When we heard of Edward Lampert”™s decision to take his talents to South Beach (it”™s getting to be a familiar phrase in Greenwich, isn”™t it?) all we could think of was this: ESL, we hardly knew ye.
When the American media is forced to collectively turn to an eight-year-old BusinessWeek article for information to accompany ESL”™s epitaph in Connecticut, there is something wrong with the equation.
In Fairfield County, we”™ve come to live with these opaque oddities in our midst, these hedge funders who wield opulent wealth but live in secluded communities.
We welcome their presence and more so ”“ we see them as exhibit A for the American promise itself, of what an entrepreneurial, smart and sophisticated person can accomplish in this country on the merit system alone.
We only wish they could be more.
If you want exhibit A for a locally based company that matches local community commitment with national initiatives, proceed to Pitney Bowes.
From local Earth Day activities and health initiatives for its employees, to national reading initiatives and its “Holiday Cards for Heroes” military mail drive, Pitney Bowes epitomizes a company that sees itself not just as an engine of prosperity, but as an integral part of the community.
We pick on Pitney Bowes just because it makes it so easy, but you could fill the pages of this week”™s newspaper with other companies and individuals”™ that do pitch in around here.
But name a hedge fund”™s effort in Connecticut. Try to Google it. You”™ll come up with some significant initiatives in New York City, but not many instances in Fairfield County of a hedge rolling up its sleeves and diving in ”“”“ despite promoting charity as an aim of the Connecticut Hedge Fund Association. Yes, in New York City where admittedly the needs are greater, you will hear plenty about Paul Tudor Jones”™ Robin Hood Foundation, Hedge Funds Care, etc. You just won”™t hear much here where so many of them live and work.
That doesn”™t mean hedge funds are not doing anything locally ”“ probably plenty behind the scenes. But part of civic leadership is leading in a visible way. The checks are welcome, of course ”“ but just as important is the moral oomph that comes from the people who write those checks meeting the people on the street, getting to know them.
Do you know Edward Lampert?
Full disclosure: part of the reason we don”™t is that no member of the Fairfield County Business Journal”™s staff ever reached out to Lampert in recent years. If he ever would have considered a sit-down with us, we never gave him the chance (there”™s something about gated compounds and password-protected websites that scream “leave me alone.”
But to be fair, Lampert never contacted us either, along with the vast majority of those in the hedge fund industry ”“ so different from so many people around here who recognize business and community as concepts inextricably linked.
The great irony is that Lampert”™s very public alter ego is as chairman of Sears Holdings Corp., which as much as any company in American history is linked to the concept of community ”“”“ thanks to its catalogs that brought the country”™s commercial output to towns, whether in the Sun Belt, the bread basket or beyond.
Fairfield County”™s hedge funds are at the center of the world economy, but their managers and employees live right here. If ESL is gone, plenty remain who see Connecticut as the best place in the world to run their business and their lives.
Get to know us.
