ExcErpt from

Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.

KAUFFMAN Thoughtbook

2009

Fourth in an ongoing series, the Kauffman Thoughtbook 2009 captures what we are thinking, learning, and discovering about education, entrepreneurship, and advancing innovation. This collection of more than forty essays is written by the talented Kauffman Foundation associates, partners, and experts who are pursuing the principles and vision set by our founder, Ewing Kauffman. REQUEST YOUR COMPLIMENTARY COPY AT

kauffman.org

2008 by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. All rights reserved.

Ewing Kauffmans Spirit of Entrepreneurship

They called it The marion Spirit. It was perhaps the most potent compound Ewing Kauffman and his associates at marion Laboratories ever concocted as they built one of the worlds leading pharmaceutical empires. . . . there was one more indispensable ingredient in this heady elixir for successthat elusive something Kauffman called The Marion Spirit, wrote Kauffmans biographer and former trustee Anne Hodges Morgan. Ewing Kauffman stirred The marion Spirit by connecting with his associates and reminding them that a group of common people working together can achieve uncommon results. He led associate meetings from the companys loading dock and, when the company outgrew that venue, he took the stage of the auditorium of the Baptiste Junior High School in Kansas City, missouri, for quarterly marion on the move meetings, where he praised associates and set expectations even higher. When Ewing Kauffman told his associates, Youre the best, they not only believed him, they delivered. from the time he opened for business, operating out of the basement of his modest Kansas City home, until the day he relinquished control of the company in 1989,
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Excerpt from Kauffman Thoughtbook 2009. 2008 by the Ewing marion Kauffman foundation. all rights reserved.

- E w i n g K a u f f m a n s S p i r i t o f E n t r e p r e n e u r s h i p -

ewing Kauffman addressing associates from the marion laboratories loading dock.

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mr. Kauffman built marion Labs into a fortune 500 company with 2,500 local associates and the areas most widely held stock in the late 1980s. associates remember the company earning revenues of $23 million a year in 1970 and growing to generate $23 million a day in the span of two decades. mr. Kauffman liked to say that marion Labs was built on promises. and the promise paid off for his loyal associates.

In fact, its estimated that more than fifty companies in the Kansas City area alone trace their roots to marion Labs.

When marion Labs merged with merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc., more than 300 marion associates became millionaires, with estimates saying the company entrusted a total of $775 million to its associates. a Legacy of Innovators Today, fifteen years after Ewing Kauffmans death, marion Laboratories has been reconfigured into the corporate lineage of a handful of pharmaceutical firms, but you will find embers of The marion Spirit sparking innovation and fueling the growth of scores of businesses. Sprinkled throughout the united States, and following in the footsteps of Ewing Kauffman and marion Labs, a number of firms dot the landscape of corporate america. In fact, its estimated that more than fifty companies in the Kansas City area alone trace their roots to marion Labs. In addition to spanning a generation of entrepreneurs, marion has been credited with helping to foster the development of an entire industry in the Kansas City region. The areas burgeoning life sciences economy has been fueled by research universities, leadership in the animal health
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and plant sciences sectors, and one of the nations leading concentrations of large contract research organizations for companies that are going through clinical trials. Heres a partial list of marion associates who carry the spirit of entrepreneurship forward. Joe Brandmeyer founded Enturia, which produces ChloraPrep, a preoperative skin preparation. James Laufenberg founded ImmunoGenetix Therapeutics Inc., a biotechnology company created to commercialize HIV research. Diane Seif launched RxCCI, a pharmaceutical consulting firm, before opening DVA Enterprises to advise emerging entrepreneurs. Tom Olofson founded EPIQ Systems Inc. with a team of former marion associates to provide proprietary software for legal firms. Bob Jewell started Network Integrations Services to design integrated business networks. Frank Capan founded InTouch Solutions to provide information technology to pharmaceutical companies. Michael Beckloff opened Beckloff & Associates to help companies obtain marketing approval for drugs, biologics, and medical devices. Nancy Lang founded Cultural Horizons to provide consulting for global business development and international markets. Larry Wheeler founded Boasberg\Wheeler Communications, which offers marketing communication services. Rip Grossman founded Grossman & Associates to provide international health care consulting.

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Vicente Anido Jr., a serial entrepreneur, now heads ISTA Pharmaceuticals, which develops ophthalmology treatments. Judith Hemberger opened Pharmion with a team of marion associates to develop cancer and hematology treatments, including Vidaza and Thalomid. Peter Higuchi founded CyDex to produce Capitsol, a compound that makes drugs water-soluble, before joining former marion colleagues James Byrnes and Susan Prather at airPharma, to develop Zofac, an asthma medication, and axifa, an anti-inflammatory compound for cystic fibrosis. Barb Geiger founded Worldwide Clinical Research to provide clinical research services for biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. Larry Downey founded Teva Neuroscience, which is brimming with former marion associates, and which markets Copaxone and azilect to combat multiple sclerosis. The list goes on, and so does The marion Spirit. The Kauffman legacy is just one of the ripples of entrepreneurship. It demonstrates the impact of a single entrepreneur making lives better with an innovation, creating hundreds and even thousands of jobs, and growing the economy locally, nationally, and globally. The entrepreneurs grounded in the marion way brought more than technical expertise to their new endeavors. many of them reinvested the share of the money that came to them with the marion merger to get their ideas off the ground and ultimately create even more wealth. Their businesses continue to thrive, adding to Ewing Kauffmans legacy. Its The marion Spirit; the spirit of entrepreneurship.

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