04 · The 4 cornerstones

Four stones I would rebuild a company — or a life — on tomorrow.

The quadrants are the instrument; the cornerstones are the ground. Every company I have built or fixed either stood on these four or did not stand for long.

I

Integrity

Say the number. Keep the word. Be the same man in the cockpit, the boardroom and the pew. A reputation is the only asset that cannot be recapitalized.

Test · would I say this to their face?

II

Stewardship

Nothing I manage is mine — not the capital, not the companies, not the time. I am the pilot, not the owner, and the aircraft goes back to the hangar in better shape than it left.

Test · better than I found it?

III

Courage

The turnaround, the hard hire, the project that “can't be done.” Fear is information, not instruction. Read the panel, then act, and act early enough that the correction is small.

Test · what am I avoiding?

IV

Gratitude

Forty-five years of positions, a family, a faith, and a view from the cockpit I did nothing to deserve. Gratitude is the fuel. Everything else is just flying.

Test · who did I thank today?

In practice

How the four show up in a company.

Integrity is the first board meeting, when the founder says the real cash position and I say the real terms.
Stewardship is investing in businesses worth running for twenty years, and carrying impact into every position rather than parking it in a separate fund.
Courage is the turnaround protocol: strategic thinking, capital restructuring, team enhancement, and a short-term plan nobody is comfortable with.
Gratitude is remembering, at the close, that the company was somebody's whole life before it was our position.

The four cornerstones are the spine of most of what I say from a stage or a lectern.

Speaking, sharing, teaching