By Brad Balfour
Photo: Ernesto Gonzales

Waiting at the 21 Club for venerable Irish-American businessman John Sharkey, one would expect a person who would appear overbooked forever and demonstrate the impatient breeziness that usually accompanies such an individual. Sharkey displays none of that perpetually harried state so many self-important men of industry display. In fact the gregarious, ever-smiling native New Yorker couldn't be more opposite. Gracious in manner, always the man to acknowledge everyone from the doorman to maitre d'. No secretary calls to set up this appointment. It's John himself, debating on where we can go that's comfortable and quiet enough for taping this discussion.

Conservative in demeanor and dress, low-keyed in style, this charming 63-year old doesn't seem like a trend-setting hotshot. This former vice-president of Corporate National Accounts at MCI hardly seems like someone at the forefront of business trends. Yet there he was, helping transform MCI from a cottage industry mom-and pop-oriented business into one of the big boys. "I originally met with MCI in June of '85 and could see from those meetings that they did not have a clue about large corporate account business," Sharkey explains patiently. "I met with them again in '86. One or two people with the firm recognized what had to be done and I just put on a full-court press. It was tough at the beginning but we did a lot of things the right way."

"We hired the right people, cultivated relationships, penetrated a lot of accounts and took a few accounts that were maybe a couple $100,000 a year which came to bill $125 million yearly. The success helped our stock price, not only based on the productivity possibilities, but because people started recognizing the MCI name-we gained critical mass. With the residential consumer and very small businesses, the competition at those levels is ferocious because anyone can get into that business and set up shop. At that time MCI was afraid to get into the large corporate business. T had been doing that all my life so they got the confidence that it could be done. We were lucky to hire the right people. They took a chance with us. In '86 the company was 2.2 billion, this year it's about 38 billion."

Sharkey is the kind of guy who would say he never met a person he didn't like or least couldn't learn something from. This former MCI executive makes the ultimate mentor, the kind of man who willingly gives time to those who are far junior to him and his breadth of experience because he is forever gambling that such an effort pays off in loyalty and support. It's what makes him a master salesman. Says Sharkey, "I am a real positive thinker so I think you can change people's minds if you're correct and have the right thing for them. We set up operations to cultivate relationships. Forget about selling anything, get them to know you and trust you, they will buy from you. Simple steps, people don't do them anymore." Simple but effective strategies have been Sharkey's signature to his way of doing things in life. "We hired graduates right out of school with no bad habits, in fact no habits about business at all. Many of them now are executive managers and directors. I put a MBA program right on the facilities at MCT through Fordham. We paid for everything and within 18 months our guys and girls had MBA degrees. That way, we cultivated relationships with our own people. People T hired in '86 are still with the company, relationships as well as friendships. In addition, I have many friendships with customers."

The secret of Sharkey's success is a no-brainer but one that's basic to business. "I had the traditional career track. I was a sales trainee, and sold adding machines and calculators on my first job. I was interested in data processing, so I went to work for General Electric and General Electric Time-Sharing. That experience forms the basis of how I look at business now," the bespectacled gentleman explains. After studying marketing management at Iona College, Sharkey attended New York University's Management Institute. He began professional life with Litton Industries, worked with a Silicon Valley voice-messaging company start-up in '82 and then enjoyed work at GE, ROLM Corp, and then MCI. "Those companies taught me good things, look at how Jack Welch runs [GE]. From there, I learned everything I know about how to conduct myself in business. I paid attention to each career move I've made, I never left one company to join another company in the same business. I went from the business machines, to computer time-sharing to remote batch and distributive data processing. Then I went into telecommunications with RoLM, because I saw a blend of data and voice coming." Sharkey not only applied this knowledge to the industries he became involved with but also applied it to the sort of jobs he identified with. "I always stayed friendly with people I could have at my side -- a technical operations manager and a financial type. Very early in my career I cultivated relationships with people like that because when you go into a sales and marketing operation you've got to change everything about it. The finance, the support, the products, the enhancement, the software."

In order to enhance his business skills and not remain static, Sharkey has stressed education, especially his own. "I put more emphasis on learning the skills of business, like negotiating. When I took over the Asian Pacific accounts at MCI, I went to school and studied techniques on how to understand the Asian Pacific. Customs and things of that sort. It was very helpful because people buy for all the reasons that you are not thinking about. If you do everything right and understand their customs and traditions, at least you won't screw up on that level. If you have the right product follow-up, you might be lucky and get the business."

"You have to touch onto every part of the business. When you sell something you should know what the provisioning people are doing. Can they deliver that product? We had a code at MCI --you never, never distort anything to a customer. You might take a few bullets, but you always told them what the problem was, and what the resolution would be. That played well."

Given Sharkey's prediliction for business, it might seem strange that he would retire from MCI just as the corporation accomplished one of the largest mergers in corporate history. "I had been thinking about it for a year. With the merger and the expected changes, I thought it was a good time. The company was great to me; as a result of the merger I stayed around a little longer than I anticipated. We were concerned with the large customers. They were extraordinarily good to me when I left." Of course now that this active elder executive--tiell's Kitchen-raised and second generation Irish-American with relations from County Tyrone and Roscommon-has time on his hands. He is exploring the telecommunications world and digital media advising various players through a company he chairs. He also can devote energy to causes other than improving his standing within his corporate community. "There are several organizations I belong to, one of them being The British American Chamber of Commerce, which does a great job. I am more active in the Irish Chamber of Commerce in the USA. The premiere organization is the American Ireland Fund. They've been around for 25 years. I like what they've done, how they think, and how progressive they are. It's very well organized. Tony O'Reilly had a fantastic vision years ago and put together a superb organization." In addition to these organirations, Sharkey has put his energy into a few other causes. Sharkey notes. "I am proud of the fact that the board of the Smurfit Graduate School of University College Dublin named a chair in my honor for e-commerce.

"I was a little involved with the Prisoner Program," says Sharkey, referring to a program set up in the Irish Republic to help IRA prisoners caught up in the struggle in the North. "My main goal was to see if there was a way I could assist in getting people who I thought should be on the outside rather than where they were. I keep in touch with some of the ex-prisoners. Some had a very hard time when they got out, some could not get work. I found that the people who understand the struggle and problems the most are the prisoners. They have lived through the violence have done the time, and understand that peace is the only way. We helped some of them get positions; some have left the North and are in the Republic. They are living normal lives and are hopeful that the conflict will be over one day."

For this genial man, such concerns run to the personal for obvious reason--his 38-year old son, Brian, is a captain in the Corrections Department. "He doesn't talk too much about it; he's discreet. He will be finishing up at John Jay College for Criminal Justice and is thinking about going to law school." Sharkey adds. "My daughter, Jaclyn, is married and in advertising in New York."

While they have certain traditional values such as strong family ties, the Irish also have this uncanny instinct towards innovation and adaptation, recognizing the need to move forward. Sharkey tends to agree. "In technology they talk of the three I's--India, Israel and Ireland. I love seeing this liaison, this relationship with Israel. It's positive for both countries. You have some great minds on the technology side in Israel and Ireland has just been named the largest producer of software in the world, surpassing the US. That's amazing for a small country like that. Prosperity has come to Ireland. It's great to see because we all have a frame of reference of what it was like seven, eight or 10 years ago.

"Look at they way the Irish go over to Ireland, it's as if they were going to the Hamptons, they go several times a year. I think the only group that had that same connection with the country they had left was Italy--the Italians love going home. Today you go to Dublin and you hardly recognize it. It is still a beautiful town, but it's very hard to get a taxi. A few years ago, you walk out of the Marrion Hotel [sp?] and seven cabbies would be fighting for your fare, now you got to chase them."

Of course, Sharkey's enthusiasm for his Irish ancestry and how it has played an important part in shaping America lies close to home. "The Irish-American politician has really played a part in not only bringing better laws to the country, they have been on the frontlines. Right now it's fashionable to be Irish-American. I think of all the Irish that came over here for a new life in the coffin ships many years ago. That's how we got here; now we own the town."