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So there we were, high times, good times. I had all kinds of ideas. I am thinking we could partner larger distributors together, or get one big company to buy something locally with a real presence that we don't already supply. Win Win. Wow, now I am in Mergers & acquisitions, along with everything else. That is a slippery slope, but hey I am not a skier, but what a bang for oyur buck if you could pull it off right? I was a risk taker, but not in the way people think about it. I would do anything to advance the business, I wasn't going skydiving. So I would say I was a corporate risk taker, and who better than me? I had already exceeded some of the goals I had. But when you do that you either are satisfied and say, I am good, or you say, is this all there is? NOOOO There has to be more, and then another whole list blurts out of your brain. It is time to climb the mountain again. Plain and simple.
But it is never that simple, what you learn is there is corporate jealousy and people actually routing for you to fail. It is never just a pure vision. Although I will say, the culture had changed. I was able to bring in young talented people, who made the company 50x stronger than it was, but, always a but. There were still people that would try to blow up everything you did, even if it was right, to see you fail. You see, a lot of people don't have the sack to step up and put it all on the line, but there are a ton of people that will, chuckle and say, yeah like he is going to make this work. I never got that way of thinking, to this day it makes me sick. Why would you want to see the company fail that you are working for, because you want to see one guy fail? That's a problem in America, it is a problem worldwide. But it was also a failure on my part for not helping them seeing what the benefits would be, if it worked. That was arrogant, but there are a lot of people that have a vision that are arrogant. Read Steve Jobs autobiography, not that I am even trying to approach or compare myself to that, but I will say, every company has it. Call it growing pains, I call it working with blinders on. So be it.
So I moved forward, I felt I had talented people that I hired that would take a bullet for me and do the right thing. I was 80% right. The old 80/20 rule, it proves out everytime. But i have to tell you, I hate to lose. The one thing I possessed was a competitiveness that was really crazy. So in my younger years, it became a streetfight, or a game of one on one, that I was never going to lose. I became the undertaker in a lot of ways, but it was always for the good of the business. If there was someone that could really add value and bring it everyday, and I didn't like them personally, that was fine! But if it was about anything else, I would pull your heart out of your chest, eat it, go home and kiss my kids and go to bed. Call it driven, I call it loyalty. Sometimes, blind loyalty, but again, I was adjusting to a corporate life with street sensibilities. The feeling to put your fists down and actually win with your mind was a revelation in 1994. In 1994, I won. Please sign up and follow on the toolbar to the right of the top of this blog! I appreciate all the readers and visits, thanks, Joe

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