Business Is a Contact Sport - Tapa dura

Business is a contact sport because human contact, connection, and cooperation is the essence of business. Even in our transaction-driven, increasingly virtual world, solid, long-lasting relationships are still fundamental to success. Yet in most companies, relationships with customers and employees and even more so with suppliers, distributors, licensees, licensors, shareholders, lenders, strategic partners, board members, universities, charities, the media and the community are the most underutilized assets.

Tom Richardson and Augusto Vidaurreta are not new to creating and utilizing relationships. When they made their high-profile exit from Arthur Andersen in 1988, they formed the basis for their new principles as they founded and built Systems Consulting Group (SCG). SCG grew from an initial investment of $100 (used for incorporating) to an organization of more than 200 employees, twice named to Inc. magazine's list of the 500 fastest-growing companies in the United States. At SCG, they honed their ideals-create win-wins for your stakeholders, fix broken relationships, and invest in new ones-and created a client list that reads like the Fortune 500. Richardson holds an MBA from the University of Miami. Vidaurreta holds an MBA from the University of Florida. Tom Gorman is a business book author based in Newton, Massachusetts. He has written or collaborated on more than 15 business books, and his articles have appeared in Business Marketing Magazine and The New York Sunday Times. He holds a BA from Fairleigh Dickinson University and an MBA from New York University's Stern School of Business.