Two years to the day after selling MWA Intelligence to Konica Minolta, company founder Mike Stramaglio quietly announced that he was stepping away from the company. When industry colleagues heard the news, Stramaglio was inundated with a flurry of well wishes that was tantamount to a retirement sendoff. All that was missing was a gold watch.
Ah, you can save the timepiece for another day. While stepping down from his responsibilities capped a 15-year run with MWAi (the final two under the KM flag) during an extremely successful 47-year run in the industry, Stramaglio has no immediate plans for spending extended time in Tuscany or any other parts of his beloved Italy. The mountains left to climb are more figurative, and they speak to industry dealers. More on that shortly.
With MWA and FORZA now in his rearview mirror, but never far from his heart, we chatted with Stramaglio about what comes next.
What has the post-All Covered/MWA period been like for you so far?
Stramaglio: On a personal level, been overwhelming positive between the LinkedIn posts, Tweets, emails and phone calls I’ve received. It’s a very humbling experience to hear and see so many things being said about me. It’s just a shock, and I’m thrilled and proud about people having so many wonderful things to say about what I did, my career or some of the charitable works we’ve been involved with. I’m overwhelmed and grateful. It’s been a wonderful few weeks to see and hear all of those things. It also gave me a little inspiration over the last few weeks to actually respond to a number of opportunities that came my way very quickly.
One of the funny things is, people say, “You’ll never retire.” They’re right. I’m not the retiring kind of guy. My contract had run its course, although I could have stayed longer. I have a wonderful team of people there that we worked with for years, but it was a great time to walk away. We had record sales, record implementations, and we hired some fantastic people. I thought it was time to let these guys do what they do best, and I wanted to pursue some other activities. The initial plan was to take a few weeks off, and normally, I’d be in Italy for the first 30 days. But COVID had other ideas.
People kept asking me what I was going to do, so I started a little firm called Stramaglio Consulting. Basically, I’ve been taking on some projects and working on a number of strategies I hope to be announcing over the course of the next 60-90 days. Some of them will be pretty darn welcome in this industry, especially given the impact of some of the challenges that everyone’s been facing. I’m enjoying the moment and working hard.
While you entrusted MWA into capable hands, it had to be tough for you to walk away.
Stramaglio: It was a big struggle for me. I’m very proud of what we built with MWA and FORZA during the last 15 years. I’m a little surprised about how emotional that was and still is. It’s our baby, we grew it and had some fantastic moments around the world. But while it’s emotional for me, it was also emotional in a positive way. For me, I love to see the people I have been working with over a number of years just grab the ball and run with it. These highly-talented people are equipped with the energy, skill and knowledge to take it to even greater levels.
It was not just the FORZA component or the thought of handing off your baby to a talented group of people. There’s the realization, at a very human level, that there are some things you cannot fix, cure or manufacture. When you get to a certain age, you have to realize where you are in the football game of life, the first quarter or the fourth. While I’m still blessed, highly energetic, in pretty good health and feel like I can run a marathon, there is the realization that says, “If you’re going to run a marathon, it’s going to be in the 65-plus age group.” Looking back at a 47-year career, it puts things into the proper context.
The one thing I never wanted to be was that guy who didn’t realize it was the time to let his team run, to let the horses run and not stand in their way. That’s where I ended up. No one wants to be that guy who makes others think, “Man, I wish he’d leave.” I think I timed it right. I wanted to be like Michael Jordan, sinking a three-pointer and walk off the court. I feel like I made the trey, we won, the team is in a great place and they’re going to do well.
Given all of your associations, with the Patriot Pack and The Jillian Fund to name a few, you weren’t really leaving, anyway.
Stramaglio: I think the COVID environment actually positioned me well with quite a few people that are seeking help and guidance in areas I feel very comfortable with, be it technology, mentoring skills or putting packages together for people in whatever it is that’s interesting to them. It’s all about saving money and improving efficiency. My last 15 years have pretty much been all about that. I’m thrilled to have been contacted by some really wonderful and reputable companies and people. I don’t want to tend to 100 clients but I have a strategy and know what it is that I’m going to do.
As long as I have the wind in my sails, I’ll be helping the Patriot Pack and The Jillian Fund. Because of COVID, we had to cancel the official ride, but my friend J.B. and I did an unofficial ride a few months back. I also just returned from an epic 10-day ride to Sturgis, South Dakota, that was an amazing experience.
Do you feel there are any mountains left to climb?
Stramaglio: Yes, there are. I have a couple that I’m really excited about. This particular mountain is going to be fun and I’m bringing in some wonderful people to help me do it. The OEMs and dealers will certainly appreciate it. I’m pulling in some package partnering over the course of the next 90 days, and it really will help the dealer community and help those who are basically looking for applications of new technology—anything from AR to data, even some phenomenal medical opportunities that dealers are getting into already. There’s so much behind it that will help them grow their business, meet their client activity, and take care of things in a safe and profitable way.
When you step away from your day-to-day activities, as much as you’d like to think you’re on top of your game…when you’re working 10-12 hours a day, you’re spending less and less time on your own development and learning. In having the opportunity to step back, a lot of things have come forward that have given me moments of, wow, how did I miss that? Now that I’ve had the opportunity to take advantage of the time and the knowledge coming to me, I’m really excited about the things I’m working on and the people I’m collaborating with. Something is coming soon, and it’s exciting for the industry. I’m going to make sure I have the right equipment and the right shoes, and I’m going to climb those mountains.
