Don,

It is with great enthusiasm and pleasure that I memorialize my experience working with you and Leveraged Negotiations. You walked alongside Cascade Energy’s board – during my tenure as CEO – as we investigated ways for founders and partners to exit from ownership of the company. Our journey considered a wide range of exit options, finally landing on an Employee Stock Ownership Program (ESOP). As one of the three original founders of Cascade and someone with 28 years at the helm, I needed someone to teach me, challenge me, advise me, and ultimately walk alongside me as I considered various exit strategies and the impact on our staff, shareholders, customers, and organization. You did all these with aplomb.

As I reflect on our shared journey and outcome, I feel the following contributed significantly to our success:

Learning: Your ability to engage and learn about our complex market, customers, products, and culture was crucial. I’m sure most businesses think they are unique and uniquely complex. Cascade IS unique and complex. Your ability to advise us was directly proportional to your deep understanding of Cascade.

Simplification: Your ability to simplify the complex and identify majors versus minors were key to our journey.

Research: At times, we needed someone to learn deeply about a new topic. This included the narrow data set of Cascade-like businesses, the advantages and disadvantages of various exit models (such as strategic acquisition and ESOPs), and vetting potential consulting firms to assist with our ESOP. You were excellent at summarizing and reporting out on your research in a way that kept us moving along.

Negotiation: We were often negotiating with ourselves, each other, interested external parties, and myriad consultants. Your experience and excellence in negotiation was on constant display. It is now clear that we are all constantly negotiating – even when it doesn’t look like it. Thank you for modeling and teaching excellence in negotiation – all while maintaining your values and calm demeanor.

This list could continue and include things like trust, camaraderie, friendship, grit, above-and-beyond, and more. You are truly an amazing person and you brought it all to our deal.

I have been fortunate to participate for 12 years in the executive coaching program called Vistage. Over this time, I have been exposed to many CEOs, presidents, and owners of organizations as they struggled through change. I’m a big fan of John Kotter, a Harvard professor and author of many Harvard Business Review articles. In John’s seminal article titled What Leaders Really Do, John states the following about leaders:

“They don’t make plans; they don’t solve problems; they don’t even organize people. What leaders really do is prepare organizations for change and help them cope as they struggle through it.”

Although you certainly helped us solve problems and plan for the future, I feel this quote clearly and accurately describes what you did for us – you prepared us for change and then walked side by side with us as we struggled through it. Although your “shingle” says “Negotiation,” I would argue that you are also a leader for your clients. Thank you for leading Cascade through our ESOP journey – setting shareholders up for an excellent yet fair way to transition ownership of Cascade WHILE focusing on the future success and health of the organization. This is the narrow path that we needed to be on, and you walked alongside us with empathy, excellence, and leadership.

As I look back over this letter, my characterization of you and your contribution to our ESOP success feels woefully inadequate. It is impossible to capture the multi-year fellowship that we had as professionals and friends. Anyone considering your services would be fortunate to have you on their team. I know we were.

Sincerely,

– Marcus Wilcox, Retired CEO and Co-Founder, Cascade Energy, Inc.