Tom Golisano - The Italian Kid Did It: How I Turned $3K Into $44B and Achieved the American Dream

2022 Tom Golisano

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Epub Edition December 2021 9781400229932

ISBN 978-1-4002-2999-4 (eBook)

ISBN 978-1-4002-2989-5 (HC)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021949883

Printed in the United States of America

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To my sister Marie

you are my inspiration.

A close friend suggested I start the introduction to my autobiography with a short list of the highlights of my long and successful life. So here goes.

I founded a multibillion-dollar corporation. I owned a major sports franchise. I launched a political party. I ran for governor of New York State. I was invited to the White House to play golf with the President of the United Stateshe won. I was, at one point, asked to consider running for presidentI didnt. Individually and through my family foundation Ive given $300 million to good causes. What a lifeand it isnt over yet!

For the past two years Ive worked with a professional writer to help me pull the story of my life together. I suppose when youve been involved in so many things and affected so many lives across more than seven decades, colleagues, friends, and family expect you to pull it all together in a book, for posteritywhatever the heck that is. Also, after writing the bestselling book Built Not Born, which was published in February 2020, my literary agent said that people would want to know more about my life. Well, maybewell see.

My ancestral roots lie in the sulfur mines of Sicily. My American roots lie in upstate New York. I grew up in Irondequoit, the son of an immigrant family. We werent poor, but we struggled at times. My brother died a war hero in the Korean War when I was ten years old, which accounts for my poor opinion of politicians. Ive been quoted as saying, Every time a politician mentions war, they should be shot because politicians wage war, citizens dont wage war. My early life was eventful, and I was the sort of kid who learned lessons welllessons that stood me in good stead for all that was to come in my adult life.

The Italian Kid Did It tells my personal story of course, but its also a business story full of lessons and advice, Ill show you how I turned $3,000, a maxed-out credit card, and a business concept that no one thought would work, into a $30 billion company. I founded Paychex forty-nine years ago and am proud to say that I am still chairman of the board, even after taking the company public in 1983a point in a corporations life at which Wall Street often chooses to replace incumbent CEOs. Who would have thought an Italian kid from Irondequoit would have ended up building a business that today employs 15,500 people and services 670,000 customers?

If political intrigue is your thing, the story of how I started the Independence Party in New York State and the political shenanigans that followed are fascinating, and sometimes almost unbelievable. At times, it reads like an HBO television drama series (Im open to offers, by the way). It follows my many attempts to bring a business perspective to politics and to make politicians more accountablebasically, to put people ahead of policy. Along the way, several major name politicians got in the way. Spoiler alertthey didnt fare well!

I give sports fans a behind-the-scenes look at my purchase and management of the Buffalo Sabres hockey franchise, and how I saved the team from having to move out of upstate New York. When I arrived, the franchise was bankrupt and toward the bottom of the league. Within a few years it was rated as the best-run sports franchise in professional sports by ESPN, ahead of 122 major professional sports teams in North America. At the same time, we managed to make hockey affordable for local fans. My secret? Unlike many owners, I ran it as a business, not a hobby.

Ive been recognized for many things, but Im most proud of being known as a philanthropist. Over the past twenty years I have donated more than $300 million to worthy causes personally and through the Golisano Foundation. People often ask me why I am such an active philanthropist. I suppose the simple answer is that you cant take it with you, or perhaps its because I applied for immortality, but didnt get it. My family foundation focuses solely on helping people with developmental disabilities, including being the largest-ever individual donor to the Special Olympics. To date we have given the organization $37 million. Personally, I have had the pleasure of donating to hospitals, universities and colleges, and even a childrens museum. I was asked by President Clinton if I would consider becoming a founding sponsor of the Clinton Global Initiative. I agreed and gave him $3 million to get the initiative off the ground. I continued as the major underwriter and sponsor for eight years, during which time the organization did some amazing good around the world.

Over the years, Ive been intimately involved with about twenty-five companies as a result of entrepreneurs coming to me with intriguing business concepts. Although Im now in my seventies, I am far from retired and continue to invest in new businesses that excite me. Like Paychex, the businesses that appeal to me are those that have recurring revenue.

Some people have called me a contrarian, and throughout this book you will see ample evidence to support that view. I do see things differently and my opinions are not always popular. Throughout The Italian Kid Did It, you will see me side with both Democrats and Republicans, which may lead you to question where I stand politically. Let me explain. Im a fiscally conservative Republican, who is a middle-of-the-road moderate on social issues.

Want more? I give my honest opinion on some of the pressing issues of our time, including social welfare, education, congressional term limits, race relations, substance abuse, and gambling. Im confident that my views will be a source of satisfaction to some and will madly infuriate others. And, you know what? Thats good.

I hope you enjoy this book. If it makes you smile, laugh, shout, scream, cry, get angry, agree or disagree with me, have an aha moment, or make you feel anything in life is possible, then it was worth writing.

Word on the street at one time was that I was in the mob. Maybe it was my name. Maybe it was my background, or the way I acted. Like most things said about me, it was completely false. It was said because people made assumptions. Wrong assumptionsabout me, about what I was doing, and what I really did for people.

You see, a long time ago, when Paychex was in its tenth year and just beginning to thrive, I moved into a suburban house in Rochester, New York. It was well before the company would become one of the largest payroll processors in America, but the company and I were getting some media attention.

Shortly after my arrival in this suburban oasis, a rumor started to spread around the neighborhood. As virtually all rumors are, this one was spawned out of ignorancelargely because no one in the area knew what I did for a living.