Three decades ago, the Thomson Corporation was a midsize media and publishing firm that had invested in Canadian, Scottish, British and American enterprises for five decades. But it had not quite settled on one formula for success. That began to change when it hired talents like Dick Harrington, who joined Thomson in 1982. After twenty-six years serving in leadership positions and managing $45 billion in transactions for them, you transformed the company into an information services giant, leading the firm through the most tempestuous decade in the history of print and media – to emerge on top.
After CM, which you credit with teaching you to take success in stride, you graduated from University of Rhode Island and earned your CPA before joining Arthur Young & Co. as an accountant. You joined the Thomson Corporation in 1982 not under the leadership of any one particular guru or mentor, but rather with the freedom to direct your own path. “The most important thing about Thomson was that they let me run independently,” you say, “but you sank or swam based on your own abilities.”
Your abilities brought you far – first to CEO of Thomson Professional, then to CEO of Thomson Newspapers, and finally to President and Chief Executive Officer of The Thomson Corporation. When you retired from that post in 2008, you had overseen Thomson’s ascension to the top of the information services world. Under your watch, you changed the company from print to digital and built it into a dynamic “owner and enabler of information,” as you put it, for academics, businesses and professionals worldwide.
Thomson CFO Bob Daleo, who recalls the tense times in 1997 when you delivered an ultimatum to the board, arguing that two CEOs weakened the company’s position and even offering your resignation for the good of the company. “He just said, ‘I have to stand up for what I believe in,’” recalls Daleo. “It was a pretty good measure of a man. It took a lot of grit, but he stuck with it and was appointed CEO [instead]. He was right.”
During your tenure as President, Thomson more than tripled in value and quadrupled in cash flow. In your last act as president, you oversaw the acquisition of Reuters, an ambitious venture that expanded the reach of the company into every part of the world. You built up the company in a deliberate, measured way. “Most businesses, big or small, try to take on too much,” you say. “At Thomson, I had some of the most talented people in the world working for me. But do you want them to move five things a mile or twenty-five things an inch? The more you take on, the less the organization has the ability to accomplish.”
Of all your honors, however, you say you are proudest of the Heart of Gold Award you received from Fairfield County, for instituting a global volunteer program for all Thomson employees. “I received it on behalf of everyone in the company,” you say, “but it was an honor, because it showed that our program was working.”
After a year of ensuring the viability of the Thomson Reuters Foundation in 2009, you have now put your creative energies to work in helping establish Cue Ball Capital, helping startup businesses get off the ground. Back in Boston, where you got your start as a delivery boy for the Pioneer Store in West Roxbury, you are now sharing your wisdom in nascent ventures from all-natural burger restaurants to StyleSight, an electronic fashion database company. What better way for a man named a “Legend in Leadership” by Yale and CEO of the Year by the Executive Council to share his wisdom, than with those who aspire just as fervently to America’s entrepreneurial dream.
Clearly, your leadership is admired from afar, as the Xerox Corporation, Aetna, Milliken, MiniLuxe, Knovel and StyleSight list you proudly as a board member. In your spare time, you help the University of Rhode Island with its fundraising efforts and spend time with your wife Jean and daughter Edina Harrington Meehan.
For a career of prudent decision-making, distinguished by an unmatched business savvy and intuition, and for his unflagging pursuit of excellence in all endeavors, we honor Dick Harrington with the Vince in Bono Malum Award for Professional Achievement.
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