INSIDE HAWAII INC.
Bob Sigall, author of "The Companies We Keep," stands in front of the former Linekona School, now part of the Academy of Arts. The building's history is among the tales in his book.
Sigall helps local firms
tell their stories
What was your first business undertaking and how did it shape the rest of your life?
Bob Sigall
>> Job: Marketing instructor at Hawaii Pacific University
>> Accomplishment: Recently wrote a book called "The Companies We Keep" with his students. The book evolved out of an assignment he gave his students to interview the president of any well-known Hawaii business.
>> Other endeavors: Business consultant since 1978; owned his own firm, Creative-1, since 1985; in 2003 launched Management Magic, which provides a mentor to work one-on-one with midlevel managers and supervisors.
I'm a life-long entrepreneur. My father got me started in my first business in the 8th grade, preparing tax returns for my friends, so
they would get refunds from their summer jobs. I was good at math and didn't know I was to young to do this, so I went ahead and did it.
Taxes were simple back then. The Short Form was just half a page with five pukas to fill in. All my friends got exactly what was withheld from their paychecks. I charged them all $5 and they got $100-200 refunds. My dad checked all my work. I went on to have a window washing business through high school and college. When I got my masters degree from U.H. in 1975, I started my first of several companies. In 1978, I was invited to join a business consulting firm and have been doing that for 26 years.
What was the inspiration to make "The Companies We Keep," a class project for your HPU students?
I was asked to speak to the American Marketing Association, HPU Chapter, and my topic was "What to do while you're at HPU besides hang out on the Fort Street Mall." HPU is within blocks of most of our major companies, but most of my students didn't meet business leaders unless they came to our class. I decided to require my graduate marketing students to meet at least one company president, and since they needed something to talk about with them, I asked them to discuss how they got their name, slogan, logo and anything interesting about their history. They brought me so many interesting stories about companies I thought I knew well, that by the fourth semester, I thought it could develop into a book.
Fun facts
Did you know?>> Matteo's was founded by Frank Sinatra's touring chef (Matty Jordan)
>> L&L Drive-Inn's name evolved from an L&L Dairy milk depot.
>> That Charles Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic in 1927 inspired the founding of Hawaiian Airlines.
>> Boulevard Saimin may have inspired McDonald's to serve saimin. Soon after Roy Kroc and several men in suits came in for saimin, McDonald's began carrying it.
>> The Ala Wai Golf Course began as the Territorial Fairgrounds Golf Course. In 1923, it was a single hole, a salmon can in the ground.
Source: "The Companies We Keep"
What was the most amazing little-known fact that came to light about one of Hawaii's best-known companies during the research and writing of the book?
That Hawaii was first in many ways was quite a surprise to me. For instance, the first royal palace in the world to have electricity was Iolani Palace. King Kalakaua was fascinated with technology and met with Thomas Edison in New York in 1881. Four years before the White House had electricity, our little kingdom in the middle of the Pacific had it. And two years after that, in 1888, Princess Kaiulani threw the switch that connected turbines in Nuuanu to streetlights downtown. Out of that grew Hawaiian Electric.Volcano House, I discovered, is Hawaii's oldest hotel. It opened in 1865 as the Crater Hotel on the site of Hawaii's oldest tourist destination, Kilauea Volcano. A fire has burned continuously in its fireplace since 1888! Even when the hotel burned down in 1940, embers were "rescued" and kept going in the museum nearby, until the hotel was rebuilt.I also found out how Tripler came to be painted pink, in researching this book. It wasn't an accident, as many believe. The color -- rose coral -- was chosen to mask Hawaii's red dirt, which would have discolored a traditional white hospital.
If you could meet any of the entrepreneurs featured in your book, which one would it be and why?
One of the best parts of writing this book was that I was able to meet some fascinating people, like Goro Arakawa, Lex Brodie, Bob Sevey and Michael W. Perry. Benjamin Franklin Dillingham would have been an interesting person to meet. At 36, he had the vision and commitment to build Oahu's first railway, linking the plantations to the harbor, 13 years before automobiles came to the islands. And few people know he created Hawaii's first planned community in 1890 -- Pearl City. Initially Pearl City was just the peninsula of land that juts into Pearl Harbor. The rich of Oahu bought homes on the water and held summer and weekend yacht races and parties. All that ended with World War II. While I'm in the 1890s, I would love to have been there in 1897 when Charles M. Cooke, J. B. Atherton, Peter Cushman Jones and several others took their money out of First Hawaiian Bank (then the Bank of Bishop & Co.) and paraded it all around downtown in a wheelbarrow, before arriving at Fort and Merchant Streets and founding the Bank of Hawaii.
How can Hawaii business leaders use this book to enhance their professionalism?
If I can adjust your question slightly, I was astounded that so many Hawaii companies keep their great stories under wraps. They're too busy telling us about today's specials to remind us that they survived tsunamis, hurricanes, plagues, the Great Depression, World Wars, or fires. As a marketing consultant, I see this as a missed opportunity. Knowing the travails our companies overcame deepens our appreciation of them. City Mill has done a great job of sharing its history. Pictures in their Nimitz store show how they were burned down twice and bounced back. I think it helps them contend with their big box competitors. I'd urge other companies with great stories to share them with customers. Put them on the back of their menu or brochures. Put pictures up on the walls. Share the stories in their advertising. Detail them on Web sites.
How successful has the book's circulation been?
"The Companies We Keep" has done very well. It was the No. 1 local non-fiction bestseller last month. The first printing sold out in three months and we had to quickly reprint it. I thought the book would do well, but I never dreamed it would be a best seller. Anyone who's spent much time in Hawaii will find it a nostalgic trip down memory lane. It's a Kamaaina trivia lovers delight. And I have more than 20 games and quizzes to test their knowledge of restaurants, schools, radio and TV stations, hotels, royalty, slogans and much more.
When will the book be updated again? And are you seeking more submissions?
We updated about 100 facts in the second printing, and have been collecting more stories, which will soon be on the book's Web site, www.companieswekeep.com. I know there are many more great stories out there and I'd love to hear them. If you know of a great story I missed, e-mail it to me at Companieswekeep@ Yahoo.com.
Inside Hawaii Inc. is a conversation with a member of the Hawaii business community who has changed jobs, been elected to a board or been recognized for accomplishments. Send questions and comments to business@starbulletin.com.
