THANKS, POP

As I write this, I am thinking about my dad, who would have been 81 today. While I wish he was here, I am incredibly grateful for the 50 years I shared with him and the 35,000 hours I spent with him as an adult.

He would be so proud of all of you. He would admire your resilience in the face of constant change and your commitment to consistently exceeding expectations.

At the same time, I know how proud each of you are of his courage to start a company that has become such a special place for others. His courage led him to put a steel desk in the basement of our home and start making calls for opportunities to provide customized training.

He walked away from a career as a school administrator, leaving behind a pension and great medical benefits. He was also providing the sole financial support for three young children. My brother was eleven, I was seven, and my sister was two.

While there are dozens and dozens of stories I love to relay about my dad, there is one that epitomizes who he was as a leader and entrepreneur. He and I were sitting in a conference room, when the speaker phone announced that my good friend and colleague, Eric Nelson, needed to speak with him. When Eric was patched through, he explained that one of our non-profit partners wanted to get a copy of our annual report. Because we were organized as a private S corporation, we did not assemble annual reports.  

My dad replied, “They want an annual report? I’ll give them an annual report. We were in business last year. We are currently in business today, and we hope to be in business next year. There. That’s our annual report.”  

I said, “Hey, bud. No worries. I’ll call you within the hour. We can give them some data and explain that private companies don’t have annual reports. I’ll call you soon. Thanks.” And we hung up.

That story illustrates two things about my dad: 1) He really, really, really, did not enjoy anyone telling him what to do. To this day, he remains the second highest “A” (my way) we have ever recorded in AcuMax. 2) He never lost his sense of urgency as our founder. He would tell me he had a “healthy sense of anxiety.” He was always pushing. Failure was fixed and success was required, not rewarded.  

My dad was a relentlessly hard worker. I often share that I only saw him in two positions my entire life: completely vertical or completely horizontal. He was either hard at work or sound asleep. Unless he was sitting directly in front of a large body of water, he was genuinely incapable of relaxation.  

He was also compassionate, constantly charming, incredibly generous, and remains the greatest leader I have ever observed. He was not overly forceful or unrelenting with anyone, except himself.

As you have heard me say, my purpose on this planet is to put people in front of a better mirror. I wish my dad could have always seen, in his mirror, what others saw in him. Everyone admired him. He truly was a larger-than-life personality.  

When I walked into a restaurant, after his death, it would take me fifteen minutes to take my seat. Everyone who worked there wanted to give me a hug and tell me how much they loved my dad. They would share, in different ways, how he always made them feel seen and always brought some warmth to their day. He treated everyone with consideration and respect.  

He would frequently say to me, “You are your mother’s son.” My mom and I share very similar personalities and (interestingly) identical AcuMax profiles. I knew that explained why he and I got along so famously and why we enjoyed each other’s company so much. To be a good man, and a good leader, I needed only walk in my father’s footsteps.  

Thanks, Pop. I miss you every day.  

I hope you all have had, and will have, great role models in your lives. I hope you feel great about what you are doing and where you are headed. Please take care, and please let me know if there is anything else that I can do to support you.  

Very sincerely,
Kevin