Ella Koscik is featured in the Atlanta Business Chronicle

Tell me something I don't know
Even seasoned, successful leaders of fast-growing companies need mentors

Atlanta Business Chronicle - Monday November 24, 2003 - Erica Stephens

In search of role models: It's tough to find a mentor when you're running a $50 million company. Ella Koscik is searching for a mentor. But as the owner of a company that already generates more than $50 million in annual revenue, she says it's becoming harder to find someone who is willing and able to help her take her company to the next level.

The relatively recent trend toward formal mentoring programs has focused almost exclusively on nurturing early-stage companies and budding entrepreneurs. But most business owners continue to seek the advice and counsel of wiser, more experienced people throughout their careers. Trouble is, the more experience a mentee gains, the smaller the pool of mentors there is to choose from.

Koscik joined Management Decisions Inc. – an Atlanta-based company that provides information technology staffing and services to Fortune 1000 companies – in 1994. Professionally, she's heading into her 'tween years. She's outgrown the need for early-stage mentoring, but there's still plenty she doesn't know.

In the formative years of MDI, Koscik was in almost constant contact with her most influential mentor – her father, who eventually came to work for MDI.

"He taught me truly what it meant to run a business," she said. She learned about financing, employee programs, strategic meetings, banking relationships, lines of credit – the nuts and bolts of every company.

Koscik's father retired a year and half ago, around the same time MDI reached $30 million in annual revenue.

"Right now, MDI's infrastructure can support a $50 million company. But what I need is to get to the next level," she said.

Koscik hopes the "next level" for MDI will be $75 million to $100 million in annual revenue, along with expanding geographically.

"I think [a mentor] is critical to my personal growth and the growth here at MDI. I've taken several steps, talked to a lot of people. The more I can get the word out that this is my mission, the more likely I'm going to succeed," Koscik said.

She's been tapping friends and business associates – "anybody of influence" – to open doors for her.

Local business owner Janie McLure, of McLure Oil Co., agrees that good mentors are hard to find, but says it's worth the effort to find one, no matter a company's size.

"I think everybody in business ought to have a mentor," said McLure, whose company was first on Atlanta Business Chronicle's list of Atlanta's 10 Fastest-Growing Women-Owned Firms in 2002 with revenue of more than $200 million.

"You need people who are more knowledgeable than you ... not only to grow your business, but to grow your business more profitably."

Koscik is working with Steve Broadbent, a neighbor and senior vice president and managing director of Clark Consulting, an Illinois-based compensation, benefits and organizational development consulting firm with offices in Atlanta.

"He was able to get me a one-on-one with the CEO of his company and chairman of the board. That was huge. I was able to get about an hour and a half of [Tom Wamberg's] time," Koscik said.

"[Wamberg] has grown a company from Ella's size to what we are today. So I think he fully appreciates what Ella is facing," Broadbent said.

She's meeting with the diversity officer of a large local corporation and she's even contacted her bank, SunTrust, to let them know about her search.

"Going from $50 to $100 [million], if you're looking for 'the' person, that is difficult," said Larry Hart, a local chair for TEC (The Executive Committee), a national CEO round-table membership group. "Because the closer you get to the tip of the pyramid, the harder it is to find these kinds of people. That's the reason organizations like TEC exist."

Koscik is a member of a CEO peer group, through with she meets quarterly with CEOs of companies with revenue between $30 million and $100 million.

"There are organizations out there that can help you with [these issues] but you don't get that one-on-one. I still need to sit candidly with someone," she said.

Koscik is looking for a CEO of a privately owned company who has grown "organically" – without venture capital funding – and has long passed the $50 million annual revenue mark. Those men are hard to find; those women are almost impossible to find.

"Only 2 percent [of women-owned businesses] are over the $5 million mark and it's minuscule over $50 million," Koscik said.

Koscik is direct: She's looking for a mentor who can help her take her company to the next level – and she's willing to work for it.

"The work has to come from me. I have to be able to clearly articulate what I want from them," she said.

Koscik brings to the table a well-defined list of goals.

"I say to them, you've been a $50 million company. I need you to go back and draw on those experiences," she said.

"I need you tell me where I need to be with my bank. I need you to help me align my executive officers."

Koscik and her employees have mentored about 20 companies in the last five years, helping to set up a sales force and align back-office support.

Now she hopes it's her turn to sit on the other side of the desk.

About MDI Group
MDI Group is a premier IT Workforce Solutions provider with more than 20 years expertise in finding 'best-fit' IT talent for mid-sized to Fortune 500 clients nationwide. Offering IT Staffing Solutions and Contingent Workforce Management, MDI Group has recorded profitable growth every year since it was established in 1988. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, MDI Group has also been named one of Atlanta's 40 best places to work. To learn more about MDI Group, please visit www.mdigroup.com.

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