Principles – The Story of a Presentation

Winters in Florida are magical; in particular, if you are from Russia. Lucky for me and for the EnerFuel team, our investors were from Russia and we had our laboratory in West Palm Beach, Florida.

EnerFuel was a wholly owned subsidiary of Ener1, Inc. Our role was to develop next-generation technologies in the energy space. In 2011 and in 2012, Ener1 had fallen into bankruptcy and EnerFuel was retooling its fuel cell technology, originally developed for vehicle range extenders, into ultra-high efficiency, multi-fuel telecom tower power systems. In the winter of 2012, our team had completed the first fully integrated prototype of this technology and was ready to unveil it as a pre-production sample. For this occasion, we invited our investors and their representatives to the product unveiling.

For the unveiling, we used a small jug of propane to run our system, which we then used to power Christmas lit oak trees and palm trees. We also lit up a tent which had hotplates of food and a cappuccino machine. To put the cherry on top, we also recharged an electric car developed by our team a couple of years earlier.

All electricity was generated by our fuel cell system, which was the centerpiece of the demonstration. As President of EnerFuel, I was charged with giving a presentation to our investors, to my colleagues, and to their families. This is the presentation that I gave. 

Opening Slide: Principles. “While we are here to admire an extraordinary feat of engineering and science, where we have developed a device that directly harnesses the electrons from a fuel and places them into a conduit to provide electricity at very high efficiencies, I have decided to not talk about technology. Instead, I’d like to share with you the Principles that have made our team come together to achieve our very difficult goals in such little time.”

Second Slide: Companies are built in the following manner: We serve a market and our customers, which have particular needs. We meet these needs through our Value Proposition. This value Proposition is singular, difficult to replicate, and only possible because we have a set of Core Competencies which are built on a set of Unique Company Activities. These unique activities are a mixture of rules, processes, procedures that have been established by company management and by the interactions between employees, partners, vendors, investors, and clients. These activities are dependent on hard assets (facility, location, technology, etc) and on Soft Assets. While Soft Assets are typically discussed as people and process, I want to point to an important (if not the most important) soft asset that binds us together in brotherhood and sisterhood. These are our Principles.

Slide 3: “We are motivated by the Freedom to think, act, and pursue our success. This Freedom makes us responsible for our actions. Management respects your freedom and your responsibility, and so do your colleagues. We also recognize that there is a risk in taking responsibility. In particular when trying to accomplish never before achieved engineering designs and integrations of systems. We do not shy away from the risk. We all understand that success in the fulfillment of a difficult task is happiness. And failure in the execution of a difficult task brings wisdom.”

 Slide 4: We do not have infinite resources, or know all the answers. We are constrained in our capabilities. We don’t have enough money, people, or materials. To overcome these constraints we need to be ingenious, imaginative, and highly innovative. At the end, the beauty of our work comes in part by the limitations of the medium with which we work.

Slide 5: We are all here because we Love. We are here because we love ourselves, our families, our community, our environment, our planet, our work, our clients and vendors, and our personal principles and philosophies. Our work is a reflection of this love. Because we love, we are passionate about our work. Respect for each other’s work means we respect the things our colleague’s love. 

Slide 6: Finally, I want to finish with the story of the Yellow Ipe. In a small town in Brazil, there was a beautiful Ipe tree that gave shade and yellow blossoms to all that passed near it. However, one day, it was cut down senselessly. All who had seen the Ipe during its flowering period felt that falling such a beautiful tree was unjust. Yet, the Ipe was no more and its wood was used for the utilitarian purpose of becoming a common telephone pole. Yet the Ipe had its final revenge. In time, the soul of the Ipe latent inside the telephone pole gained strength and grew roots, branches, and leaves. And when ready, it blossomed again.

We will be like the Ipe. In our life, we might be cut down. However, we never give up. Our silent revenge in overcoming the utilitarian expectations that world places on us is by blossoming with our unique character and value and by making the mundane extraordinary."

Like many other advanced technology companies, EnerFuel did not survive. Nonetheless, it was a place that pushed the boundaries of what was possible and created brave technologies. The ex-employees of EnerFuel are now scattered throughout various companies finding their own way and sharing their Principles.