Q&A with Finance student Christopher Hockley, the 2019 Excellence in Family Business Student
What is your earliest family business memory?
My earliest family business memory is when we were receiving an award in 2003 and we were taking a picture in our Tigard warehouse yard. I was only 6 years old and completely unaware of what the implications were. The only memory I have is how proud all my family members were about this achievement.
What is the best advice that you’ve received about family businesses?
The best advice that I have received about family business is that it takes a team to successfully run and maintain a company. Not only are family members involved in the success but the non-family managers and the employees are critical for long-term success. Having the right people in the right spots and using their strengths effectively is vital for a company to be able to survive.
What were your roles at Consolidated when you first started working there?
My first role at Consolidated was organizing our companies address books and verifying contact info for customers. I verified info for multiple territories for our outside salesman to make sure that what we had on the books was correct. I worked in this role as I was not able to operate a forklift being under 18 years old for a majority of the summer.
What advice do you have for other family business students?
Some advice that I have for other family business students is to soak up as much information as you can about multiple situations in many types and sizes of business’. You will find that situations from other companies are very helpful in analyzing and improving your own family business. Asking questions and using your resources effectively is also very important.
Which family business author, podcast, blog or books or resources do you recommend?
I would recommend “Managing the Family Business: Theory and Practice” by Thomas Zellweger. This book provides a tremendous amount of insight that can be applied to any family business. I took away a lot of key insights that I have shared with my family to improve our business.
What’s your favorite downtime activity?
My favorite downtime activity is playing basketball or reading books on many different topics. You can learn a lot by reading books that are related to business as well as other topics. Unwinding through physical activity after working in a stressful environment is also critical to maintain balance.
Key milestones in the history of Roby’s Furniture and Appliance
1950: Roby’s was created by Roby O’Bean in Tillamook, OR. The same year, Chet Lewis started CE Lewis appliance after coming back from WWII.
1994: Son, George Lewis purchased the appliance store from his father.
1995: George and his wife, Cindy, purchased Roby’s and merged the businesses together.
2001: Two more stores were purchased in Lincoln City and Newport, and George and Cindy’s kids joined the business. Since then, three more locations have been added bringing the total to six locations.
Present: Our big-picture milestone has, and always will be, bringing families together. It’s what we live for!
Q&A with Roby’s Furniture and Appliance, 2019 Excellence in Family Business finalist in the business renewal category.
What was the origin of the closed on Sunday “Out to Live” policy? How does this longstanding value support the success of Roby’s?
The Bible gave us the origin of being closed on Sundays — the day of rest. The retail world can consume you, but choosing a balanced life with a focus on gratitude, wins over more money any day … especially Sundays.
What are some of the keys to your long-term planning process?
Our long-term planning processes uses a lot of prayer, a calculation of risk over reward and a little luck. We always ask — how will this decision impact our personal lives and the lives of our team members. Our focus is building a business that everyone who has worked at Roby’s in the past and into the future can be proud of.
How has your long-term view of the business benefited the family?
Getting a computer system has allowed us to work from multiple locations … even from home. The computer system has allowed us to work smarter not harder when it comes to accounting, inventory and accountability. Also, a focus on owning our own properties has allowed us to create instant equity.
What’s the biggest challenge that has accompanied the substantial growth of Roby’s Furniture and Appliance?
A: The largest challenge facing the industry is a change in buying patterns by consumers. People are more comfortable than ever to purchase things online. The problem comes when delivery expectations are less than desired. With our website we can show customers our entire line, but narrow it down to in-stock items that can be quickly delivered the “Roby’s” way (it’s the best way) and from a local company that really cares about the customer experience. Because of this change, we understand A LOT about the digital world!
What did the Roby’s legacy business provide to the third generation as the starting point for growth and renewal?
My parents have taught us how to be compassionate business owners, not push overs, but understanding to other’s needs. They also have taught us how to calculate risks … and then how to pray like crazy.
What keeps you up at night?
Staying relevant in a changing world can keep me from falling asleep right way, but we do sleep on great mattresses, so its normally not that difficult.
Q&A with PING Golf / Karsten Manufacturing, 2019 Dean’s Award for Family Business Leadership
What is the best advice you’ve given the next generation?
The best advice we have given the next generation came to us from our grandparents. Our grandfather taught us in life as in golf we must “play the ball where it lies.” We need not bemoan or cast blame for erroneous shots, instead we strategize and make the best shot for the ultimate goal we can achieve in this moment. Sometimes that means making a safer shot away from the hole – one that avoids traps and other potential high score mistakes — but ultimately sets you up to win. And our grandmother gave us a list of verses by which she and Karsten ran the business, including, “[E]ncourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.” I Thess. 5:14b-15 (NIV).
Where was the last family vacation destination?
In September, many in our second, third and fourth generations spent a week at the famed Gleneagles golf course in Scotland for the Solheim Cup golf tournament. The Solheim Cup is the fruition of my grandparents’ dream to help grow and advance girls’ and women’s golf, and has become one of the premier competitions in all of golf. We had a wonderful time not only supporting the tournament and meeting with golf industry leaders, but also golfing, visiting a castle, doing archery and experiencing falconry activities together.
What is the family business book that you recommend the most?
We recommend telling the highs and lows and lessons learned in building the family business to the next generation, so they can have the benefit of building on that hard-fought knowledge. We felt the next generation deserved a book that detailed their heritage and provided the stories and details underlying the family’s journey, and so my uncle, our CEO John Solheim, commissioned the writing of our own book. The most important family business book is the one that tells your story to your future generations of workers.
What is the greatest advantage of family business ownership in your industry?
Family business ownership has allowed us to safeguard our brand name such that studies show people consider the name “PING” synonymous with integrity, quality and innovation. Our grandparents and all in our family business have sought to make every decision with the customer’s good in mind, to engineer innovative improvements continually and to build the highest quality custom-made golf clubs to help each golfer play their best. The trust and loyalty we have earned has helped us endure and grow our market share. Plus, family business ownership enables us to make our decisions for the long term rather than for quarterly earnings reports, and our shared values allow us to give to better our community, country and world.
What is the best business decision you’ve made to position your enterprise for fourth generation success?
Living within our means and choosing continually to remain debt-free is the best set-up for future success. We have watched many golf equipment manufacturers rise and decline or disappear altogether over the 60 years we have been designing and making PING golf clubs. Some others could do well during a period of growth, but could not survive recessionary times or unexpected challenges. By continuing to invest profits back into our employees and into growing the business steadily and resisting the temptation to borrow, we help ensure PING can thrive long into the future.
What are the overlooked business opportunities for family owned companies?
Most of today’s biggest businesses were birthed by the hard work of a founder and family, and indeed family-owned manufacturers are the backbone of the American economy. Never underestimate the good that can be accomplished simply by devoting family talents and time to making a valuable product in the USA. And there’s no greater job training program than a family can provide — my grandfather would find the one best route to drive from point A to point B, and my grandmother wanted the bottom of her kitchen sink washed, dried and shined after dinner clean-up or the work wasn’t complete — this perfectionism and attention to detail is naturally in all of our lives now, if not already in our DNA from birth. Finally, paying attention to the gifts and passions of individual family members and employees helps us explore new ways to make products as well as launch entirely new products.
Company History
PING Golf parent company Karsten Manufacturing Corporation was founded in 1959 by a Norwegian immigrant, Karsten Solheim. Karsten, while employed at General Electric, used his after-work time to design a putter to improve his golf game. His prototype putter produced a unique “ping” that gave the product its name. Production continued in the garage on evenings and weekends with youngest son John A. Solheim helping build the putters and wife Louise handling customer orders, service, delivery, bookkeeping and sales. GE transferred Karsten to a facility in Phoenix and Karsten stayed with GE until 1967, the same year that professional golfer Julius Boros won a high-profile tournament using a PING putter. The subsequent orders for Karsten’s revolutionary putter required manufacturing to be moved out of the garage and into a small production facility in Phoenix, where building golf clubs finally became Karsten’s full time job.
As demand for PING clubs grew, all of Karsten and Louise’s children eventually joined, each bringing unique skills and abilities. In 1995, when Karsten was 83, his son John officially became president of the company after a unanimous board decision (including Karsten’s vote). John addressed challenges, significantly expanded the golf club product line, strengthened custom-fitting options, and oversaw growth while building on the foundation of innovation, quality and integrity established by Karsten and Louise. John involved the third generation early on. John’s oldest son John K. Solheim became president of the company in 2017, likewise following a unanimous board decision. Several family members hold key roles in the company.
Today this global privately-held enterprise employs more than 1,000 and exports products to about 100 countries. The Solheim Cup, founded in 1990, continues to showcase professional women’s golf at the international level. PING products are still designed, engineered and built at the company’s manufacturing facility in Phoenix, Arizona. The building Karsten and Louise originally purchased is still in use, and PING golf equipment is made on the same campus, expanded to include 25 buildings on over 50 acres. PING maintains a high employee retention rate and attracts a diverse, multicultural team. The Solheim family are strong leaders promoting U.S. manufacturing.
Key milestones in the history of City of Roses Disposal & Recycling
July 1996: Al Simpson Founds City of Roses Dropbox Service.
September 2005: COR Purchases 2 Acre Industrial Site with goal of building own Recycling Facility.
April 2013: COR Receives First Recycling Facility Permit.
August 2013: Founder Al Simpson retires from City of Portland after working for COR and CofP for past 17 years.
December 2017: COR Purchases 12 Acre Industrial Site with goal of getting site permitted as a Solid Waste Facility.
June 2019: Metro Council approves COR Solid Waste Facility Permit which becomes the first-ever privately owned transfer station in the City of Portland.
August 2019: COR begins operations at newly permitted Solid Waste Transfer Station.
Today: COR is now the first-ever and ONLY certified Benefit Corporation Waste & Recycling Company in the entire United States.
Q&A with City of Roses Disposal & Recycling, 2019 Excellence in Family Business finalist in the generational development category
How has your father’s deeply-held value of frugality supported today’s success of COR?
It has become the foundation of COR’s message to the world and the meaning behind our existence “Diverting Wasteful Thinking.”
Mass consumption leads to waste and the Founder Al Simpson always made a point to ask everyone “Why Waste?” We have taken these principals and made it a core mission of the family business.
What advice do you have about for family business successors who are ready to launch new ventures in their industry?
Always respect your elders and predecessors and most importantly learn from their mistakes.
As the business grows, the family is continuously strategizing on how to prepare the next generation for roles and expertise that can be secured in house as opposed to hiring externally. We are adamant about preparing our next generation with education in roles to fulfill Legal, Finance, Land Use & Development, Environmental Science, Engineering, Technology and Innovation jobs within the company.
When did you know you were ready to take on the CEO role in the family company?
Once my other family members suggested that title for me…. Which was in the fall 2018.
What does it mean to the family to be leaders in the community’s economic development?
It means ALOT … In a variety of forms, Economic Development is the main vehicle to financial independence. We have a huge responsibility to our community, underserved populations, and, most importantly, our youth of color who are all faced with lack of opportunities that lead to financial independence. This is important to us as those barriers are very similar circumstances from which we originate.
