Hamilton Brosious initiating ProSoundWeb's Pioneers of Pro Audio series comes as no shock to those who are lucky enough to know him. Ham, as he is affectionately called, has spent one of his many careers in the Professional Electronics marketplace. During the past forty plus years, his work has spanned newspaper advertising, broadcast, commercial sound, controlling sales management for a small company that grew into Ampex's most effective competitor, then, with Robert Berliner, operating the largest specialized professional audio retailer in the US. Even today, he continues to push the envelope with Digibid. Hamilton is the prime focus here, but we must acknowledge the teamwork that helped him achieve his goals. While his contributions as an inspiring co-worker, manager, and principal represent some of the crucial elements of achievement; the team members he worked with were integral components too.

I hope this article allows more people to see the need to learn from a mentor in their career. I've been extremely fortunate to be exposed to a number of industry leaders. Russ Hamm, Jerry Graham, Gene Perry, Keith Worsley, Ken Berger and Jack Kelly all developed my skills and helped me move forward in my career. Each of them taught me something of what it means to do your job right, but Hamilton represents a uniquely influence. His unique style and force brought me the most with the least effort. When Ham learned about what I was writing, his first comment was that I was going into too much depth and detail (and again he was right about that). He just didn't think about all those factors as it was happening. In my own case, I find myself thinking less and less about the "rules" and just spend more time trying to do what I feel is right. Studying and practicing Hamilton's examples have been a major factor in helping me develop this understanding.

Our relationship began during my years spent in and around New York. Gene Perry, my former manager at Harvey Pro Audio, had kept up our relationship after he became the sales manager at Audiotechniques. When I also decided to look for life beyond Harvey's, I applied there for a sales position. Gene insisted that we meet with Ham for lunch at a Times Square Japanese restaurant. I remember his first comment as (paraphrased): "If you've done anything wrong in this business, you've done an excellent job at hiding it." This occurred after he had turned to the waiter and ordered our meals in what seemed to me and, as far as I could tell, the waiter, like proper Japanese. This led to a discussion about his activities as an infantry officer on Okinawa, and during the Japanese occupation.

I came out of that meeting impressed with Gene's choice in joining Audiotechniques and with the business sense that I felt Hamilton was bringing to the pro audio industry. Ham had done his research, had been honest with me all during the conversations that day, and had expressed what he expected from me as an employee. The money seemed right, and I began working for Audiotechniques shortly thereafter.

Over the intervening years, Ham helped me achieve an understanding of what I should be doing, and how to do it more professionally and with more consistent results. I saw and learned what selling really means; simply by shutting my mouth, watching and listening to the man go through his days (and, often, nights). That education wasn't the result of a book or forced attention. Instead, I simply opened myself up enough to the nuances of energy in a room and how they changed when Ham walked in. No matter what the situation, a solution usually resulted from his ability to keep everyone focused on the desired goal. More times than not, our meetings ended up going exactly where he/we wanted.

When thinking over how to best present some concepts that Ham effectively illustrates, his skills provide me a framework to organize some of the details. These facets of his personality hardly express the fullness of his complexity, but for our purposes, these headings highlight characteristics that made his efforts worth noting. The value of these ideas is proven by Ham's track record of success as well as by their significance for me and for others as we developed. Some of these concepts may appear self-evident: some are espoused year in and year out by "sales gurus." But a gulf exists between living it and just saying it "as if" you mean it. Hamilton's hallmark was and is an infectious enthusiasm, which is absorbed by all who know him.

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