Tulsa World: The soul of Bama business

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The soul of Bama business
CEO's savvy book is food for thought Tulsa CEO's book chides the short-sighted

Paula Marshall, CEO of Tulsa-based Bama Cos. Inc., sits next to a copy of her book, "Finding the Soul of Big Business." JAMES GIBBARD/Tulsa World

By KYLE ARNOLD World Staff Writer
Published: 10/23/2009 2:20 AM
Last Modified: 10/23/2009 3:59 AM

After 25 years of running the family business, Paula Marshall has a lot of stories to tell about Bama Cos. Inc.

But the CEO decided to skip those tales and instead write 159 pages about the guidelines that helped her company succeed.

Marshall released her first book, "Finding the Soul of Big Business," earlier this month and will be available for a signing at 2 p.m. Saturday at Steve's Sundry, Books & Magazines, 2612 S. Harvard Ave.

"I wrote more than 400 pages, but my editor told me to make it real focused, and we cut it down to under 200," Marshall said in an interview.

Bama Cos., which employs 1,000 people in Tulsa and has another operation in China, makes a variety of foods for some of the world's largest retailers, including McDonald's Corp., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Yum Brands Inc., owner of the Kentucky Fried Chicken and Taco Bell chains.

Bama Cos. has been making food in Tulsa since the 1930s.

Marshall started writing the book four years ago, and during the process watched as the stock market imploded and the economy collapsed. She contends it was brought on by the egos of people running Wall Street and companies across the nation.

"My main theme is changing the way business is done," Marshall said.

What the book lacks, intentionally, is a focus on Bama's operations. Of course, that was all covered two decades ago by her father, Paul Marshall, in his book "A Piece of the Pie." It detailed the rise of a pie maker to a supplier, and how

the company got its first big contract producing apple pies for McDonald's.

Marshall said she already has plans for another book, a case study about how Bama Cos. became complacent early in her tenure as CEO and nearly lost a major customer.

"My publisher had this suggestion that I needed to write more of a business case focus on different types of systems that can be used to remove the greed from the workplace," she said.With her first foray into writing, Bama Cos. CEO Paula Marshall has produced what could be called an anti-business book at a time when business isn't all that popular.

Sure, Bama has built a 1,000-person food manufacturing operation in Tulsa over eight decades, and the company has continued to grow under the direction of Marshall during the last quarter century.

But "Finding the Soul of Big Business," released earlier this month by Yorkshire Publishing, is a one-person management manifesto about how to run a private company with a long-term focus.

Marshall takes a swipe at Wall Street firms for their focus solely on quarter-to-quarter results, and at MBA programs and the tyrannical chief executive.

Even the book's subtitle, "One Company's Ego Elimination Strategy," gives a not-so-subtle hint that many companies and CEOs possess warped priorities about running a business.

"What if management's job was to keep the company in business for twenty-five, fifty or one hundred years," Marshall writes. "I can assure you the decisions would be dramatically different if they were managing for three generations from now, instead of next quarter's profit."

Marshall's book is a mix of the philosophies that have made her a successful CEO of a multimillion-dollar business. She mixes the constant improvement philosophies of Six Sigma with management philosophies of W. Edward Deming and Stephen Covey.

"Too often CEOs are focused on the bottom line, the share price or the latest Wall Street analysis," she writes. "Reporting statistics and share earnings does not qualify a manager as a leader."

"Finding the Soul" gives some tried and true advice for owners and managers looking for a way to create a better business atmosphere and improve productivity. In the book, Marshall rails against fear-driven workplaces, quotas and ranking systems.

While the Marshall name may be known only locally and in food industry circles, the same book written by Warren Buffett would be on best-seller lists everywhere and extolled as the new way to think about business.

Kyle Arnold 581-8380
kyle.arnold@tulsaworld.com By KYLE ARNOLD World Staff Writer

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Some reader comments for this story were copied from "Bama CEO writes book on "soul of big business"," which was published on 10/22/2009.

	Report Comment Corvetteguy, Tulsa (10/22/2009 6:45:39 PM) I'll buy that book. I'm dying to see if Paula Marshall has any regrets about being former Mayor Susan Savage (arguably the worst Mayor in Tulsa's 100 year history) biggest supporter during her nearly 10 long years in office. You remember, the same Mayor Savage that missed up the opportunity to get the Oklahoma Aquarium along the river bank in Tulsa's River parks. You know,.... that aquarium that was the spark that caused Jenks to shoot past Tulsa in prosperity. I can't wait to read her comments about Savage. The same Mayor Savage that visiusly attacked her critics. Man,...that should be good.
	Report Comment Guillermo, (10/22/2009 7:49:14 PM) Savage was a great major for this town, I moved from Chicago, lived in Portland and talk about mayors. Look at the tenacity and determination that this women presented all for $1.00. What have you done for his town but complain, get out and do something, plant a tree, pick up trash, do somthing for you fellow man and quit complaining about one person that got things done!
	Report Comment Bullhead, - (10/22/2009 8:20:23 PM) Love them Bama Pies! And they're bite-sized too!
	Report Comment tulsaGuy, (10/22/2009 9:43:39 PM) Bama has under 1,500 employees. In the U.S, there are nearly 6000 companies with more employees. How about 'soul of a medium sized business.' ???
	Report Comment KYCane, Crestwood (10/23/2009 6:47:04 AM) Love those little Bama pies! Brings back great childhood memories!
	Report Comment googler#9, (10/23/2009 7:13:28 AM) Is Ms Marshall single? So am I!
	Report Comment What the ?, OK (10/23/2009 8:53:49 AM) Corvetteguy sounds bitter about something.
	Report Comment Mar, Tulsa (10/23/2009 11:15:39 AM) Well, I was gung-ho and proud of Bama...that is until I read that they have a plant in China. Why not a second plant in the U.S. instead of China?
	Report Comment FYI, (10/23/2009 11:23:08 AM) Mar - the reason is that the China plant services McDonalds in China, and is a McDonald's requirement.
	Report Comment KYCane, Crestwood (10/23/2009 11:56:53 AM) Put the book on my Xmas wish list. Ought to be great reading that'll help w my graduate work.
	Report Comment WhereIsThought, Raleigh (10/23/2009 2:32:40 PM) While briefly out of work in Tulsa radio, I worked in the Bama warehouse in the early 80s. The job got me back on my feet, but spending 9 hours a day in a sub-zero freezer was not easy! I sure got in shape in a hurry, but my co-worker was so lazy, he couldn't see fit to empty the freezer full of pallates I had stacked, so I walked away and let him handle it. I would feel guilty about that, but I was working my butt off! :)
	Report Comment Corvetteguy, Tulsa (10/23/2009 3:07:22 PM) Sorry, What the ? I am a little bitter to see the incompetence we have had in city leadership for well over twenty years. Not all were bad, but I think most would agree that Tulsa has not had a great leader in the Mayor's office for a long, long time. We really need to clean up out act as voters. Anybody can make a mistake with your vote for your Mayor, but keeping a loser in for ten years is inexcusable. The first warning sign is if you only see your Mayor cutting ribbons and taking credit for herself, or himself,..... and never around when news is bad.
	Report Comment Few Clothes, America (10/23/2009 3:51:23 PM) Shucks. I thought it was a story about Alabama. lol. I also enjoyed those pies when I was growing up.
	Report Comment beau3985, Tulsa (10/23/2009 4:09:47 PM) Mar, Because US workers demand fat paychecks and the Chinese will work for pennies a day. If you owned the business, would you keep it here with such high labor costs? I wouldn't.
	Report Comment cehavens, Vernonia (10/23/2009 4:45:46 PM) I worked for Bama for 10 years in the '90's and '00's. There's many skeletons beyond those walls.
	Report Comment Corvetteguy, Tulsa (10/23/2009 8:25:22 PM) cehavens, tell us about some of them.

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