The recent events happening around one of the most famous of all running events, the Boston Marathon have focused national attention on Boston and made the phrase in my title part of our vocabulary.
I for one have always felt the strength of Boston. The recent fortitude and resiliency exhibited by the citizens and visitors during the terrible bombing incident and the resulting manhunt truly did not surprise me. This is a group of proud and fiercely protective people, who withstand long dark winters, deeply appreciate their heritage while continuing to forge ahead. In fact, two well-known revolutions beyond the revolution which created our country are key to understanding the fortitude and innovation of this great area of our country.
Two Key Revolutions after the Revolutionary War
The two revolutions I am referring to are the Industrial Revolution and the Technical Revolution.
So many of the old plants and mills of New England were changed in a major manner by the Industrial Revolution, however much of this was around Boston not necessarily in it, whereas, Boston played a much bigger role in the Technical Revolution.
Wang and Data General Involvement
My personal involvement with the city and the great people certainly bear that out. In the late seventies and early eighties I witnessed first-hand the huge growth engine created by swarm of newly created and rapidly growing tech companies in the area. Venture funding and more importantly energetic and innovative people willing to take chances while forging ahead created new tech company after new tech company. I was part of both Wang and Data General early in my career.
The excitement and the rapid growth was quite the contrast to the hundreds of years of history built solidly into the landscape. However, the people of Boston embraced both. I quickly realized they were of a different sort, willing to take chances and most of all forge ahead when opportunity presented itself.
Epsilon, Master Software and Fund-Master Fundraising Software
This continued in the latter half of the eighties and into the nineties with my introduction and involvement with Epsilon.
When Master Software creator of the most widely-used fundraising software program Fund-Master was acquired by Epsilon in 1987, I had the opportunity to work even more closely with the wonderful people of Boston. We had a ten year working relationship which was better than most any post acquisition relationships ever seen.
We worked together on many projects where the Boston innovation and fortitude rang true time and time again. Visits to Boston were frequent, especially since we had a customer training center and numerous shared employees there.
Fund-Master Fundraising Software’s Executive Reports and the Fund Raising Effectiveness Project
One of the first key collaborations between the teams in Boston and Indianapolis was modifying the Epsilon large scale customer reports into a module for Fund-Master, which truly changed the fundraising software reporting expectations horizon. FM Executive as we named this creation was collection of numerous key reports related to fundraising effectiveness and achievement. One of the most used was the Gain/Loss report which later became and is still the key foundation of the Fundraising Effectiveness Project created jointly by The Urban Institute and The Association of Fundraising Professionals. Here is the most recent report with the FM Executive Gain/Loss report graphic right in the center of the cover page!
Boston Strong is No Surprise
When I witnessed the acts of courage and selflessness during the recent tragedy are literally the continuation of character traits I have seen over and over by the people of this great American city. Pride and genuine care are such huge motivators in everyday life within New England. Looking out for each other and others is just built into the mindset of those folks. Please allow me to add my personal thanks and praise for bringing those traits to the forefront in a key time of need. Myself, like many others around the world, know the recent events just made the people of Boston and New England even stronger!
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