‘You Can Do It!’

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We may not want to admit it, but we in the business community of Los Angeles carry a heavy burden. We wonder how we are going to overcome our problems as we fight to survive to fight another day. We read about our city’s economic problems, we look at our company’s financial statements as capital shrinks and we see all the “For Lease” signs as we drive around our magnificent city.

At times it seems overwhelming. But I want to tell you about one man who is the kind of person who overcame obstacles and who helped make Los Angeles a great city. It can again be a great city if we learn from him.

His name is Stan Dashew and he lived by the motto, “You can do it!”

Many years ago, Dashew managed the Addressograph territory in western Michigan. (Some of you may be too young to remember Addressograph-Multigraph Corp., but it made popular business machines.) Dashew did not want to end up as a company man at the headquarters in Cleveland when he got his next promotion. Instead, with his you-can-do-it attitude, he, his wife, a newborn and their 7-year-old son headed off in his sailboat, Constellation. (It’s an appropriate name for a man who reaches for the stars.) He and his family sailed from Grand Rapids, Mich., to Los Angeles in 15 months. An amazing adventure by an amazing man!

After he arrived in Los Angeles in 1950, he founded a series of businesses, some successful and some not so. At every obstacle, he applied the magic words “You can do it!” One day, Bank of America called and told him about an idea for a new product, but the bank didn’t know how to facilitate the data.

Credit card industry

So Dashew invented an automated embossing machine and other business machines that led to the creation of BankAmericard, and the plastic credit card industry was born. Soon Dashew Business Machines, or DBM, was conducting business with American Express, Diners Club, Carte Blanche, and Unicard – which eventually became Visa.

Another breakthrough came when DBM was contacted by the military and Dashew developed an alphanumeric procedure whereby they could automate IBM punch-card data with a new high-speed embossing machine that produced metal ID plates and, later, plastic credit cards. All these companies were based in Los Angeles.

I can’t begin to tell his story in full; he is in the editing stage of a book to tell that story (it is to be named “You Can Do It!”). But I can provide a bit about this man’s fortitude with a recent experience.

A couple of times a month my wife, Jan, and I go to Prego Ristorante in Beverly Hills for Skip E. Lowe’s showcase of talent, and we recently invited Stan to join us.

Stan now has Parkinson’s disease and has difficulty walking, so he invented the Dashaway – a mobility device that’s an improvement from a walker. (He recently sold the company to Dashaway’s manufacturers, so we should begin to see more of these wonderful devices in use soon.) During the evening, a performer was singing songs from Jamaica, and Jan stood up to move to the magic of the beat when I saw Stanley – handicapped and 94 years young – stand on his own, take his Dashaway and join Jan in dancing. Yes, you can do it.

How does his story relate to the business community of 2010? Well, we have many young Stanley Dashews. If the government will just get out of our way, help us and not work to destroy us, there is no reason why these many young Dashews in our community cannot lead Los Angeles back to its former greatness.

Two things must change. First, our elected officials must take a pro-business stance. By that, I don’t mean let the business world run wild, but instead adopt meaningful changes that will make it easier for businesses to succeed in Los Angeles and stop them from leaving for Texas, etc.

Another change that must take place in is the attitude of the unions. The goal is save jobs by adopting realistic and affordable rules in dealing with employers, but that doesn’t often happen. For example, have the Hollywood unions served their members well by causing production companies to film in nonunion states and countries?

Without these two changes, I am forced to switch from an optimistic pessimist to a pessimistic optimist, and we will all pay a terrible price.

What we all must do is remember the slogan and apply it to our lives. You can do it, just as Stanley Dashew did it. If we all do, then Los Angeles can again be a bright star in the sky.

Harold Katz is a partner in a CPA firm in Los Angeles, and he is a frequent contributor to the Business Journal.

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