MACNY president pens book on “present-future” leadership

Get our email updates

Stay up-to-date on the companies, people and issues that impact businesses in Syracuse, Central New York and beyond.

DeWITT — Randall Wolken always wanted to write a book, so he did. The president of the Manufacturers Association of Central New York (MACNY) started with the book title, “Present-Future Leader: How to Thrive in Today’s Economy,” and worked from there, he says. The e-book version went on sale in June. The hardcopy edition is […]

Already an Subcriber? Log in

Get Instant Access to This Article

Become a Central New York Business Journal subscriber and get immediate access to all of our subscriber-only content and much more.

Learn More and Become a Subscriber

DeWITT — Randall Wolken always wanted to write a book, so he did.

The president of the Manufacturers Association of Central New York (MACNY) started with the book title, “Present-Future Leader: How to Thrive in Today’s Economy,” and worked from there, he says.

The e-book version went on sale in June. The hardcopy edition is due from the printer any day.

Across 33 chapters, Wolken draws on his experience with some of MACNY’s more than 330 member companies, as well as his experience as an officer in the U.S. Army.

Wolken contrasts a present-future leader to the past-present leaders from whom he learned. While some were amazing leaders, they relied on past lessons. “They know what works because they have lived it,” Wolken wrote early in the book.

“Present-Future Leaders are different from Past-Present Leaders in many significant ways. The biggest difference is that Present-Future leaders are always focused on how they are developing into the leaders they need to be and they are leading their organizations into an exciting, meaningful, and compelling future.”

To become such a leader, Wolken wrote: “Assess your current focus and activity. Is it primarily focused on what you did in the past? In what ways can you begin to do new activities that help you better implement the future starting today?”

At MACNY’s spacious headquarters in Widewaters Plaza in DeWitt, Wolken describes how his own efforts to get in shape led him to think about and read about what it takes to bring about change.

“Sixty to 90 percent of what I do every day is habit. Huge amounts of what I did yesterday, I did today,” he says.

Harnessing that, he has aimed to bring about change by altering habits — 15-30 minutes of exercise daily and a daily weigh-in, for instance.

Once that new habit is intentionally created, “it takes no will power to do a habit.”

The daily weigh-in is vital, he says, because it is important to keep score. “The big aha moment is you’ve got to keep score,” he says. That carries over into his advice to would-be present-leaders.

“I had no idea how important scorecards were to creating the future until I started to use them to achieve what I wanted in my own life. Since then, I am obsessed with creating good scorecards and utilizing a scoring system for everything I do at home and at work. As far as habits, if you do not keep score you will not be able to change.”

Those looking to become future leaders don’t have to search too far to see what the future will look like. It’s in factories, offices, and elsewhere, he says. However, “it’s just not widely distributed.”

“For instance,” Wolken wrote, “there are self-driving cars. I just do not have one. But, I likely will — in the not too distant future. Another example, I do not order from a human when I go to Panera — I use an app in the store or on my phone. This is the future of most of the fast-food industry. Not everywhere yet — but likely in many places very soon. In MACNY member companies, robots are working alongside people — today. This will be the norm everywhere very soon.”

Wolken’s book arrives as Central New York businesses find themselves in an environment where workers are becoming harder to find — a situation he expects will last into the foreseeable future.

To make their businesses employers of choice among the limited supply of employees, present-future leaders need to understand that workers aren’t showing up just for the paycheck. They want an experience that is meaningful. They want to know the “why” behind the business.

“It is critical that you be explicit about your “why” and your company’s “why.” Millennials, and increasingly all generations, want to work for a company with a compelling purpose and mission,” Wolken wrote. “Present-Future Leaders have a compelling ‘why.’”

Mentioning millennials, Wolken does not hold with those who see that generation as somehow less work-ready than others. “People struggling the most with today’s economy are boomers,” he says, noting he’s a baby boomer.

The rapid changes that show no sign of abating are nothing new for millennials, he notes. “They’ve known nothing but change.” He says millennials are the people to whom he turns for help learning how to change.

Focusing regionally, Wolken believes the demand for skilled workers will remain strong in Central New York. While the crucial role of manufacturing in the area — once some 40 percent of the workforce — has diminished, he expects it will remain as vital as it is today. “We’re at the national average, 9-10 percent, which is where I think we’ll stay,” he says of the percentage of the region’s jobs that are in manufacturing.

Wolken quickly adds that the “decline” in manufacturing has been offset by growing productivity. “We’ve never made more product,” he says. That rising productivity has required all kinds of changes.

That’s the reality he sees shaping the workplace present-future leaders will drive. “There are no safe jobs that aren’t changing,” he says. “This is not a blip on the radar screen.”

FuzeHub to use federal grant to educate Southern Tier startups about manufacturing

Subscriber Only

BINGHAMTON — FuzeHub will use a grant of $150,000 from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to help “close the gap” between American entrepreneurs who develop new-energy technologies and domestic manufacturers who produce them. “FuzeHub is pleased to be working with our partners to educate New York state energy-technology entrepreneurs about manufacturing their products, and

Already an Subcriber? Log in

Get Instant Access to This Article

Become a Central New York Business Journal subscriber and get immediate access to all of our subscriber-only content and much more.

Learn More and Become a Subscriber

“FuzeHub is pleased to be working with our partners to educate New York state energy-technology entrepreneurs about manufacturing their products, and to help ensure that more of those innovations are ultimately produced here in the United States,” Elena Garuc, executive director of FuzeHub, said in a June 14 news release.

A portion of the money will target educational workshops and resources for entrepreneurs in the Southern Tier’s “growing” clean-tech sector.

FuzeHub says it is an Albany–based nonprofit organization that “connects New York’s small and mid-sized manufacturing companies to the resources, programs and expertise they need for technology commercialization, innovation, and business growth.”

FuzeHub was one of four organizations nationwide to win DOE’s AIM Onshore prize competition. AIM Onshore is short for American Inventions Made Onshore.

It will use the funding to provide DOE’s Build4Scale training to help entrepreneurs connect with manufacturers.

The training seeks to help startups avoid the “common pitfalls” of product design by teaching them manufacturing-design fundamentals in the early stages of prototype development, and to provide them with the “know-how they need” to work with manufacturers.

FuzeHub will provide Build4Scale workshops to clean-tech hardware startup companies in three New York state regions, including the Southern Tier. FuzeHub expects to hold the Southern Tier workshop this fall, a spokesman for the group said in an email response to a CNYBJ inquiry. Dan Radomski, a Build4Scale curriculum developer, will serve as the lead instructor.

About NY MEP

FuzeHub is part of the New York Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NY MEP), a network of organizations that provide growth and innovation services to small and mid-sized manufacturers across the state.

The 11 nonprofit organizations that comprise the New York MEP assist companies all over New York, providing affordable services in the areas of technology acceleration, product development and prototyping, process improvements, innovation strategies, quality control, manufacturing scale-up, supply chain assistance, and new market strategies.

NY MEP says it annually helps nearly 1,000 manufacturers “create and retain jobs, increase profits, and save time and money, by providing affordable services ranging from technology acceleration to product development to manufacturing scale-up.”

NY MEP is supported by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and Empire State Development’s Division of Science, Technology & Innovation (NYSTAR).

“Utilizing the expertise and long-standing manufacturing networks of the NY MEP system, we can collectively address the [U.S.] Department of Energy’s goal of helping energy-technology innovators close the manufacturing-readiness gap,” Matt Watson, NYSTAR director, said in the FuzeHub release.

To provide the Build4Scale training to clean-tech hardware startups and “ensure that they receive support on their pathway to domestic manufacturing,” FuzeHub is working with its regional NY MEP counterparts, including the Alliance for Manufacturing & Technology, based at 5 South College Drive on the SUNY Broome campus in the town of Dickinson.

Additionally, FuzeHub “frequently” partners with business incubators across New York. It’ll be collaborating with the Southern Tier Clean Energy Incubator, located at 12 Hawley St. in Binghamton, to identify young companies that can “benefit most from the training.”

Infinit Technology Solutions acquires Rochester–area firm

Subscriber Only

DeWITT — Local IT firm Infinit Technology Solutions is expanding in the Western New York region with its recent acquisition of Infogistics IT of Fairport. “It helps us expand our brand in the Rochester, Buffalo arena,” says Thomas Klink, Jr., Infinit Technology’s president. Infinit and Infogistics IT had been discussing a possible deal for “approximately

Already an Subcriber? Log in

Get Instant Access to This Article

Become a Central New York Business Journal subscriber and get immediate access to all of our subscriber-only content and much more.

Learn More and Become a Subscriber

DeWITT — Local IT firm Infinit Technology Solutions is expanding in the Western New York region with its recent acquisition of Infogistics IT of Fairport.

“It helps us expand our brand in the Rochester, Buffalo arena,” says Thomas Klink, Jr., Infinit Technology’s president.

Infinit and Infogistics IT had been discussing a possible deal for “approximately two years prior to the acquisition,” he says. The deal closed in mid-April.

“Basically, it just fit within our current growth strategy model,” says Klink, who spoke with CNYBJ on June 28. “We’re more interested in the location [and] the access to the clients in that area [and having the ability to] offer our brand of service and support to a wider range of customers.”

He declined to disclose any financial terms of the acquisition agreement.

Infinit Technology Solutions operates its main office in a 16,000-square-foot space at 7037 Fly Road in DeWitt.

The acquisition brings Infinit’s total employee count to 35, says Klink. He declined to disclose the number of Infinit employees prior to the acquisition, describing it as “competitive information.”

Klink did note that his firm has retained all of Infogistics IT’s employees in the acquisition. They included company leaders, but it’s “undecided at this point” if they’ll have similar leadership roles with Infinit. The Fairport office now operates as Infinit Technology Solutions.

About Infinit

Infinit Technology Solutions helps its clients with services that include network design, cyber risk and business-protection planning, strategic sourcing, staff augmentation, and remote monitoring and management.

Klink describes his firm as an “engineering company” that specializes in advanced IT services.

“Our goal is to educate our client base on the technology that they’re using and acquiring to run their businesses. We’re taking … more of a proactive approach to help them understand technology needs,” he says.

The firm has expanded its service offerings in the last couple years. “In the last two years, we’ve started to migrate more and more into the service arena … not just sell hardware and solutions but provide end-to-end engineering support,” says Klink.

Infinit Technology Solutions represents between 45 and 50 technology manufacturers to date, including San Jose, California–based Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO), Milwaukee, Wisconsin–based HellermannTyton, and Palo Alto, California–based Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ), according to its website.

Klink declined to disclose the number of new customers that Infinit will be servicing following the acquisition.

“Our goal is to now earn the trust and the relationships of the [former Infogistics IT’s] existing client base,” he says.

Klink says his company has consistently operated in the black. “Infinit has continued a trend of profitability over the last 10 years. Every year, we’re profitable and we continue to be profitable,” he notes.

Klink expects the firm to remain profitable in 2018 as well. He declined to disclose revenue figures.

4 Reasons Electric Cars Will Create a Buzz in the Next Decade

Business Mentors, Subscriber Only

As automakers try to plug into consumers’ future needs, electric cars are stirring boardroom curiosity — but not a lot of sales. Some car manufacturers are banking on a different story in the future, though. Electric cars comprise less than 1 percent of U.S. auto sales, yet some major automakers are planning to manufacture many more

Already an Subcriber? Log in

Get Instant Access to This Article

Become a Central New York Business Journal subscriber and get immediate access to all of our subscriber-only content and much more.

Learn More and Become a Subscriber

As automakers try to plug into consumers’ future needs, electric cars are stirring boardroom curiosity — but not a lot of sales.

Some car manufacturers are banking on a different story in the future, though.

Electric cars comprise less than 1 percent of U.S. auto sales, yet some major automakers are planning to manufacture many more electric models in the near future. According to an article on Bloomberg.com, General Motors plans to roll out 20 models by 2023 and Toyota expects to introduce 10 by early in the next decade. Researcher LMC Automotive predicts 75 electric models will be produced in the U.S. over the next five years.

The 21st century will see the return of electric cars, as we are witnessing with Tesla, Porsche, GM, Ford, and others. Environmental, economic, and market factors will meet to make the electric car prominent in the American culture.

LMC forecasts gasoline-powered engines will still make up about 85 percent of U.S. new car sales in 2025, but that electric cars’ market share will continue to accelerate. Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s Electric Vehicle Outlook 2017 projects electric cars will comprise more than 50 percent in sales of new light-duty vehicles by 2035.

Here are four advantages of electric cars that will increase their popularity.

Fuel cost savings

Electric cars are entirely charged by the electricity you provide, meaning you don’t need to buy any gas ever again. An average American spends $2,000 to $4,000 on gas each year. From the gas-standpoint alone, the electric car makes a lot of sense. Keeping these cars charged isn’t free, but overall the electric car is far less expensive in operating costs.

Environmentally friendly

Cars and trucks are responsible for roughly 24 percent of U.S. greenhouse-gas pollution, according to Scientific American. With no emissions, electric cars are eco-friendly as they run on electrically powered engines. The growing popularity of these cars is partly an outgrowth of our global environmental concerns. You’ll be contributing to a green climate. And some manufacturers will offer incentives through the government for going green.

Low maintenance

No more oil changes, spark-plug replacements, or the many repair possibilities associated with an internal combustion engine and transmission. The electric-car motor has far fewer moving parts. Brakes on electric cars receive less wear and tear. Expensive engine work is a thing of the past.

Quiet

Engines of gasoline- and diesel-powered vehicles contribute to noise pollution, which is harmful to health. A study published by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences reported that nearly 100 million Americans had annual exposures to traffic noise that were high enough to be harmful. Electric vehicles are very quiet.

The advantages are many. Technology tailored to a changing consumer base is steadily making improvements in electric cars, and in the next decade the roads will be filled with them.

Ted Annis (www.tedmagnetics.com) is manager and co-founder of Transducing Energy Devices, LLC, which is engaged in the research and development of a fuel-less electricity energy device. He formerly was with Ford Motor Company and was CEO and co-founder of SupplyTech, Inc.

5 Tips For Turning Your Inventions Into Marketable Products

Business Mentors, Subscriber Only

So you’ve got an idea you think might be the greatest invention since the hula hoop. What do you do next? Spend hundreds of hours developing your gizmo to make sure it works perfectly? Not exactly. Before you waste time trying to perfect your invention, first spend time and money to find out if there

Already an Subcriber? Log in

Get Instant Access to This Article

Become a Central New York Business Journal subscriber and get immediate access to all of our subscriber-only content and much more.

Learn More and Become a Subscriber

So you’ve got an idea you think might be the greatest invention since the hula hoop. What do you do next?

Spend hundreds of hours developing your gizmo to make sure it works perfectly? Not exactly.

Before you waste time trying to perfect your invention, first spend time and money to find out if there is a market for it. Many people don’t thoroughly investigate the challenges of bringing the product to market before devoting endless hours to an invention that has no market appeal.

An invention without a market is worth the price of rocks. Why spend time and money developing something and getting all the kinks out of it if nobody wants to buy it?

The first thing any inventor must do, before even filing a patent, is to assess the marketplace extensively. Once target market segments are clearly defined, the competitive analysis, the production analysis, and the sales approach can be defined in order to determine how best to patent the invention.

Here are some additional tips for inventors who are would-be entrepreneurs.

• Find ideas where you work. Many inventors find their inventions where they work by making an existing task or product easier or less expensive.

• Create something that solves a problem. Innovation is about problem solving. Nice ideas that solve few people’s problems result in failed businesses. So focus on the problem being solved, protect your novel ideas with intellectual property protection, research every aspect of the business’s landscape and build the business from the strategic level. Only when that’s done should you move on to developing tactical plans.

• Get to know the patent office. The United States Patent and Trademark Office will assist you when you need answers regarding patents, trademarks, copyrights, on anything you create that meets the office’s intellectual property guidelines.

• Be prepared to fail. Good inventions don’t usually happen the first time you try. Be prepared to fail — a lot. But every failure brings you closer to success.

• Be receptive to ideas outside your field of expertise. An engineer with more than 25 years’ experience in aerospace and other high-tech industries, I began working on my invention because of a request from a relative who is a nurse. My medical device had nothing to do with my background.

Inventors need to be steadfast in their approach, relentless in their pursuit of their dreams, and flexible enough to change course should the market research show their product does not have enough market value.

Nigel Parker, founder and CEO of RashEndZ Inc. (www.RashEndZ.com), is a senior management and systems engineer professional with more than 25 years’ experience in aerospace, medical simulation, and other high-tech industries. While working at Honeywell from 1984 to 2001, he worked on the space shuttle, military aircraft and commercial aircraft, among other projects. Parker is the inventor of REZair, a skin-aeration liner that can be inserted inside a diaper, incontinence garment or wound dressing.

Oswego Health recognizes outgoing board members

Health Care, Nonprofits

OSWEGO — Oswego Health says it honored three board members who are stepping down and also thanked its outgoing board chair, during the health system’s

Rome Hospital Foundation’s annual golf classic raises more than $43K for Rome Memorial Hospital

Health Care, Nonprofits, Sports, Entertainment & Tourism, Subscriber Only

ROME — Rome Hospital Foundation announced that its annual golf classic on June 18, at Teugega Country Club, raised more than $43,000 in support of Rome Memorial Hospital. “The continued success of the Annual Golf Classic is directly attributed to the support we receive from our community,” Becky D’Aiuto, executive director of Rome Hospital Foundation,”

Already an Subcriber? Log in

Get Instant Access to This Article

Become a Central New York Business Journal subscriber and get immediate access to all of our subscriber-only content and much more.

Learn More and Become a Subscriber

Protecting Historic Assets Requires Planning, Collaboration

Opinion, Subscriber Only

Our firm has had the privilege of working with local business and civic leaders in designing some of our community’s oldest and most prestigious buildings, including Crouse College (1889), the Onondaga County Courthouse (1907), and the iconic National Grid building (1932). Historic buildings tell stories and are integral components of our community’s identity. They also

Already an Subcriber? Log in

Get Instant Access to This Article

Become a Central New York Business Journal subscriber and get immediate access to all of our subscriber-only content and much more.

Learn More and Become a Subscriber

Historic buildings tell stories and are integral components of our community’s identity. They also present intriguing opportunities for our future. Finding a balance between leveraging the rich historic assets we have in Central New York with our desire for more modern, and greener, building solutions requires a commitment to long-term community planning. To be successful, this process must embrace collaboration among communities, promote creative solutions for development, and work in partnership with local government.

Tap into brainpower

The first step in good community planning is taking advantage of the collective brainpower in the region. It sounds easy; bring together the best minds — developers, designers, business, and government leaders and community members — to create a plan that addresses current needs and future implications. Unfortunately, this opportunity for collaboration is often missed. Decisions that shape the landscape of our communities are commonly made in a vacuum, devoid of group thinking and public consensus.

For a good blueprint, look no further than the community discussion regarding the future of I-81. To some, the public input process may seem long and protracted. This is a necessary step, and one many communities forgo in search of a quick fix. Gathering input takes time and requires broad engagement, but it’s time well spent. This is a community planning exercise on a scale that our region has never seen. No matter the outcome, the I-81 opportunity (it was once called “a challenge”) has done a great service in raising public awareness for the community planning process. It underscores the key point that decisions we make today impact generations well beyond our lifetime — thoughtful and inclusive planning is critical.

Good community panning

The I-81 conversation has opened a window into the community planning process. We must take advantage of this positive momentum to build a region-wide strategic plan that preserves older infrastructure while understanding the need to modernize our built environment. The historic landscape of our region doesn’t reside in a single town, city, or village. Municipalities, businesses, and economic-development organizations should be working together, not individually, to create a vision for the future that brings together the old and the new. Having a plan in place assures continuity across the region, shares the benefits of group thinking, and allows us to continually flexibly make course corrections as things change.

Creative spaces

There are many recent examples of how creative thinking has enabled our community to re-imagine and re-use older public spaces, embracing modern technology while preserving local history. The block of West Street that is now home to WCNY Studios and ProLiteracy was a metal shop and a series of warehouses in the late 1800s. As recently as 10 years ago, it was destined to be demolished. Today, thanks to a concerted effort led by west-side citizens and businesses, and with help from government agencies and Syracuse University, the area is a thriving business district.

In 2011, our firm renovated an adjacent building on the near west side; it was home to a farm equipment supplier in the early 1900s and vacant in recent years. It reopened as downtown Syracuse’s first LEED Platinum-certified building, and today serves as our company headquarters. The Red House opened earlier this year in the renovated, and completely re-imagined former Sibley’s building (now known as City Center). And, soon the State Tower Building, the Art Deco downtown office tower built in 1927, will re-emerge as a mixed-use facility, welcoming residential tenants for the very first time. These cases illustrate how unused, deteriorating, or underutilized public spaces, no matter their age, represent opportunities to shape the future of our community. We must continue to support and promote creative new solutions for our older spaces.

Impact of government

There are two key ways government is integral to preserving local history and promoting the productive reuse of older infrastructure. One is historic tax incentives, which we have — for now. The other is up-to-date and uniform zoning and planning rules, which we do not have, but desperately need. Thankfully, historic tax credits remain available to worthy projects that protect and enrich our most treasured community assets. Without them, we wouldn’t have the beautifully restored former Hotel Syracuse, now called the Marriott Syracuse Downtown. We need to make sure these incentives remain in our community planning toolkit.

One of the biggest obstacles facing local development right now is out-of-date zoning and planning rules. Here we are in 2018 and we’re working with towns and villages that have zoning rules that haven’t changed substantially in more than 60 years. This is wide-spread and debilitating to development. Re-zone Syracuse is a smart and much-needed initiative that will positively influence growth in the city of Syracuse. Neighboring towns and villages should follow suit. In doing so, there also needs to be greater uniformity in rules from one municipality to the next. This requires collaboration among planners and a commitment to more frequently review and update older rules that have become obsolete.

Thanks to the Erie Canal, once the economic hub of the Northeast, our Central New York region has a unique and rich historic infrastructure. The connective tissue of our history runs throughout the city of Syracuse and in and around the neighboring towns and villages. The current wave of historic-revitalization projects in our community illustrates that preserving history and embracing modernization are not mutually exclusive, or cost-prohibitive. To maintain this momentum and embrace new opportunities ahead of us, Central New York communities need to work together to create a vision for the future. Get involved and engage at any level to help frame our path forward as a community and upstate region as a whole.

Kirk Narburgh is CEO and managing partner at King + King Architects in Syracuse. The firm, which employs 64 people, is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year.

AISHA JASPER

People on the Move, Subscriber Only

AISHA JASPER has joined Visions Federal Credit Union as the new community development liaison. She holds an MBA and nonprofit management degree from the University of South Australia. Most recently, Jasper led the BEAM program at Broome-Tioga Workforce NY, where she reintroduced adults to higher education via financial education and community resources.

Already an Subcriber? Log in

Get Instant Access to This Article

Become a Central New York Business Journal subscriber and get immediate access to all of our subscriber-only content and much more.

Learn More and Become a Subscriber

DR. JINLIU (GRACE) WANG

People on the Move, Subscriber Only

SUNY has appointed DR. JINLIU (GRACE) WANG as SUNY Polytechnic Institute interim president, effective July 1. She will also continue in her role as senior vice chancellor for SUNY Research and Economic Development. She replaces Dr. Bahgat G. Sammakia, who stepped down on June 30 to return to Binghamton University as VP for research.

Already an Subcriber? Log in

Get Instant Access to This Article

Become a Central New York Business Journal subscriber and get immediate access to all of our subscriber-only content and much more.

Learn More and Become a Subscriber

Get our email updates

Stay up-to-date on the companies, people and issues that impact businesses in Syracuse, Central New York and beyond.

Get our email updates

What's New

Upcoming Events

Annual Nonprofit Conference 2026

Tompkins Chamber Small Business Roundtable

Tompkins Chamber Business After Hours

CNYBJ Job Board

Get Instant Access to This Article

Get Instant Access to This Article

Get Instant Access to This Article

Get Instant Access to This Article

Get Instant Access to This Article

Get Instant Access to This Article

Get Instant Access to This Article

Get Instant Access to This Article

Get Instant Access to This Article

Get our email updates