When we decided to form a government affairs consulting firm, the selection and choice of a name was more difficult than I imagined it would be. Like everything we do, I felt the name needed to have some sense of meaning, a purpose, and not just simply be a blended combination of our individual names or a term randomly snatched from the air.

On a flight from Phoenix to Reno I carried my Thesaurus and started to graze for words that embodied the spirit I wanted to see in our new venture: integrity, common sense, approachability and fairness were all good words but made for lousy business names. I tried, unsuccessfully, to find words that carried these meanings in Spanish, Navajo and the Hopi languages in an attempt to try and incorporate a bit of Western heritage to our message.

It was this line of thought that led to me think, almost out loud, “I want our clients and others to know that by hiring us they’re getting a pretty straight-arrow.” Desperate for any lightening bolt of inspiration I looked up “straight-arrow,” and nearly gasped when I saw it: foursquare.

four*square (for’ skwr): Marked by firm, unwavering conviction or expression: forthright, complete

That was it. Foursquare represented what I wanted to tell our clients. The snowball started rolling and I remembered the four squares or principles that I wanted to guide our thinking: Integrity, facts, hard work and common sense. Foursquare said them all at once.

So, FourSquare Group was born.

And, for just for a bit of whimsy, I designed the logo to reflect the foursquare playground game I loved to play as kid…complete with the large, red, rubber ball…and emphasized the four squares upon which we operate by capitalizing the letter “S”.

So, there you have it.