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Business is the lifeblood of our economy. It shapes the future of our society and is the economic engine that fuels innovation, funds education and creates the conditions for growth and opportunity.
I first witnessed this 16 years ago when joining then-budding Indianapolis-based software company ExactTarget. The company’s driven, smart leader, Scott Dorsey, did the seemingly impossible. He built a global tech company in the middle of America and pioneered a new way to connect people, brands and organizations through then-emerging channels like email, mobile and social media.
As a leader who rose through the ranks in marketing to serve as the founding investor relations leader, I saw firsthand the power of storytelling and the opportunity to serve a community by building a business. Scott led the company to greatness and was rewarded with a $2.5 billion acquisition by Salesforce in 2013. And he did it all while serving our community and coaching his daughters’ basketball teams.
Scott’s unwavering focus on service (and family) was the example I needed. As a guy who grew up in rural Indiana, I had little exposure to business. I caught the journalism bug in high school while serving as a correspondent for the Tipton County Tribune—so much so that I joined the Army as a journalist and served on active duty for five years. I went on to serve in Iraq as a civilian Army public affairs leader and later with Nate Feltman, who was then secretary of commerce under Gov. Mitch Daniels. Service was in my blood, but it wasn’t until I met Scott that I understood that service and business are two halves of a powerful whole.
Since my days in tech, I’ve taken Scott’s approach to lead teams in agriculture at John Deere retailer Reynolds Farm Equipment and most recently at AgriNovus Indiana. At every step, I’ve relied on the power of storytelling to inspire and enable teams to accomplish tremendous results.
This week, I begin a new chapter in my quest to serve by starting as president and shareholder of IBJ Media, the parent company of IBJ, Inside INdiana Business and The Indiana Lawyer. Never before have I been more optimistic about the future and the opportunity to build the next chapter of IBJ Media with my former colleague and longtime friend IBJ CEO and Publisher Nate Feltman.
For more than 40 years, IBJ has provided leaders a trusted source for business journalism. The team has pioneered innovation, and under Nate’s leadership, it has accelerated focus on new channels, including through its acquisition of Inside INdiana Business and the launch of new events, programs and a podcast network. There’s a contagious commitment to meet readers, leaders, listeners and viewers where they are. It’s a commitment that sounds strikingly similar to the call to action Scott Dorsey espoused more than a decade ago—deliver the right message to the right person in the right channel at the right time.
In a crowded media environment where increasing numbers of people and organizations are content creators, rising above the noise won’t be easy, but I am confident we will do it. We will continue to differentiate by producing trusted journalism, developing products that meet the needs of subscribers and advertisers alike, and creating unique experiences that unite leaders across industries and across the state to build a better tomorrow.
Let me know what you would like to see in this next chapter of IBJ Media via the channel of your choice—mfrazier@ibj.com, @mitchdf or at linkedin.com/in/mitchfrazier.•
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Frazier is president of IBJ Media.
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