What makes a company tick? The first in a series on this company.

• Author: Wiesner, Pat
• Position: Pat Wiesner - Company overview - Column

"SO, HOW LONG YOU BEEN RETIRED?" HE ASKED. WE WERE sitting at a table in a park in Deltaville, Va., along the shore of the Chesapeake Bay. It was a celebration of some sort and there were about 30 tables with some 10 people each and a bushel basket of freshly caught crabs.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

"About five years. How about you?" I said as I fumbled through the process of cracking open a crab. (Not much meat on those suckers.)

"Me? Probably about the same," he answered. "I understand you were in the publishing business. Had a publishing company. That right?"

"Yeah."

"Ever stop to ask yourself what were the best decisions you made over the years?" I could feel that this guy was going to drill a hole in me, but I lucked out.

Our talk was interrupted by an announcement that they were going to launch a replica of a wooden boat used by John Smith to explore the Chesapeake in the 1700s. The entire crowd moved to the launch site, and I never had to talk to the guy again.

But he made me think. Ever since that brief conversation I have been trying to make a list of what I would call my best decisions and ideas over a 20-year period as the owner and top dog at what became a mid-sized business.

So over the next few of these columns I will be answering the man's question about what some of our (everybody in the company) best ideas were and how the character of the company was established.

Obviously the first decision I made was to go into business for myself. And I can't begin to tell you how pleased I am that I did it. It's difficult to explain how it feels to be excitingly successful one year and just a few threads away from disaster the next. Having been through a number of these cycles and survived, I can tell you that it is not for everyone, but at the same time it is for anyone. You just have to be the sort who doesn't think about what will happen if it doesn't work, and then throw everything into it to make it work. Every little success will make you work harder.

I had worked for a number of magazine publishing companies in both editorial and sales positions ranging to the VP and publisher level. I knew the business well but wasn't any kind of genius. My previous job (president) of a small publishing company had ended in a discussion with the owner that went something like:

"You're fired!"

"You can't fire me, I quit!"...