Gary Sutton Lecture (2002)

Gary Sutton, author of The Six Month Fix, was this year's featured speaker as part of the Reiman Entrepreneurial Speaker Series. As part of his visit to ISU, Sutton spoke with journalism and business students and shared his experiences as a CEO or Chairman of printing, software, retail advertising, aerospace, garbage, burglar alarm, satellite telecom, data storage businesses, and a private college.

Sutton met with businesses in the ISU Research Park and gave a talk entitled "How to Raise Money Now That There Isn't Any". During his talk he reminisced back to his days spent growing up in Ames. (Sutton is a 1960 Ames High graduate and a 1964 ISU graduate in journalism.) In school, Sutton took on a variety of roles including washing dishes at the Broiler, modeling clothes on "Seventeen…Iowa's Most Popular Teen Dance Show," mixing chemicals, wrestling, and serving as VP of the Inter-Fraternity Council. He commented that Ames was a wonderful place to grow up because he was able to participate in an assorted group of activities.

Sutton also gave a public luncheon lecture that was attended by a diverse audience of students, faculty and area businesspeople. At the luncheon , Sutton explained one of the clichés in business. He said, "If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there. In other words, have an objective!" He further elaborated on the cliché by stating that, "You are never going to get where you think you are going because too many things change." He stressed the speed in which the world changes. He said that one of the most important factors to success is being able to shift your focus.

Sutton also shared, "I think the whole lesson is that no matter what, you have to have an objective and drive toward it relentlessly, but you have to be flexible enough to change and understand the near inevitability of change as you go on."

Jason Reiman, Robert Bauer, and Virgil Silhanek, students from the ISU Entrepreneur Club, hosted the event. Silhanek said, "It was great to have Gary Sutton speak at the Reiman Speaker Series. He gave the audience insight on business ventures and turnaround situations. Now I have the knowledge to avoid common business mishaps or quickly rebound from them."

Following the lecture, Sutton participated in a book signing of his most recent book "The Six Month Fix", a book about his adventures in rescuing failing companies.

During his stay in Ames, Sutton also was involved in a brainstorming session with the ISU Entrepreneur Club and spoke to both journalism and entrepreneurship classes at Iowa State.

Sutton and his wife, Nancy, live in La Jolla, California and have two daughters.