Above the Line

company that makes a difference in the lives of everyone associated with it.

 

That commitment is more difficult, and requires a minute by minute recommitment to carry it out, especially when the inevitable trouble comes.  It is sometimes fraught with danger and uncertainty, but the numbers say that all the effort is worth it. Leading from above the line leads to greatness and profitability in every way that it can be measured. 

 

In ABOVE THE LINE, Steve chronicles in riveting detail the initial launch of his  company in 1997, and its almost immediate upward surge right out of the gate. He credits the heady days of the tech boom with the rise of all of the boats in the industry, including his own. In the enormous upsurge, Entelligence was swept along to profitability almost in spite of itself. Steve admits today that he knew very little back then about starting and running a company at the time, and even less about how to manage and lead people. “I knew in my heart that I wanted to build an organization that I wanted to work in,” he says. “But many times, my methods fell short. I needed to learn more, and thankfully the next few years provided both the challenges and the wisdom I was looking for.”

 

The dire circumstances he encountered proved to be both difficult and necessary, and they came upon the company quickly and without warning. Shortly after 9/11, Entelligence lost nearly 60 percent of its business. Almost overnight, it was struggling to stay afloat and eventually Steve was forced to do the one thing he had hoped he would never have to do- fire and lay off many of his people. But, even then, he went about it in a different way, and made an above- the-line decision to do what it took to help his employees find other jobs to limit the damage, and help them bridge the gap financially.

 

Over the next decade or so, Entelligence would roar back to profitability. Steve is quick to credit others around him who showed up just when he needed them- advisors, other executives with different skills and talents to help him run the company, and remarkable team members who understood his above the line vision for the company and how they could help achieve it.  “We stayed the course. We put people first. We thought and planned long-term,” he says. “That seems counterintuitive in our quarterly business climate, but the results speak for themselves.”