Playing Great Defense is a Part of the Game
Andrew Cagnetta, CBI, Transworld Business Brokers, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

As my term as IBBA Chairman comes to an end this Fall, I reflect back not only on the past year but also on the time spent as Vice Chair. It has been a long two years for the IBBA and its members. Our economy, industry and association is currently weathering a downturn that started sometime in late 2007. Prior to the softening and then near collapse of our economy, our profession experienced growth and prosperity, which of course translated to success for our association. However, the last two years have presented some challenges to us all.

Much like football, the growth years before 2007 were like playing offense. It was fun and exhilarating to be a part of our leadership team because we could make plays and take risks. The IBBA experienced growth in revenues, attendance and membership, which led to the launch of new programs, an expanded offering of educational courses and lavish receptions at conferences.

Once the economy turned, we switched gears and began to play defense. While many of our own businesses struggled, we faced similar challenges with the IBBA. Being Chairman during these changing times has not been an easy task. We had to right size our programs to protect our investments and minimize losses, but in the end I feel we made prudent and tough decisions to preserve our association while serving our membership.

As I have relayed to many of my entrepreneurial clients, these challenging times shape our leaders and eventually strengthen our business foundations. As Mark Thorsby, IBBA President, regularly reminds me, we must make sure that “the main thing is the main thing.” To that end, we have all changed the way we do business in order to survive, and we have done the same at the IBBA. Across the industry, we’ve preserved the best in our models and nurtured the basics that support our core businesses. And I think the best leaders and business brokers will survive and thrive as we take the ball back and transition back to offense.

Luckily, I think our days of playing defense are just about over. As in football, there is a transition from defense to offense handled by the special teams. Dear membership, we have a great special teams unit coming on the field. Edwin Lee as our new chairman in 2010 is symbolically perfect for this situation. He is our first Chair from outside the United States (Edwin lives in China), as well as our youngest to hold the position to date. Just like on special teams, you need brash, fast and “outside the box” thinking on special teams to be successful. Edwin’s youth and international influence will bring fresh perspectives and approaches to delivering our members’ value.

Beyond the symbolism, Edwin is very talented, and a great guy, to have as our leader. Don’t think his approach and understanding of our industry will be completely foreign. He is a University of Southern California graduate (BS and Masters) and is also a CPA and CFA – he knows our domestic industry. Believe me when I say that no one is better prepared to be our Chairman and special teams leader. I look forward to assisting him on my last year on the Board.

Whether we are playing defense, offense or bringing in the special teams, we must all realize that in the end, we are on the same team. Your involvement with the IBBA is more important now than ever. To be successful in this game (industry), we must ban together to put our playbook in order and share the keys to winning. I urge everyone to share our resources, influence our policy makers and be a part of winning team as we shift our focus in this rebuilding economy. Let’s all get ready to play offense again!

Andy can be reached at ac@tworld.com.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 6th, 2009 at 8:47 am and is filed under Misc. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.