A WORD FROM THE PRESIDENT:
IT ALL COMES DOWN TO RELATIONSHIPS

The foundation of business success has many building blocks, but among the most important of them is relationships.

Kenai Peninsula College Anthropology Professor Alan Boraas wrote an excellent piece in the Anchorage Daily News recently in which he talked about the complexities and subtleties of Athabascan languages and just how much information can be contained in a few words. One of the more interesting points he made about Athabascan languages is that there are different grammatical rules governing who is talking to whom. In other words, relationships are actually embedded in the grammar, he said. Our relationships with our business partners and others throughout the Alaska Native community will go a long way toward determining CIRI's future success. How we treat each other, whether we work toward a common goal or whether we attempt to tear each other down, affects those of us who are immediately involved, and it also reverberates out into all of our dealings.

Carl H. Marrs, President & CEO

In the business world that CIRI operates in these days, relationship-building - the human factor - is as important today as it ever has been. We have tremendous technology today right at our fingertips. But it will never replace our need for face-to-face encounters. While getting to know someone has intangible benefits that we can't measure on a scale, it doesn't make them any less important.

In the banking world, loan officers want to get to know something about you before they extend large amounts of credit to you. Oftentimes, much of the information they get from you could be obtained in a questionnaire. But the human factor can be critical in their decisions.

It's the same with CIRI and the business associates who may or may not become our partners in future endeavors. We need to get to know the people with whom we are dealing, and they need to get to know us. If the relationship "clicks," if we discover we have common interests and goals, if we find that we can genuinely respect prospective associates, then we can sit down to the negotiating table.

But just as we are getting to know our prospective partners and assessing them through these face-to-face encounters, they are getting to know us. They are interested in both our actions and our reputation. And the "us" our prospective partners are interested in consists of CIRI as an institution and the individuals on the board and in management who represent CIRI.

I have been giving a great deal of thought to the environment that we operate in as Native corporations generally, and at CIRI specifically. One of our greatest strengths as Alaska Natives can be our relationship with each other, our unity. Unfortunately, however, there are times when our unity can be affected by divisiveness and jealousy. I'm referring to the fact that there is sometimes a tendency for some people to tear down what has been successful, as opposed to working together to encourage greater success.

I worry that at the time of success for CIRI, when our board and management should be building strong partnering relationships that can help future investments, vocal critics within our own family can harm these efforts. Criticism within our own family is fine and sometimes neccesary, but when it is taken public, as it was by the critics this year, the harm can come by damaging the credibility of CIRI as a stable, reliable partner, and by damaging the credibility of those who represent CIRI. Those kinds of attacks don't help any of us.

We at CIRI will continue to focus our attention on building the relationships that will serve CIRI in its business endeavors. It is my greatest hope that all of us, supporters of the board and critics, can continue to offer input as constructively as possible. If we do so, our success can serve as a foundation not only for CIRI, but for all Native corporations.

And the relationships we build right here at home have the potential to be the strongest part of that foundation.

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