James F. Pomeroy II and Heroes

Behind Every Successful Executive: James F. Pomeroy II’s Business Heroes

Whether captains of industry, commanders of navy fleets, or coaches extraordinaire, these people provided the lessons and inspiration that have helped James F. Pomeroy reach the heights of business success.

Boys have their sports and super-heroes. And when they grow up to be successful businessmen and entrepreneurs, they also look up to those who gave them their start in the business, taught them the ropes, or showed them by principle and practice how the game is played and how it’s played well. Here, in his own words, James F. Pomeroy pays tribute to those whose words and actions provide the foundation for his business success.

Baron Edmond James de Rothschild.  Baron de Rothschild was one the first true international private merchant bankers. He understood that power and influence - coupled with the commodity of money - could propel everything, from fomenting  revolutions to feeding millions.  He was brilliant and his working both in concert and in competition with men like JP Morgan and Paul Warburg was unprecedented at any time in the world.  Together they built railroads, undersea communication lines, the steel, mining , and insurance industries and more. Baron de Rothschild, JP Morgan, and Warburg were my first real heroes. I know the lives they lived and the dreams they dreamed - and this inspires me every day.

Donald J. Morfee.  Don is not only past Chairman of  the US Steel Company. In his career, there were more Fortune 500 Boards of Directors that he has sat on and  more  big-brand company divisions that he has run... than there are states in America!  From Don, I learned that honesty at all costs, finding solutions to problems, taking corporate plans and adapting them in subtle ways could help people live better lives and, in turn, help create winning companies.  For example, Don was once assigned to lay off almost 1,500 employees in one of the biggest automobile companies in the United States.  Before accepting the assignment, he negotiated hard with the company for severance, insurance and family-assistance packages.  Then he met with each employee individually - not relying on human resources or any other crutch - and told them what was happening and why. By showing them a path to their future, he became a hero to those 1,500 ex-employees.  They spun off into successful companies that supply the automobile industry with seat belts, air bags and more!

Archibald Albright.  Archie was a real leader and one of the smartest, funniest, most creative head honchos in the corporate and financial worlds ever.  He went to Yale Law, and served as Chairman of Drexel and Chairman of Firestone. He was responsible for merging the two companies (Drexel Firetstone) forming  one of the world’s most aggressive and profitable enterprises in the 70s.  He later merged Drexel Firestone with Tubby Burnham’s firm on Wall Street to create Drexel Burnham.  From that firm, small companies like TWA, Century 21, and about 200 other major corporate entities were born!  He hired men like Mike Milken and other cutting-edge bond guys in order to make companies go big!  I carried his bags for almost 7 years in NY, California and Connecticut just to learn the secrets of getting big and getting smart.

Admiral James ‘Ace’ Lyons.  A true hero, he was the commander of America’s Seventh Fleet in the Pacific.  Ace taught me the similarities between leadership in war and in business: Leadership begins by learning to follow - which results in humility, discipline, and the ability to compete/combat well by fighting as a team and protecting the guy next to you.  He taught me that true leaders do not have the luxury of anger, fear, and pain in a crisis - and that these emotions are real, but need to be harnessed to help those who rely on you for a solution. He showed me that well-disciplined teams who plan and practice come out winners - because of the sheer reality that they have prepared and planned for ALL outcome probabilities! And last but not least, he demonstrated that in war as in business, simpler is often better.  Archie lived his life that way.   As the Finance Chair at Drexel Burnham he walked away from millions of dollars of compensation arguing that the future was in people, not financial instruments.  His teachings proved so true as if he had been the Fed Chair or positioned to fight the corruption of this last cycle we might never have fallen into such world wide financial distress.

Merrill ‘Red’ Wilson.  Red was my high school and Cape League baseball coach at YD Red Sox in Yarmouth, Massachusetts on Cape Cod.  Red taught me that when you crossed the white chalk lines (foul lines on the baseball field that tell umpires when a ball is fair or foul), it was time to breathe, have fun, but still achieve the goal you have prepared for.  In this case, it was about baseball.  But truth …everything I ever truly needed to know, I learned on the baseball field.   Things like team play, probability of pitch selection, probability of scoring, defense, game planning, protecting the weakest link (player) and helping that player become the team’s strongest ally.  All those things apply to life and to business.  Baseball is a game.  Rarely does anyone get hurt in the game.  In life however, we are responsible for the next player (guy) and doing what we can to help them or play it forward.

James Pomeroy II is the founder of the not for profit sports and education company Velocity Sports and Education.  He also serves on various corporate and corporate finance boards across the US and abroad.