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Defining Longevity
How two executives have remained on top.
By Steve ChurmPublished: March 04, 2004
Headlines that seem to appear almost daily in the business press tell stories of corporate wrongdoing by executives bent on cutting corners. It has fertilized the public mindset to believe that most CEOs are pondering - or engaging in - some sort of foul behavior; that these corporate captains are blurring the moral and ethical lines when doing business.
Michael Stephens, the cover subject this issue, does not fit that stereotype. In fact, the president and CEO of Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian runs his business about as straight and true as anyone you will ever meet. In an era when the life span of top executives often is measured in months, not years or decades, Stephens has defied convention by serving as the top gun at regionally acclaimed Hoag Hospital since the mid-1970s.
Tustin-based writer Paul Sterman spent considerable time with the likable Stephens and his co-workers to find out what makes this leader tick. More importantly, Sterman was assigned to find out how Stephens has weathered nearly three decades of upheaval and change in the medical industry to remain in charge of the hospital by the bay in Newport. In many ways, Stephens has been as successful as corporate celebrity Donald Trump-with one very large exception. Trump loves the camera, while Stephens wants nothing to do with the spotlight. He is a refreshing island of modesty in the sea of egos that washes across the business pages almost every morning. For so many, it's about the publicity and personal notoriety, but Stephens doesn't want to make headlines unless it's about his staff or about improving the quality of care that patients receive at Hoag Hospital. It's a good story about a good man.
Mitchell Goldstone is another impressive business executive who is the subject of writer Gary Goldhammer's entrepreneur profile. Goldstone doesn't run a hospital with a $462-million-a-year operating budget and a staff of 4,500 physicians and employees like Stephens. The scale of his business is very different. Still, like Stephens, he brings an ethic and a creativity that marks him as a winner.
Goldstone and his business partner, Carl Berman, co-own a single photo-processing store in Irvine, 30 Minute Photos Etc. They are good businessmen who have delivered superior service and quality at their Jamboree Boulevard location from the day they opened in 1990. Goldstone has always joked that no matter how many mistakes they made, the business simply grew because of their deep involvement in the community and concern for customer satisfaction. But the sudden onslaught of the digital age threw them a curve and, 18 months ago, Goldstone and Berman were in trouble. Business began to evaporate faster than ice cubes on the curb in August as the explosion in digital cameras dried up the need for film developing.
A dogged entrepreneur with the confidence that would impress even Trump, Goldstone solved the digital riddle by opening an online storefront that allows people anywhere to submit their digital photos and get them professional processed the same day. Initially, most people with digital cameras were printing their own pictures at home. But that is changing. By 2006 some experts believe that 60 percent of all digital photographs will be printed by people like Goldstone. The key is that Goldstone has made it easy to crop or adjust or brighten the resolution online.
In a recent magazine interview, the very public Trump said one of his seven keys to success was passion for your career. He said he has never seen anyone succeed who didn't love what they were doing. It's clear that Stephens and Goldstone would be welcome at Trump's lunch table. OCM
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Headlines that seem to appear almost daily in the business press tell stories of corporate wrongdoing by executives bent on cutting corners. It has fertilized the public mindset to believe that most CEOs are pondering - or engaging in - some sort of foul behavior; that these corporate captains are blurring the moral and ethical lines when doing business. Michael Stephens, the cover subject this issue, does not fit that stereotype. In fact, the president and CEO of Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian runs his business about as straight and true as anyone you will ever meet. In an era when the life span of top executives often is measured in months, not years or decades, Stephens has defied convention by serving as the top gun at regionally acclaimed Hoag Hospital since the mid-1970s. Tustin-based writer Paul Sterman spent considerable time with the likable Stephens and his co-workers to find out what makes this leader tick. More importantly, Sterman was assigned to find out how Stephens has weathered nearly three decades of upheaval and change in the medical industry to remain in charge of the hospital by the bay in Newport. In many ways, Stephens has been as successful as corporate celebrity Donald Trump-with one very large exception. Trump loves the camera, while Stephens wants nothing to do with the spotlight. He is a refreshing island of modesty in the sea of egos that washes across the business pages almost every morning. For so many, it's about the publicity and personal notoriety, but Stephens doesn't want to make headlines unless it's about his staff or about improving the quality of care that patients receive at Hoag Hospital. It's a good story about a good man. Mitchell Goldstone is another impressive business executive who is the subject of writer Gary Goldhammer's entrepreneur profile. Goldstone doesn't run a hospital with a $462-million-a-year operating budget and a staff of 4,500 physicians and employees like Stephens. The scale of his business is very different. Still, like Stephens, he brings an ethic and a creativity that marks him as a winner. Goldstone and his business partner, Carl Berman, co-own a single photo-processing store in Irvine, 30 Minute Photos Etc. They are good businessmen who have delivered superior service and quality at their Jamboree Boulevard location from the day they opened in 1990. Goldstone has always joked that no matter how many mistakes they made, the business simply grew because of their deep involvement in the community and concern for customer satisfaction. But the sudden onslaught of the digital age threw them a curve and, 18 months ago, Goldstone and Berman were in trouble. Business began to evaporate faster than ice cubes on the curb in August as the explosion in digital cameras dried up the need for film developing. A dogged entrepreneur with the confidence that would impress even Trump, Goldstone solved the digital riddle by opening an online storefront that allows people anywhere to submit their digital photos and get them professional processed the same day. Initially, most people with digital cameras were printing their own pictures at home. But that is changing. By 2006 some experts believe that 60 percent of all digital photographs will be printed by people like Goldstone. The key is that Goldstone has made it easy to crop or adjust or brighten the resolution online. In a recent magazine interview, the very public Trump said one of his seven keys to success was passion for your career. He said he has never seen anyone succeed who didn't love what they were doing. It's clear that Stephens and Goldstone would be welcome at Trump's lunch table. OCM |
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