Ground Zero

It looks like the new company we have been working on will become a reality. The money has transferred, but not posted. We met for a strategy session in LA yesterday and today. We gathered the entire company together..all four of us. One of the other players works for me, then he went back to the airport and it left three senior officers to discuss our next moves. It occurred to me that we needed to hire somebody, anybody, so we would have someone to boss around. It is a little unsettling to realize that the group that makes it happen is sitting around one small table, each relying on the other to get the job done.

I am excited, anxious, scared, thrilled, exuberant, hesitant, unsure, and positive. You sort out all the conflicting feelings.

But here are a few things that I think work in our favor.

The CEO knows what he is doing. He is genius in pulling together finance, sourcing, operations and distribution. I have blogged about him before, and here is his greatest strength..he is honest. He and I are as different as night and day, literally. I go to bed at 10PM (Texas time, it doesn't matter what time zone I am in) He is a very late night owl. I'm up and at 'em at 5AM (again, Texas time) He is not fully aware of an 8AM (any time zone) I am a hardcore morning person, he is decided not. I play golf and hit the elliptical three times a week, he swims. He is a numbers person, I am a single numbers person, sales dollars. He needs to figure out the rest. But we have a great deal in common. We both care about our people, we both want to work in a culture of openness and collaboration, we both are intensely loyal to the people who share our dreams and we are both dreamers..each in our own way.

Is it possible that God held us all in place to start this at precisely this time? I have never seen a moment in time more ripe with potential than right now. We have talked about this for 2 years. We have run through all the scenarios, he has suffered through job loss and lost everything. But now we have a chance to make this a truly special unique force in a very small industry. It occurs to me that this has all lined up at the right moment and circumstances. I veer away from God taking a personal stake in trivial events, but this one has His fingerprints all over it. This feels right, as in it feels like it is exactly what I need to be doing right now. Ever feel that way?

Finally, this is an opportunity to make a cultural statement in business culture. All my life I have "inherited" the sins and successes of others. I have become pretty adept at deflecting the shortcomings, while selling the strengths of other's dreams. Now it is my turn to develop the dream, to instill it in others, and to finally make a place where people of integrity will want to work. Above all else I want compassionate people, who work hard, who care deeply about what we are trying to do, who understand the priorities of life. We can create that in a corporate structure. I honestly believe we can.

Anyway, if you have followed my journey, whisper a little prayer for me and my little group.
Godspeed
Don