Opinion, WVPA Sharing

COLUMN: Observations and lessons learned

By Greg Kozera, Shale Crescent USA

For the last two weeks we have been vacationing in Florida with family and friends. The crowds were much lower than on summer trips. Since our kids are grown and early January isn’t as busy in our business it is a good time to travel. Our youngest and his family joined us for a long weekend right after New Year’s. Their return flight got cancelled due to winter weather. They spent two extra days in Orlando with us. No one complained. Our daughter joined us for a weekend. We played golf.

Vacation is a good time to relax, rebuild creativity, spend quality time with family and make memories. We all got captured by the First Order on Rise of the Resistance at Disney World and escaped. Lynnda piloted the Millennium Falcon on a mission and almost gave me motion sickness.  

There is no better way to build relationships than in person. Our grandson runs high school indoor track and had a meet as soon as he returned. He ran the 500 M for the first time. After some warmups I set up a course for him to do a training run. I had a 2-minute head start so I could get to the finish line and clock his time. I barely made it before he caught up to me. My grandsonfinished third in the meet. Not bad for his first 500 M. I had no idea he was that fast or I was that slow. I’m glad we could run together. We had conversations with our granddaughters that we couldn’t do by text or email. We got to spend a fun week with friends we only see once a year. We did our annual bicycle ride. 

In our region swimming and boating in a lake or a river is no big deal if you take normal safety precautions. We saw a lot of alligators on this trip. One was in the pond next to the church we attended. We were told there can be a gator in any body of water. Pools are the only safe place to swim after making sure a gator didn’t sneak in. 

In spite of the sunny weather we didn’t see much use of solar power. In the Orlando area where we saw a couple solar installations they appeared to be more for public relations purposes than power based on size. In southwest Florida solar is used primarily for the LED lights around stop signs or pedestrian crossing signs. One problem, land is so expensive where power is needed. We saw lots in SW Florida selling for over $1 Million. Solar power is land intensive. A 100 MW solar farm producing power maybe 25% of the time requires approximately 1,000 acres. Power from natural gas in Florida is dependable and cheap. Roof top solar may be possible. We didn’t see any. 

In Key West we could depend on warm weather and unusual people. Chickens run wild.  Decedents from fighting roosters brought in from Cuba for gambling years ago. They are protected by law. Hurting one is a $500 fine. Killing a chicken is punishable by a $1,000 fine and up to a year in jail. The roosters crow throughout the day. 

We toured President Harry S. Truman’s Little White House on Key West. It was President Truman’s retreat. Many key meetings were held there. Truman took office in 1945 during WWII following the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. During Truman’s term in office; The atom bomb was dropped on Japan. World War II ended. The Marshall plan rebuilt Europe. The U.S. economy exploded. The Korean War occurred. For 275 days during his Presidency the country was run from the Little White House on Key West. The Presidential Yacht always went with him to provide staff quarters and communication since only one phone cable served the Florida Keys. This was before space flight and satellite communication. 

Touring the house, the furniture and appliances reminded me of my childhood. There were ash trays in every room. I can imagine the house full of tobacco smoke. My Dad smoked 3 packs a day. The world was different then. Smoking was common. One magazine ad said, More Doctors smoke Camel Cigarettes than any other brand. Lynnda and I are glad we never started. 

It was surprising to learn Truman’s approval rating was only 23% when he left office in 1953. He made some unpopular decisions. Leaders don’t just make decisions for today. They make decisions for tomorrow. Truman wasn’t concerned about doing what was politically expedient. He tried to do what was right. Many decisions have long term consequences. In the late 1960s a poll of historians ranked President Truman 5th among all Presidents at that time behind only George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and the 2 Roosevelts. 

The lesson for us is, we need to look at the long-term potential effects of the decisions we make whether business or personal. Before we do what is easy, expedient or popular, we need to look at the big picture. We have probably heard people say, “It seemed like a good idea at the time.” after a bad decision.

Executives have to consider the long-term effects of a short-term decision to make Wall Street and shareholders happy. I’ve seen companies reduce head count to meet a quarterly target satisfying Wall Street only to miss a growth opportunity because they were understaffed or didn’t have needed equipment because they sold or scrapped it. A manager sometimes needs to make tough unpopular decisions, in some cases allowing the organization to survive. 

Lynnda and I find one important decision is to spend quality time with each other, family and friends. One way we do this is to take vacations that allow quality time away from daily distractions. We see the long-term positive results in our relationships, our energy and creativity. No one knows what tomorrow brings. Make the most out of today. We don’t get do overs in life.

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