When I was just a wee lad growing up in Ireland, there was a pride about the Waterford crystal brand that was unique. My mother took out the Waterford goblets about once every millennium and God help you if you broke one.
Today, Waterford announced it was going into receivership which in Irish financial terms is a cross between Chapter 11 and bankruptcy. The company has been decimated by a strong euro, changes in consumer demand and now the global credit crisis.
When former Heinz Chairman Sir Anthony O’Reilly acquired a significant stake in Waterford back in the nineties, few could have predicted the almost non-stop hemorrhaging the company would suffer. Acquisition of another financially challenged but superb English brand name Wedgwood did not provide the strategic oomph or supply chain benefits expected.
In a year (2008 or 2009 – take your pick) when many fine companies are likely to bite the dust, the demise of Waterford may not garner significant attention outside of Ireland. As a Chicago based Irish keynote speaker, I take particular pride in the successes of my country and incur a deep sorrow when I see it struggling right now. Today 800 people in the city of Waterford don’t know what the future holds for them, but it doesn’t look pretty. I wish them well and know that the indomitable Irish spirit will prevail.
On a personal note: I do not know Sir Anthony (Tony as he was in his Heinz days) O’Reilly, but I can relate one genuinely positive experience I had with the man who today resigned from the board of Waterford having invested and lost somewhere north of 400 million dollars in the company. When finalizing my book, Why Ireland Never Invaded America a few years back, a mutual acquaintance gave me O’Reilly’s contact details. I was brazen enough to send him a copy of my manuscript with a few suggested testimonials for the back cover. He ignored them all. To my surprise he obviously read the manuscript and then penned a wonderfully literate and prosaic testimonial. O’Reilly is a master story teller and business humorist and I truly do appreciate the following words which brilliantly captured the essence of Why Ireland Never Invaded America: “An enchanting mélange of good business sense wrapped in a mixture of Irish situation comedy and straightforward whimsy. …..I believe this book has a little something for everybody on life’s tumultuous voyage.”
An extremely literate man, I offer him these words from another wonderful Irish raconteur Oscar Wilde and know that he will live them – “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”
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