EXITS & OPPORTUNITIES
BO BURLINGHAM IS AN INC. MAGAZINE editor-at-large who has been writing about entrepreneurship for three decades. I know him; we have crossed paths several times. But I know him much better from his writing, which includes a fine book called SMALL GIANTS: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big (I have to admit here, sheepishly, and maybe arrogantly at the same time, that when I read that book I wished we had been included).
The November issue of INC., has a long piece by Bo called “What Am I, If Not My Business?” which is about the challenges entrepreneurs face in leaving their companies when they retire or sell. He is in the midst of writing a book about the subject.
MADELINE’S SOLAR HOUSE
In 1980 a woman named Madeline Blakeley called me to ask me to look at a piece of land with her. She was a librarian in her early sixties whose husband had recently died. They had no children and had always lived in rented apartments. Her dream was to own a piece of property.
She had $7,000 in cash. A realtor showed her a lot priced at exactly that, but all her friends advised her against buying it. The property sloped steeply south to a beautiful little valley, a perfectly matched solar exposure and view. But it was right beside the main road from Vineyard Haven to Edgartown, which was very loud and loomed over the property. Except for that proximity and the fact that the whole lot was a hillside, it was a lovely site. There was nothing else on Martha’s Vineyard within her price range.
Sharing Ownership of the Future
One more post (which might become two) about employee ownership and workplace democracy before I veer off toward some related topics. . . .
Despite the Obama administration’s recent shift in emphasis from homeownership to rental housing (which I will discuss in detail in a future post), homeownership is at the very heart of the American dream. Owning our work, and finding meaning there, seems as essential to a good life as owning our homes. But although many of us own homes, far fewer own our work.
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JOHN ABRAMS is co-founder and CEO
of South Mountain Company and the author
of COMPANIES WE KEEP read more
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COMPANIES WE KEEP is published by Chelsea Green Publishing
read more -
