Past Winner Stories
Ambassador Solutions
www.ambassadorsolutions.com
The Challenge
As an information technology consulting firm headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, ambassador, inc. grew steadily since it’s founding in 1989. In a little over ten years, ambassador became a $9 million firm with three offices and nearly one hundred employees. Things changed dramatically, however, once the Y2K clouds passed over into the new millennium.
During the summer of 2000, it became apparent throughout the IT industry that seismic shifts were underway. The dot com crazy days were quickly followed by the dot bomb disaster days. IT consulting firms were left with a glut of IT professionals and significantly reduced demand for their services. These industry realities coupled with the reality of debt lingering from a leveraged buy-out in 1996, found ambassador fighting for its corporate life in the fall of 2000.
In early September, after a long hot summer of substantial losses, ambassador was forced to re-structure the firm and lay off employees for the first time in its history. This fateful day became infamously known as “Black Thursday”. Several days prior, ambassador’s owner, Brad Lindemann, and CFO, Diana Kleyman, had met with their banker to go over the details of a re-structuring plan. The grim reality of the situation left all three in tears in Brad’s office. When your problems are bad enough to make your banker cry –you know you’ve got some real problems!
The Book of Proverbs says that “the borrower is a slave to the lender”. Between his two former shareholders and his current banker, Lindemann felt like a slave with three masters. The firm had to become profitable immediately to survive. Personnel cuts, though never pleasant, were kept to a minimum. Other cost cutting measures included the suspension of the 401(k) match and cancellation of the company Christmas party. Believing sacrifice must start at the top, Lindemann and his wife worked without pay during the critical fourth quarter of 2000.
The greatest risk was that critically needed, revenue producing employees, concerned for the firm’s future, would leave just when they were needed the most. To mitigate this risk, a company-wide meeting was held to forthrightly explain the state of the firm and what was being done to improve it. Beyond that, emails were regularly sent to all employees, reporting on the firm’s progress. Ambassador’s management philosophy has always been that employees can handle bad news better than no news, especially during crisis times. Such was certainly the case.
With a solidly profitable fourth quarter 2000, ambassador was able to re-instate the 401(k) match on January 1, 2001. The owner’s wife returned to art school and Lindemann himself returned to the payroll. This quick recovery from ambassador’s very real near death experience would not have been possible without the “never say die” attitude of ambassador’s many local employees (a.k.a. teammates). Special credit goes to Tom Gardner, President, and Diana Kleyman, CFO, for having stood by their firm during its darkest hour.
The Solution
We’ve already mentioned some of the “survival tactics” that we deployed to make it through the disastrous year 2000. While such actions were certainly necessary, we do not believe them primary to our survival. Credit for this must be attributed to our Core Values and the many great teammates who uphold them each and every work day.
ambassador’s Core Values are:
As an information technology consulting firm headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, ambassador, inc. grew steadily since it’s founding in 1989. In a little over ten years, ambassador became a $9 million firm with three offices and nearly one hundred employees. Things changed dramatically, however, once the Y2K clouds passed over into the new millennium.
During the summer of 2000, it became apparent throughout the IT industry that seismic shifts were underway. The dot com crazy days were quickly followed by the dot bomb disaster days. IT consulting firms were left with a glut of IT professionals and significantly reduced demand for their services. These industry realities coupled with the reality of debt lingering from a leveraged buy-out in 1996, found ambassador fighting for its corporate life in the fall of 2000.
In early September, after a long hot summer of substantial losses, ambassador was forced to re-structure the firm and lay off employees for the first time in its history. This fateful day became infamously known as “Black Thursday”. Several days prior, ambassador’s owner, Brad Lindemann, and CFO, Diana Kleyman, had met with their banker to go over the details of a re-structuring plan. The grim reality of the situation left all three in tears in Brad’s office. When your problems are bad enough to make your banker cry –you know you’ve got some real problems!
The Book of Proverbs says that “the borrower is a slave to the lender”. Between his two former shareholders and his current banker, Lindemann felt like a slave with three masters. The firm had to become profitable immediately to survive. Personnel cuts, though never pleasant, were kept to a minimum. Other cost cutting measures included the suspension of the 401(k) match and cancellation of the company Christmas party. Believing sacrifice must start at the top, Lindemann and his wife worked without pay during the critical fourth quarter of 2000.
The greatest risk was that critically needed, revenue producing employees, concerned for the firm’s future, would leave just when they were needed the most. To mitigate this risk, a company-wide meeting was held to forthrightly explain the state of the firm and what was being done to improve it. Beyond that, emails were regularly sent to all employees, reporting on the firm’s progress. Ambassador’s management philosophy has always been that employees can handle bad news better than no news, especially during crisis times. Such was certainly the case.
With a solidly profitable fourth quarter 2000, ambassador was able to re-instate the 401(k) match on January 1, 2001. The owner’s wife returned to art school and Lindemann himself returned to the payroll. This quick recovery from ambassador’s very real near death experience would not have been possible without the “never say die” attitude of ambassador’s many local employees (a.k.a. teammates). Special credit goes to Tom Gardner, President, and Diana Kleyman, CFO, for having stood by their firm during its darkest hour.
The Solution
We’ve already mentioned some of the “survival tactics” that we deployed to make it through the disastrous year 2000. While such actions were certainly necessary, we do not believe them primary to our survival. Credit for this must be attributed to our Core Values and the many great teammates who uphold them each and every work day.
ambassador’s Core Values are:
- Nurture the dignity of all people
- Pursue uncompromised integrity
- Deliver excellence
So how did these Core Values contribute so significantly to our firm’s survival and ongoing success?
It is virtually impossible to nurture your employees’ dignity in the midst of a crisis if you have not done so prior to. Through our “People First Philosophy”, we had made substantial deposits in our employees’ “trust accounts” over the eleven years leading up to Black Thursday. Absent this, we would have undoubtedly experienced during the fourth quarter of 2000, those few appeared to be heading for the door before the crisis, not because of it.
We certainly weren’t alone during our crisis. The entire industry was reeling, although the large, public firms were slower owning up to the magnitude of the problem. It was imperative that we demonstrate uncompromised integrity during a time when the integrity of so many of our competitors was very much in question. Note that we pursue uncompromised integrity, never claiming to fully attain it. We have always simply believed that honesty truly is the best policy, even when it hurts. When times are tough, it can hurt a lot.
No matter how close we teetered towards the brink of corporate extinction, we kept those “front lines” focused upon their mission –deliver excellence to our clients. Prior to the crisis, had we been about delivering mediocrity through a bunch of professional posers, then few would have reason to stay. After all, why take the heat when any slop from any kitchen will do?
As it was, ambassador’s true IT pros were among the industry’s best who knew they were representing one of its best firms. No small amount of professional pride was on the line, while ambassador teammates were determined to win in the end.
So where is ambassador today? Since Black Thursday, ambassador has booked seven profitable quarters in a row. Yes, it looks like we made it. It hasn’t been easy, however. The IT consulting industry continues to be very depressed by pre-Y2K standards. In line with the industry, ambassador’s revenues are down by about one-third. Having made it through the worst of times, ambassador is well-positioned to become the preeminent leader within the markets we serve. Through it all, our Core Values have served us well, as the guiding light they were always meant to be.
It is virtually impossible to nurture your employees’ dignity in the midst of a crisis if you have not done so prior to. Through our “People First Philosophy”, we had made substantial deposits in our employees’ “trust accounts” over the eleven years leading up to Black Thursday. Absent this, we would have undoubtedly experienced during the fourth quarter of 2000, those few appeared to be heading for the door before the crisis, not because of it.
We certainly weren’t alone during our crisis. The entire industry was reeling, although the large, public firms were slower owning up to the magnitude of the problem. It was imperative that we demonstrate uncompromised integrity during a time when the integrity of so many of our competitors was very much in question. Note that we pursue uncompromised integrity, never claiming to fully attain it. We have always simply believed that honesty truly is the best policy, even when it hurts. When times are tough, it can hurt a lot.
No matter how close we teetered towards the brink of corporate extinction, we kept those “front lines” focused upon their mission –deliver excellence to our clients. Prior to the crisis, had we been about delivering mediocrity through a bunch of professional posers, then few would have reason to stay. After all, why take the heat when any slop from any kitchen will do?
As it was, ambassador’s true IT pros were among the industry’s best who knew they were representing one of its best firms. No small amount of professional pride was on the line, while ambassador teammates were determined to win in the end.
So where is ambassador today? Since Black Thursday, ambassador has booked seven profitable quarters in a row. Yes, it looks like we made it. It hasn’t been easy, however. The IT consulting industry continues to be very depressed by pre-Y2K standards. In line with the industry, ambassador’s revenues are down by about one-third. Having made it through the worst of times, ambassador is well-positioned to become the preeminent leader within the markets we serve. Through it all, our Core Values have served us well, as the guiding light they were always meant to be.