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An editorial in last Friday's Mt. Express suggested that Sun Valley Company, "our nation's first destination ski resort (sh)ould get off the porch and get itself back on the world's map of skiing." That's the first time I can remember the newspaper broadly criticizing Sun Valley Company, specifically the resort's failure to hold national competitive ski events that draw visitors and skiers, strengthen the brand, and lead to free media coverage - events that had been a proud part of its past. 

Many of you may know from my various writings that I think Sun Valley Company operates in an arrogant manner toward everything that is not the Company - and that the resort's attitude is accepted, even catered to, and virtually never challenged by the business community. That's not to say that Sun Valley hasn't done some very good things for the Wood River Valley. The resort deserves deep respect for the quality of its infrastructure, its state-of-the-art sports installations, its steady and thorough maintenance, great family food, its taste for top quality materials, and ongoing efforts to upgrade its physical plant.  

Of course, locals are spoiled by having a well-managed and lightly-developed resort in which to live and recreate (if you can afford it) with little distraction by visitors. But, beyond enabling the personal pleasures of residents, a community needs to be economically growth-oriented and vital. To that end, Sun Valley Company gets minus marks due to its behavior toward people, both as a business and as an economic partner. In my view, Sun Valley Company has actually prevented our valley from reaching its full economic potential over the past couple of decades. 

I think the majority of valley residents, based on conversations over the past years, would agree with my assessment. Many times, they've shared stories that validate it. Over the next few months, I'll occasionally share more with you, pulling together my research over the past few years. 

For now, I'll describe the first time I realized Sun Valley Company's power over the  north valley. In 1997, I had just moved to Ketchum full-time. I was a business consultant starting to build a local practice. Happily, the new Director and the Board Chair of the Sun Valley/Ketchum Chamber of Commerce asked me to facilitate the Chamber's annual retreat to develop its first long-term strategic plan. This was a great first assignment and we prepared well for it.

Surveys were sent to Board and staff before the retreat to ask for their ideas, hopes, and challenges regarding business growth. Several priorities were identified and we structured the agenda around them. The top three were 1) How to strike a balance between the needs of tourism and non-tourism businesses? 2) How to promote non-tourism business growth, especially through entrepreneurship? 3) What were suitable business niches that the Chamber should pursue to build economic strength?

At one point during the retreat, Board members discussed the relationship between Sun Valley Company and the rest of the business community: Was it collaborative? Was it adversarial? Was there anything different we should be doing? The questions - a diversion from the agenda - weren't resolved, but they were intriguing. Was there a tension that was running below the surface? At the end of the retreat, committees were formed to push out strategy and tactics over the next year for the three priorities. I left buoyed by the retreat's productivity and the Board's open, searching attitudes. Things had gone very well!

The next year, I was again invited to facilitate the Chamber retreat. The Director, Board President and I built an agenda from the previous year's discussion and committee goals. At the start of the retreat I introduced the agenda, but was shortly, and curtly, interrupted by Sun Valley Company's General Manager. Why, he asked, was anyone interested in a balanced focus on tourism and non-tourism business needs? Why were entrepreneurs being mentioned? "We are a tourism economy," he asserted," and that's the only thing we should be focusing on."

Needless to say, the General Manager - who had missed the previous year's retreat - took me by surprise. He continued to verbally attack the agenda and me for presenting it. Silence reigned. The 16 members of the Chamber Board stared straight ahead  like deer caught in headlights or else sat immoveable with downcast eyes. I took in the scene as the silence lengthened. Then, I explained, again, that the agenda was based on the previous year's discussion and subsequent Board work. 

After more attacks and silences, I shifted toward a tourism agenda and the Board's relief was evident. Clearly, we were now on a track that everyone could accept. And there it was: I had moved to a town dominated by one privately-owned corporation that couldn't, or wouldn't, see beyond its immediate tourism interests to the value of the broader economic base. And Board members simply fell in line, later telling me: "If Sun Valley Company wasn't here, we'd have nothing" and "He has lots of clout."  

Thus went one of my more memorable consulting gigs. I had thought the valley a paradise, but there's always a snag (or several) in things that seem perfect. From then on, I kept my eye on Sun Valley Company: its stale branding, its micromanagement, its poor customer service, its exploitative employee practices, its coziness with elected officials, its tiny marketing budget and the Company's implicit expectations that the Chamber serve the resort above everyone else.

Until next week....Jima Rice