From Landscaper to CEO

[caption id="attachment_1875" align="alignleft" width="188" caption="Jack Dangermond, founder of Ersi"][/caption]

The New York Times is filled with great stories...no doubt about it. But one of the perks of the weekend addition is their interview section, where they have a Q&A with a successful business man or woman, and explore how they became successful through their life. This article reflects Jack Dangermond, president and founder of Ersi, a geographic information system.

Q.Do you remember the first time you were somebody’s boss?

A. I was a teenager. My parents owned a plants nursery. We all grew up growing things, and planting things, and selling things, and I also managed landscape crews.

Q.So how old were you when you first started running a crew?

A. Sixteen.

Q. Was that hard for you?

A. No.  Growing up in a family business like that was really a happy time.  When my parents started it, they had little education and were immigrants from Holland. We all just worked together as a team in the nursery. It basically gave me all the lessons of business school when I was growing up — issues like cash flow, customer service and how to grow a business.

My parents had no money, but they had strong values that I’ve carried throughout my life — things like not going into debt, never borrowing money, never leveraging, paying your bills on time, keeping your agreements, selling customers the right things, treating employees right and growing things.

Read more at New York Times Business Day