of climbing the upper rungs of the management ladder. The blog was based on a series of articles immediately following the ‘resignation' of Pfizer CEO Jeff Kindler. All of these articles presented a cautionary tale of life in the fast lane, the long hours, the extensive global travel, and the shareholder pressures that accompany an uncooperative stock price. They also spoke poignantly of the physical and emotional toll that such unrelenting pressure took on the Pfizer CEO who eventually resigned in order to attend to his family and health. As it turns out however, much of this narrative may not have been true
Before sending us your resume (and then getting frustrated with us) ask who we work for
July 25, 2011
A friend of mine is a trustee in bankruptcy. As his title suggests, he and his firm serves those contemplating the ‘cleansing' process of personal bankruptcy. Potential customers compare service providers, select one, and then pay the chosen firm a fee to initiate and manage the ensuing process on their behalf. However, as soon as the relief-seeking customer signs on the dotted line, the trustee's allegiance shifts to the creditors for whom they then seek to maximize debt recovery. This shift in who works for whom must be a tad unsettling for people who already have a heap of problems and stress on their hands.
What Dating Services Can Teach Companies About Hiring
June 1, 2011
Executive-level hiring is a decidedly aspirational endeavor. Organizations idealize their workplace cultures, select for attributes that will fit into those romanticized environments, and then immerse unsuspecting hires into their ice-cold reality of their works-in-progress.
How to Survive a Startup - by Jill Ram
April 20, 2011
If you're an executive and you're thinking of joining a start-up, know what stage of a start-up to join. If the company is in its first year or so, don't expect to make significant changes. If you join after the company is somewhat established and mistakes have been made and learned from, you'll likely be more successful from the outset. If the founder has stepped aside, well, by then, the company is likely not considered a start-up anymore. It won't be functioning like a big company yet, and it won't have all the structure in place that it needs, but it will be run with more practicality and with less emotion. Timing is everything so choose it well.
Good News for the Old, Overqualified and Overlooked
March 18, 2011
It is expected that a significant percentage of the baby boomer generation will drive right past the Freedom 55 highway exit. For many the goal of early retirement will have proven to be unattainable hype, while for others the ups and downs of working will appear more attractive than the prospects of working up and down the local lawn bowling leadership board.
Pressed for time? Blame those Benedictine Monks.
February 24, 2011
It is among the principal reasons candidates tell us they are open to consider a change in employers. They are tethered to it, yet somehow it still flees. It is time, the most precious of resources, and for many harried executives they want some of it back.
Though their relationship with time may be strained, it is worth pointing out that it was not always this way. In his fascinating book Time Wars, Jeremy Rifkin chronicles the evolution of our modern relationship with time. He points out that in traditional agrarian and pastoral cultures, time was a very naturalistic notion maintained in cyclical, repetitive, biological and even sacred terms. The ‘passing of time' was cued via the changing seasons, biological lifecycles and lunar patterns and thus, the cadence and tempo of those societies were finely tuned to the cyclical rhythms of their physical environments. As he states, "Our early ancestors coveted the circle, perceiving time as eternal return, a ceaseless repetition of an endless cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth". Since these cyclical rhythms could neither be accelerated, nor altered, the cadence of these societies' was natural and harmonious.
The Unwanted CEO Job …and the one individual who thought otherwise
January 8, 2010