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Creating connections is essential to building a community. It’s even more important when the people you’re trying to connect with aren’t in the same location. Businesses and companies have always found geographic distance to be a challenge to building a really great community-oriented culture. At Empowered Ventures, the same challenge holds true, which is why we decided to start Empowered Owners, the podcast that takes you inside Empowered Ventures.
In each episode, CEO Chris Fredericks will have a discussion with one of our employees to discover and highlight their distinct personalities, perspectives, and skills while also keeping you in the loop with exclusive news, updates on company performance, and a glimpse into the future plans of Empowered Ventures. Not only is this an opportunity for Chris to learn more about our amazing employee-owners, but it’s also an opportunity for you to hear regularly from Chris and others from within Empowered Ventures.
00:00:00:09 - 00:00:03:17
Mike Jablonski
Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode.
00:00:03:17 - 00:00:38:14
Chris Fredericks
Of Empowered Owners, the community Building Podcast by and for the employee owners of Empowered Ventures. Join us as we take you inside the world of employee ownership, discovering the stories, insights, and sometimes surprising adventures in a family of businesses where everyone's an owner. Now let's dive in. Joining me today on Empowered Owners is Mike Blonsky. Mike is the former owner operator of Whitney Brothers, a 121 year old manufacturer of furniture for early learning and childcare environments that joined Empowered Ventures earlier this year.
00:00:38:16 - 00:00:41:05
Chris Fredericks
Mike, thanks for joining me on Empowered Owners.
00:00:41:07 - 00:00:44:06
Mike Jablonski
Hey, Chris. Good to see you again. You too. You too.
00:00:44:08 - 00:01:05:17
Chris Fredericks
So you and I talked about maybe doing this a long time ago and and the this that I mean, is Whitney brothers is 121 year old company. And like there's so much history there and you have so much history there and it's just a really great company with this fascinating history. So I thought it might be fun to get together and like capture, you know, some of the knowledge.
00:01:05:17 - 00:01:18:02
Chris Fredericks
I mean, there's no way we're going to cover everything that happens in 120 years, but it'll be fun to hear everything you've learned from your time at Whitney Brothers. And. Yeah, and see where it goes. So thank you for doing that.
00:01:18:04 - 00:01:30:16
Mike Jablonski
Happy to share it. First with what I know. Again, as you mentioned, the over 100 years of history. I've got exposed to 25 years of of exposure to it. So I'm happy to share what I've learned along the way. Yeah. Why don't we.
00:01:30:16 - 00:01:37:18
Chris Fredericks
Start with a little bit more about you, just to kind of set it up. So when did you join, you know, Whitney Brothers?
00:01:37:20 - 00:01:58:00
Mike Jablonski
Yeah, I joined Whitney Brothers in 2000, and I had had a career in wood products manufacturing. I had been in the area and knew of Whitney Brothers and sort of have that as a long term goal that I'd had was sort of like the big leagues I'd like to work to for Whitney Brothers one day. And so I got an opportunity to join as, plant manager in 2000.
00:01:58:02 - 00:02:04:17
Mike Jablonski
And I was there. And so, as you mentioned earlier in 2012. So I've had a 25 year career with Whitney Brothers. Yeah.
00:02:04:19 - 00:02:13:12
Chris Fredericks
What about it from afar? Kind of. Did you notice, like when you weren't part of it yet? Like, but you said you were aware of it and knew about, like what stood out from afar?
00:02:13:14 - 00:02:41:08
Mike Jablonski
Yeah. So, you know, always and, you know, working for other small manufacturers, always envious about of the equipment. Whitney Brothers had, the facility they had. They're located in downtown Keene. And so that seemed desirable. People that I knew that had worked there were reputable and it just again, from an equipment just the way they did it, their product line, the fact that they offered a catalog and a website, and it seemed like an awful lot of the way they ran their business, was, you know, first class.
00:02:41:10 - 00:02:51:04
Chris Fredericks
Interesting. So you joined and then, like, did you do research after you joined, like to learn more about the company history or did it just kind of did kind of absorb that over time?
00:02:51:06 - 00:03:08:19
Mike Jablonski
Yeah. So a lot of that came from my, my boss at the time who became my partner, David. And David's father was one of the owners whose parents were one of the owners. And, this is going back to the 1960s. And so David had a lot of stories from when he was a child, when his parents owned it and operated it.
00:03:08:21 - 00:03:15:07
Mike Jablonski
And so I got a lot of history and a lot of stories from David, and then obviously picked up a little more along the way.
00:03:15:09 - 00:03:27:14
Chris Fredericks
Interesting. So to the best of your ability, what if you just give us a there be from the beginning like Whitney Brothers history, like when did it start and how did it start. And, and also maybe the early years, so to speak.
00:03:27:15 - 00:03:49:18
Mike Jablonski
Yeah, sure. Sure. So, started in 1904. Started in the next town over from Keene, a small town called Marlborough in New Hampshire, and started out primarily focused on toys and wooden housewares, little walker wagons and little wheelbarrows and little wooden items. And I think it's just amazing that, it looks back at some of the old black and white pictures of people.
00:03:49:23 - 00:04:18:21
Mike Jablonski
These are water. They were on the mini Wawa River in Marlborough. Water powered equipment. So there was a wheel getting turned by the river with shafts running through the factory, and you'd push a wooden, I'm sorry, a leather belt onto the the pulley to get a machine started. And they were making wooden toys with water powered equipment. And I just think it's amazing that they were able to be profitable, support families and then survive some very, very difficult times during the Great Depression.
00:04:18:23 - 00:04:43:08
Mike Jablonski
World War Two happened during their early beginnings, and I think it's amazing that they continue to think about, you know, what problems we have. And we do have, you know, pandemics and tariffs and things that, you know, interrupt and trip up our businesses. But these are world wars. The Great Depression. So I think about what they did and, you know, kind of have to tip your hat to to what they did compared to what maybe what we'd have to have to go through.
00:04:43:08 - 00:05:01:17
Mike Jablonski
But, you know, so they they were again, they were, they were making wooden toys. And one of the challenges that they ran into early on that I learned about is during the war, they declared pine as, strategic, material or wartime material. And so a lot of their products were made from pine and that they couldn't they couldn't use that.
00:05:01:17 - 00:05:22:12
Mike Jablonski
And after the like the 1940s, after the war. And so they changed over to hardwoods and they never they never looked back once they discovered sources and methods for working with hardwoods. They never they never turned back. So I think that might be one of the things that maybe was, a benefit, you know, from, from the difficult times is, you know, they transitioned into some maybe more higher quality materials.
00:05:22:14 - 00:05:25:18
Chris Fredericks
Interesting. And who founded Whitney Brothers?
00:05:25:20 - 00:05:46:11
Mike Jablonski
So there were three brothers, Mark, Charles and Fred. I still look at my notes. Right. And there were three brothers. And sadly, one of the brothers in 1908, was killed in an industrial action accident in the factory, one of those wooden belts that he had to steer on to the pulley to activate a machine actually got caught up in.
00:05:46:11 - 00:06:03:02
Mike Jablonski
He got caught up in it. Sadly, he he died. But there were three brothers who were the Whitney brothers that started the company. And they were it was passed down to, to family members up until like the 1960s, where there were some folks who were not not with the brothers that were able to to buy into the company.
00:06:03:06 - 00:06:13:03
Mike Jablonski
And that's when the Stabler family, David Stabler, Griffin, Stabler, lower Stabler bought into the company and was able to get it into sort of non Whitney Brothers hands.
00:06:13:05 - 00:06:18:12
Chris Fredericks
So in a sense, if I'm hearing you correctly, there's kind of been three families essentially that have owned Whitney.
00:06:18:12 - 00:06:32:20
Mike Jablonski
Brothers over the whole hundred and 20 years. Yeah. There was one other partner non Whitney brothers, Bernard Barinholtz Bernie Baron also. He was he was in with the ownership for a brief period of time in those 1960s when there things were transitioning out of the Whitney brothers into.
00:06:32:20 - 00:06:34:19
Chris Fredericks
For families, including the Jack Lance's.
00:06:34:19 - 00:06:54:07
Mike Jablonski
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you know, so they've had again, a lot of adversity, Chris, with, fires, there were multiple fires in their facilities, rebuilt, removed, moved to different facilities in Marlborough. And then in 1980 they moved to Keene to the current facility. And that was a that was a big deal to make that move.
00:06:54:12 - 00:07:07:23
Mike Jablonski
There were some environmental changes that they had to make from, you know, paint finishes and things that had to get cleaned up to meet the, the city of Keene's code. And again, I think those, those things helped help the company kind of improve along the way.
00:07:08:00 - 00:07:25:12
Chris Fredericks
Super interesting. What how would you describe the evolution of the product line over 100, 120 years? I mean, toys at the beginning to, you know, institution, commercial grade. Yeah. You know. Yeah. Furniture, you know that it does that when your brother says today like, that's a, that's a pretty big evolution.
00:07:25:14 - 00:07:50:20
Mike Jablonski
It is, it is Chris. And I think that's a big milestone for Whitney Brothers that might sort of get overlooked. Where it went from again, from, from toys and doll cradles and things that, you know, we know in today's age would be clearly imported, unfortunately, would be imported at a low cost. They transitioned again. I attribute that to to Griff stable or David's dad for transitioning from toys into more school early learning furniture.
00:07:50:22 - 00:08:09:08
Mike Jablonski
Again, some of those products could transition into an early learning environment, but other things like easels and bookshelves and storage cabinets became a little bit more prevalent. And that really carried the company that if that never happened, I don't think there'd be a Whitney Brothers in business today, at least nothing but manufacturing in the United States.
00:08:09:10 - 00:08:18:07
Chris Fredericks
Yeah. And but when do you think that that that introduction of not just commodity toys, but other products, maybe higher value products? When do you think when.
00:08:18:07 - 00:08:22:15
Mike Jablonski
Did you think that was starting in the late 1960s into the 1970s.
00:08:22:17 - 00:08:27:14
Chris Fredericks
Okay, yeah. And these don't make any toys today. I don't think that they don't make any toys.
00:08:27:14 - 00:08:47:05
Mike Jablonski
I think things with play value. But, you know, we would, you know, kitchen unit, little sink still refrigerator would have play value. But not not what we think of as a toy that you might see at, for sale at a Walmart or a local toy store. Again, just because they're small and have a lot of, you know, some touch labor, you wouldn't see that typically in the US manufactured.
00:08:47:07 - 00:09:07:00
Chris Fredericks
Yeah. I don't know if this is exactly about when you brothers, but it's it's pretty amusing to me to go all the way back and look at the list of what toys were like, where wheelbarrows, clothes drying racks, wooden snow shovels, like things that are just very adult sounding. But they were considered toys back in the early.
00:09:07:02 - 00:09:24:03
Mike Jablonski
There were some wooden wooden wares, I think you would call some of those wooden wares, and those were, residential products. Like like you said, the snow shovel was is one again that would was it must have been pretty strong to be shoveling snow here in New Hampshire with a wooden shovel. Yeah, but they did. They did.
00:09:24:03 - 00:09:25:05
Mike Jablonski
Amazing. What? Yeah.
00:09:25:06 - 00:09:36:15
Chris Fredericks
What other surprising things have you heard? Or even, you know, learned about the Whitney brothers history? Other moments that really stuck out, other moments that really stuck out to you or, you know, and.
00:09:36:15 - 00:10:06:24
Mike Jablonski
You know, it's just it's it's, you know, it's humbling, Chris, to think again about the adversity, whether it's, you know, fires and fires in a long time, woodworking facilities isn't uncommon. But these are these are fires that completely decimated Bert right down to the foundation and had to had to rebuild fires, floods, the adversity that I think they went through again, wars and depressions and things that, you know, that we would we wouldn't think about today, you know, again, with that long, long history.
00:10:06:24 - 00:10:23:07
Mike Jablonski
And so, you know, when I was owning owner of Whitney Brothers, I thought about those things and thought about, I can't screw it up. Not on my hand, not on my watch it. But, you know, it's been in business over 100 years. I can't screw this thing up. So it was it was quite a burden. But I, you know, have half joking how serious.
00:10:23:07 - 00:10:45:14
Mike Jablonski
Yeah. You know, you don't you don't want to be the guy that sinks the 100 year old company on your watch, you know. So besides other reasons to be motivated, that was another one. Would just so much, so much history there but a lot of adversity. And again, a lot of folks, you know, good folks who would come to work at, at, wouldn't you know, this, that, that was, you know, the ones that I was fortunate enough to work with and learned a lot from, you know, well, a lot of history there.
00:10:45:16 - 00:10:46:04
Mike Jablonski
00:10:46:06 - 00:11:08:23
Chris Fredericks
Something that struck me as I first met you and got to know the company was, I would say, like the pride that you and your team had have in the products, like the actual products themselves, just this really high pride in the workmanship and the design and and that just comes through so strong with the branding and everything with the people.
00:11:09:00 - 00:11:12:11
Chris Fredericks
Was that there when you joined? When you first joined.
00:11:12:13 - 00:11:33:18
Mike Jablonski
It was Chris. And I'd like to say that, you know, our our team took it and really enhanced that and exaggerated that. But, you know, obviously Whitney Brothers always had products that were regarded in terms of desirability and, and durability and, you know, that were the reliable. But, you know, they had to catalog some of the older catalogs from the 1960s and 70s were three or 4 or 5 pages deep.
00:11:33:23 - 00:11:56:11
Mike Jablonski
In fact, many times they wouldn't print the data on them. They would use them for multiple years. And so you look to what we've what Whitney Brothers has been able to do in the last 5 or 10 years in terms of product development, product design, innovation. And that's really been one of the reasons for the for the growth and, and, you know, what Whitney brothers have been able to accomplish in the last five years, in particular, winning design awards.
00:11:56:13 - 00:12:06:18
Mike Jablonski
That's that's not an accident. It's an awful lot of dedicated and knowledgeable people that have been driving that product innovation. That's a big a big competitive advantage for Whitney Brothers in the marketplace.
00:12:06:20 - 00:12:19:14
Chris Fredericks
Yeah. So there was kind of a kernel of that there probably of this pride and workmanship and everything. But then you and your, the folks you, you work with, the team you put together really kind of leaned into that. It sounds like.
00:12:19:14 - 00:12:41:19
Mike Jablonski
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Chris. And you know, a a big driver for that, a big part of that are the folks who know staff members at Whitney Brothers who are currently in education. So I'd be remiss if I didn't mention there. Yeah, my daughter Celia, but there's a number of people who either have been in education or have family members, and we're constantly being reminded of, hey, you know what?
00:12:41:19 - 00:13:05:04
Mike Jablonski
You guys should have or you know what you guys need? And we're always, always listening because we're, you know, we're in Whitney, we're in the business, we're manufacturing, we're woodworkers. We're not early education professionals. So when they speak and say, hey, you know what you're missing in your life, we want to listen to them. And so we've been fortunate to have those kinds of people who have been giving us that type of input in that type of suggestions.
00:13:05:04 - 00:13:27:20
Mike Jablonski
And, and not every suggestion is good suggestion, but we always want to be listening for those. And then if there's a kernel of, good idea or you know, value there, we want to what we call Whitney ize it. We want to bring it to the development team and have them exploited. And, you know, our development team was really fantastic and continues to be great where there's multiple people from different backgrounds and different ways of thinking about things.
00:13:27:20 - 00:13:44:07
Mike Jablonski
There's engineers and the, you know, at the table saying, hey, I hear your idea, but that isn't going to go to the factory very well. Or this, source, you know, supply people are saying, hey, what materials are we going to use for that? We need to make sure that we can get a steady supply of this. You know, that's consistent and, you know, affordable.
00:13:44:09 - 00:13:58:24
Mike Jablonski
And then, you know, you need people that are creative to say, I don't I don't care whether you can make it. This is a really cool idea. And then we just have to witness it and bring it all together. So having that product development team, has been very, very rewarding. I think that's been a key part of the growth.
00:13:58:24 - 00:14:00:06
Mike Jablonski
We've seen it with you about this.
00:14:00:08 - 00:14:02:13
Chris Fredericks
I love it. I love that verb Whitney ize it.
00:14:02:15 - 00:14:04:13
Mike Jablonski
Yeah.
00:14:04:15 - 00:14:26:08
Chris Fredericks
So a business that last 120 years, you mentioned that ghost has to get through adversity. Major periods of adversity I think also probably has to reinvent itself a few times over the course of that movement. We've mentioned, you know, toys to, you know, great new high quality furniture. I think maybe I'm wondering if you would agree with this.
00:14:26:08 - 00:14:34:00
Chris Fredericks
Another reinvention probably happened under your watch. You know, just come modernizing, let's say, you know.
00:14:34:02 - 00:14:34:09
Mike Jablonski
So.
00:14:34:14 - 00:14:45:19
Chris Fredericks
I think you had to put a lot of thought and time and effort into what's the Whitney brothers of the future going to look like? How did you decide to do that? That seems like a big decision to make, maybe even a risky decision to make.
00:14:45:21 - 00:15:09:18
Mike Jablonski
Yeah. And so I think, Chris, you know, when I, when I was hired, my boss, David, at the time, he really valued education. He valued travel opportunity and he really valued outside expertise. And so when I first took the job in 2000, before I actually started work, when we were talking about me coming to work, David said, hey, you're going to, I'm going to need you to go to China.
00:15:09:23 - 00:15:30:03
Mike Jablonski
We're looking at, importing some baby cribs. Baby cribs were big business for Whitney Brothers. There were very few manufacturers of baby cribs in the United States, and they were looking at importing. And he wanted me to go over to China and source some factories and help him make the decision of whether we should import. And so we ultimately didn't.
00:15:30:03 - 00:15:52:08
Mike Jablonski
There was some serious quality issues with and, you know, as you can imagine with infants, there can't be any room for quality issues. But the point is that, you know, David really valued opportunity for travel, opportunity for education to see how other people in the in other parts of the world do things. And then and then understanding that as good as we think we are, there's other people that are experts in certain things that they can.
00:15:52:08 - 00:16:08:04
Mike Jablonski
If we invite them in, they can help us with our business. And so that, you know, that that opportunity, that training that David gave me, that way of thinking really helped a lot. And so some of the ways that you know, I got to see how other other factories were operated, there's, technical tours that go in other countries.
00:16:08:04 - 00:16:24:22
Mike Jablonski
So I got a on a tech tour to Germany that one of the machine manufacturers put together invited us, a small group of Americans, to go over to Germany and travel. We saw the factories where they make the machines, and then we saw some of the factories that use those machines in manufacturing and whether it's kitchen cabinets or closets.
00:16:24:22 - 00:16:52:13
Mike Jablonski
And so we got to see two 300 square foot factories producing hundreds of cabinets an hour, running with 3 or 4 people with automation. And that was just like, wow, like, I know I can't afford that today, but someday. And it's just sort of looking into the future. And it was the same thing with technical tours that I was fortunate enough to travel to Italy and to some other countries that are, you know, sort of lead the way in the woodworking equipment market.
00:16:52:15 - 00:17:12:06
Mike Jablonski
And so getting to see how they are doing things kind of planted the seed to, okay, we can't do all this today or tomorrow, but in time maybe we can develop a path to getting some of these machines and these capabilities in the software and have it have sort of a long term vision. So to to streamline some of these and automate some of these things.
00:17:12:12 - 00:17:25:02
Mike Jablonski
And as you know, because, you know, a lot of young kids coming out of high school, they don't want to go in manufacturing anymore. So it's difficult to find people. So, you know, being able to automate helps us, continue to, to be competitive.
00:17:25:04 - 00:17:41:07
Chris Fredericks
Yeah. That's great. What would you say advice given to business owners, business, other leaders of businesses? Just lessons learned from your career. What stands out for you, like things that you've learned over the. I had 40 years of a really.
00:17:41:07 - 00:17:41:17
Mike Jablonski
Highly.
00:17:41:17 - 00:17:43:00
Chris Fredericks
Successful career.
00:17:43:05 - 00:18:05:21
Mike Jablonski
That's a that's a big, big question. There's a lot of lots of good answers, Chris. But I think I think what comes to mind is people in teamwork. And it doesn't matter what you know, it doesn't matter what you'd like to do or the vision that you have. If you're all alone and your, you know, the folks on your team don't share that vision and aren't are united or aligned, nothing good is going to happen.
00:18:05:23 - 00:18:26:05
Mike Jablonski
And so having a team that understands the goal, and even if it's a mediocre player, if you're all working on it together, you'll be successful. And so, you know, having having key people who who want to be at work, who want to do their best, rewarding them, appreciating them, and getting out of their way when when they've got a good idea and you know, you don't want to trip them up.
00:18:26:07 - 00:18:40:13
Mike Jablonski
Teamwork, teamwork, employee satisfaction of or appreciation that you know, more so than automation, more so than anything technical. It's all good. It's all important. Teamwork. That's, that's what I would say.
00:18:40:15 - 00:18:45:24
Chris Fredericks
Yeah. That's great. You were kind of a keen guy, right? You grew up in the area as well? Yeah.
00:18:46:01 - 00:19:02:04
Mike Jablonski
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So. Yep, yep. Both good and I were keen eye keen state college graduates and we're so we kind of consider ourselves townees. We, we love the area which is great place to raise a family. Yeah. We're we're very, very blessed in and a good place for manufacturing.
00:19:02:06 - 00:19:20:19
Chris Fredericks
Yeah I if I were you that would make me very proud to have been a steward of like if anyone ever comes to Keene, they can see Whitney brothers is right there downtown, like, really great. You know, it's just a visual presence in the in the downtown area. And it's 120 year old employer. I just, I would imagine there's a lot of satisfaction.
00:19:20:19 - 00:19:23:20
Chris Fredericks
And in what you've accomplished at Whitney Brothers.
00:19:23:22 - 00:19:24:19
Mike Jablonski
There is for sure.
00:19:24:19 - 00:19:40:12
Chris Fredericks
Yeah, yeah. Sorry, Mike. One more question then what would you think the Whitney brothers might feel if they if they could look down from heaven? Are they happy that their business that they started 120 years ago is still going strong today?
00:19:40:14 - 00:20:03:16
Mike Jablonski
Absolutely. They're they're they're happy and they're proud of what we're doing? Chris. And I can say that with with somewhat confidence, we actually had a, an exhibit at the local historical society and one of the sons, it'll be a grandson to one of the founders. His name is Richard Whitney. Richard is a is an internationally renowned artist who lives in Stoddard, New Hampshire, just north of Keene.
00:20:03:18 - 00:20:23:01
Mike Jablonski
And Richard came to the exhibit and sought me out and said, my dad would be so happy. We're just so happy with what you guys are doing. He actually, him and his wife asked if they could come to the factory and get a tour. We gave him the tour and, they he said my dad would be would be amazed at what you guys do and he'd be so happy with you guys.
00:20:23:01 - 00:20:47:01
Mike Jablonski
So I kind of got that blessing, third generation blessing. So I think they'd be happy with addressing the fact that we're employee owned now. I think again, just just rings the bell. You know, and it's funny when when the announcement went out that Whitney Brothers was sold and it hit social media, there were a number of people who were past employees who said, you know, it's really too bad that it wasn't it wasn't sold the employees, they didn't understand what it you know, what it meant.
00:20:47:04 - 00:20:59:24
Mike Jablonski
And there's no it really wasn't. They were saying, it's too bad. So I feel I feel like the Whitney brothers looking down. I think they'd be very, very happy and proud of the work that they did to help get us to this point. I think they'd be very happy with it.
00:21:00:01 - 00:21:13:11
Chris Fredericks
That's so wonderful. Thank you. Mike, this is kind of really great. You know, catching of so much history and a brief amount of time here. But thank you again for choosing and adventures for Whitney Brothers future, and thank you for coming on in parrot owners today. Mike. Really.
00:21:13:13 - 00:21:15:01
Mike Jablonski
You're welcome. Chris. Thanks. Yeah. You up?