A deep, probing look at the life of California born and bred Barclay Simpson, Strong Ties focuses on the leadership qualities that allowed Simpson to build a successful business from nothing and become one of the major philanthropists in the San Francisco Bay Area. He didn't graduate from college until over 20 years after he dropped out of UC Berkeley to help save his father's business from bankruptcy. Self-taught in business, he developed a set of principles by which he ran his business and which he transferred successfully to his philanthropic work with such East Bay organizations as UC Berkeley, Girls Inc of Alameda County, the California College of the Arts, the Oakland Museum, the California Shakespeare Theater and many others. The main thrust of these principles had to do with placing employees at the center of his business, including profit-sharing and hiring from within, while in his philanthropic work, he repeatedly made important foundational grants aimed at helping non-profit organizations to move in new directions and to attract other donors. In both business and philanthropy, he organized his life around a bed-rock belief in the importance of giving back to one's community, with special focus on the arts and the education of low income kids.