Excerpts from PUSHING WATER UPHILL With A Rake.


 

A SHAKY START      Ah,  Ixtapa ,  Mexico!  It took us twelve hours, but we had finally arrived. As my partner Ben and I stood in line to check into the gorgeous new Westin resort, we felt the warm pacific breeze flow through the open air lobby. We breathed in the moist aroma of the thick flora surrounding us and plotted which tequila drinks we would attack first. It was a beautiful Mexican evening in September, 1985.   Our conversation was abruptly interrupted by a sound that didn’t quite mesh with the environment. At first, I thought it was faint thunder coming from the ocean, but the early evening was clear and bright. Before I could say a word, a low, deep growling, grinding rumble began and I knew this wasn’t thunder.  In a matter of seconds, the ground started shaking and the screaming began. As we stood frozen in fear, the shaking intensified and in a few more brief seconds, it had grown so strong that both people and objects started falling around us.  The Mexican employees screamed, “Terremoto, Terremoto!.” Then, with a shaking arm, the hotel manager pointed everyone toward a hallway, while shouting, “Temblor de tierra de gran intensidad! Salga ahora! SALGA AHORA!”  The result of this proclamation was like a gun shot in the middle of a cattle herd, and the stampede began. People were screaming, pushing and jostling each other in confused chaos toward the exits – wherever the hell the exits were.  The hallway that we had all chosen for our escape route was about fifteen feet wide and immediately became jammed with people frantic to escape.  Ben and I tried to keep by the wall, but in a single instant, the inertia of so many bodies trying to reach safety created a rushing human wave of terror. We were sucked into the wave, and were being swept away with the hysterical horde. ......

The secret to success is not in knowing everything. The secret is in knowing what you don’t know, and finding those who do. S. Baker, Pushing Water Uphill

In his book Management, Peter Drucker stated it plainly, “There is only one valid definition of business:   to create a customer…and the business   enterprise has only two basic functions:    Marketing and Innovation.”   With that in mind, we took a very serious “Think – Plan – Do” approach to our business plan and developed four goals: First, create a product that was uniquely beneficial to the travel industry. Second, create the strongest and most efficient means of sales and    distribution. Third, take the company public as soon as possible to raise the capital necessary to build a strong profitable business that future competitors couldn’t touch. Fourth, sell the company in three years for a boatload of cash. This would benefit not only Ben and me, but all of our future employees and investors.  It would also allow Ben to sail around the world while I would go play golf.  We had the right plan and our investment capital from selling our previous company, so we rolled up our sleeves, got out our check books and in January 1985 we started Global Group, Inc.   Add the book to your cart Pushing Water Uphill, Chapter One

Although he would never admit it, Ben was terrified of standing up and speaking in front of a large group of people.         Ed started off the presentation by going over financial information and built up to a positive introduction of Ben. After a polite amount of applause, Ben stood in front of this full room and began to freeze and stammer. It was like watching your ten year old daughter fall down during her ballet recital, you hurt more that she does. Ben pushed sluggishly through his opening remarks, forgetting many significant points as I watched the pained look on the faces of those that knew him and what he was capable of. He finally got to my introduction by saying, “Uh, I’m going to, uh, bring Steve out now. Steve is, uh, our Executive Vice President and uh, runs our sales and marketing. Steve and I came out here together from the Midwest to build our first company, and, uh, (laughing nervously) uh, we lived together by CheesmanPark for about six months. And we’ve been a team ever since. Here’s Steve.”  I stared at Ben as I passed him on the stage and was thinking furiously on the fly how to get things back on track. It was nice that Ben explained that we had been together through our other company and that we were a good team. Why he even mentioned where we had lived was really off the wall. See, as everyone in the audience knew, the CheesmanPark area of Denver is one of the strongest gay neighborhoods in the United States (as Seinfeld would say, “Not that there’s anything wrong with that”).  And like Seinfeld, I couldn’t care less, but in 1986, Denver stock brokers were pretty much a homophobic group, and we were attempting to make a strong positive first impression on them. “Thanks, Ben,” I said as I pried the microphone from his frozen hand. “And thank all of you for joining us here this evening to hear our story and invest in our future. But before I get to the formal presentation about Global Group, I’d like to cover a couple of things. First, as Ben mentioned, we did live together in an apartment by CheesmanPark, but I’d also like to point out that we were rooming together only until we could move our lovely female wives of many years, and I might add with lovely breasts and our families out here to Colorado.” ........   Add the book to your cart Pushing Water Uphill, Chapter Three

Ben, Dave, Ed and I spent almost two months on the road, east coast, west coast, even Ed’s Chicawgo, making presentations to over 40 companies, while still trying to effectively run our company from afar. When we got back to Colorado we had more meetings and presentations with prospects that would fly in to see our operation. One such prospective investor was Hal Stewart. Hal ran a large fund in Seattle. He had once been a successful professional baseball player and though he was now 70, was still quite fit. He came across as a good ‘ol boy, but he was as sharp as they come. He spent a day and a half with us, going over our operations and meeting our employees, who now numbered twelve. Over dinner, Hal asked Ben and me the strangest question. “Boys, when was the last time you failed real big?”  Ben and I gave each other a bit of a startled look and I replied, “Excuse me sir?” Ben chucked and said, “We haven’t and we certainly don’t intend to start now. We have a sound plan and it doesn’t include failure. Why do you ask?” “Oh, because you will,” replied Hal. “It’s not a matter of if, only when. I was just hoping that you had already gotten it out of the way.”     Add the book to your cart Pushing Water Uphill, Chapter Four

We had a two part formula for finding the best people for every position. The first part, naturally, was the strong core capabilities to perform the required and requested tasks. But just as important to us was the second part, which was strength and quality of character. After it was determined that a person had the skills we were looking for, we conducted a final interview to look for the quality character traits that would fit our goals and the company personality for the team that we were building. These were people who had accepted risks and paid the price to reach their goals. They were quick thinkers with an insatiable appetite to learn and grow.  They were competitive, and had the drive to strive and win in whatever they were doing. They could follow the company plan, but had the ability to take charge when needed. Every single person that we added to our growing team had the ability to become a leader in their department and grow within the company. And, above all, they were honest and had a high degree of integrity. We knew that together, capabilities and character would create an unstoppable force.   Add the book to your cart Pushing Water Uphill

This was the greatest high that I could ever imagine and it was the most addictive thrill that I had ever experienced.  Ben and I were on the fast track and so far it was a speeding adrenaline induced roller coaster power trip, and we were in the front car and in control. Our plan was working and we were on our way to amassing an incredible amount of personal wealth.  Oh, this was going to be fun.   Add the book to your cart Pushing Water Uphill

We were now on a new quest; no it was going to be a crusade!  We knew that there were new ways to sell travel that no one had yet thought of, and we were committed to an unrelenting mission to discover them all and discover them first. We had meetings with industry people and then all of our employees for ideas. These were fun put and take sessions where anyone could throw something out and see what might stick. Some ideas seemed really off the wall, some just silly, and some that sounded crazy, but we kept going until things emerged that actually made sense. And anyway, what, exactly is a crazy idea?  Just six months before, the crazy idea that two guys working on a software idea would now have 300 travel agencies doing $500 million in revenues would have brought on hysterical laughter. Two major ideas came from these meetings and our newest team members from the travel industry. Both were going to make us all very wealthy.   Add the book to your cart Pushing Water Uphill

By 9:00 a.m., Sunday morning, all our lines were full and they stayed full. We were selling travel packages as fast as our team could answer the calls. We were going to turn the world of selling travel upside down! And then our immediate success sneaked up and smacked us right between the eyes and bloodied our noses. At 2:00 p.m. that Sunday, our state of the art computerized phone system froze. The shear volume of incoming calls shut down one of the most sophisticated systems in existence. The system was, however, able to track how many calls could NOT be answered, and by Monday morning we had over 3,000 unanswered calls. Our first reaction was the cold sweating panic of crushing failure. We got in way over our heads. We were going to look like a bunch of amateur fools that don’t know what we’re doing. Kmart will hate us, drop the program and never invest a penny in us. Our investment in the reservation center would never be recouped. Our competitors would be laughing at us. Our stock would drop. Our employees would lose faith in us. Our wives, kids, and even our dogs would hate us.   Add the book to your cart Pushing Water Uphill

I was enjoying my drink and humming along to “That’s life”, when Bill came in. He looked tired but excited. He had just finished the first of a two day marketing strategy meeting with his largest client. “My client has come through some tough financial times and are turning things around”, explained Bill. “We just spent the entire day looking at new ways to maximize the company’s reputation and image to spin off new areas of business.” “Who’s the client?” I asked. Bill looked at me and smiled, “I think you may have heard of them, Playboy Enterprises.” “Heard of them?” I replied, “I grew up on Playboy! I still have my Playboy Club Keycard. I can see why you’re excited.” Like many young men in the sixties and early seventies, Playboy was the guide to my future fantasy life. Growing up in Winchester, Indiana, I graduated from Boys Life magazine to Playboy, and it was this new found publication that was my link to the worldly sophistication that I, in my dreams, would one day achieve.  To obtain this height of sophistication, I’ll have you know that I did actually read the articles (as well as occasionally admiring the photo layouts of lovely women).... ...... As Bill was speaking, my mind was spinning like a top on steroids. “So, my consulting job is to help them find new areas for profitable growth”, said Bill.  “Got any ideas?”  Now I know you want to buy this book       Pushing Water Uphill

I’ve found that in life, we sometimes act as though comfort and the acquiring of “stuff” are the chief requirements of life, and the reason we get out of bed in the morning. But what we really quite simply need is something to be enthusiastic about. Hanging in my office was a plaque with a quote of James Michener that read,   “The master in the art of living makes no distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and recreation, his life and religion. He rarely knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him, he is always doing both.”   That quote pretty well summed up everyone in our company, and I was bursting with pride to think that I was part of this.   Add the book to your cart James Michener, Pushing Water Uphill

We started to calculate an estimate of what Global Group could be worth in one year. Ben’s CPA brain, Dave’s corporate and SEC legal brain, and Ed’s stock market analyst’s brain were whirling, and giving me a headache. This was exciting for me to watch, because my little marketing right brain was incapable of such calculations. They spent over two hours playing “what if” with all the variables. The best conservative “guesstimate” was that if each of our new divisions and programs succeeded as planned, our new little company would be conservatively valued at between $180 to $200 million by the end of 1988. We shook our heads in amusement as we shared the vision of several suitors outbidding each other for us. This investment in us by Kmart was the first step down the alter with someone, and whoever it was going to be, we were looking forward to saying “I Do”. On July 14, our stock had risen to $18, and we were on a jet to Detroit. We got in Tuesday evening so we’d be fresh for our morning drive to Kmart’s corporate headquarters in Troy.  The next morning we met at 10:00 to give them an update on the travel program, and then review the investment documents. Everything was in order, but instead of signing then and there, the Kmart folks first wanted to take us to lunch with Kmart’s Senior VP, Jim Anthony. We sat through lunch politely chatting, all the time thinking to ourselves “Give us the check”. Finally lunch was over and we headed back to the conference room to sign off on everything and head home with $3 million.    Add the book to your cart     Pushing Water Uphill

I’m no psychologist, but I deeply believe that in my generation there is a vast difference between men and women when it comes to a failure like this. I was like most baby boomer men, raised like our fathers before us; that there is an unspoken duty and purpose in life for a man to provide well for his family.  This is not just what we do, but who and what we are. It is our purpose in life, and earns us love and respect.           I believe that the main desired accomplishment for a man, whether he admits it or not, is to know that he is respected by his family and peers. Not a respect from power, but rather a respect that has been earned through hard work, sacrifice, and accomplishments that build a quality life and peaceful security for those that he loves. My fulfillment and complacency came from knowing that my family was proud of me.           Men want and need to be the knight in shining armor for their family.  We must be, and take great pride in being, the strong provider and protector.  I also think that a man’s wife and family want to think of him that way.           I found that when this failure hit home, I faced a pain and total sense of worthlessness that I would not have believed could exist. I cannot, to this day, find words that can aptly describe the emptiness, hopelessness, confusion, heartbreak, and sense of losing oneself that I was experiencing.    Add the book to your cart Pushing Water Uphill

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