"Filtering" at Work In February 1994 Tobaccowala met with Eric and Adam Heneghan, two leading experts in the then-little known field of interactive technology. The brothers had formed a small company called Giant Step, which produced multimedia CD-ROMs. Two years later Tobaccowala tried to convince Leo Burnett to acquire a majority stake in the company. But higher-ups wondered about the Heneghans' experience (or lack thereof) -- both of them are in their late 20s. Tobaccowala applied his filters:
Will the Heneghans mesh with my company's people? Tobaccowala dropped them into one of his marketing groups for a day, and everyone clicked.
Are they worth the money? The brothers had borrowed $200,000 to start Giant Step, paid it off, and were already making several times that a year. They'd proven they could create a clear-eyed business plan and run a fast-track company.
Do they have flexible personalities -- can they learn? Tobaccowala engaged them in a conversation about India. They knew nothing about the country, but they stayed right with him and asked smart questions. He was sold, and he sold Leo Burnett.
Take Away:
Tobaccowala filters the news by looking for contradictions. In covering the sheep-cloning story, for example, "Time and Newsweek basically took the position that cloning humans would be morally wrong and therefore human cloning should be banned. But The Economist recognized that even if human cloning is banned, someone will still attempt it. Instead, we must discover morals that we can apply to the situation."
Similarly, Tobaccowala "dug deeper" and gradually changed his thinking about the chaotic work atmosphere at Giant Step.
"I always thought that chaos is bad and we must impose order. But taking The Economist's view, I realized that turmoil is part of work and it always will be. So instead of trying to control the uncontrollable, I began looking for ways to make it work for us."
Coordinates: Rishad Tobaccowala, rishad@giantstep.com
Mark Fischetti (mf@berkshire.net) covers business and technology for many publications, including "Smithsonian" magazine and the "New York Times."
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