Constantly reminded of my father.
Besides being the "jack-of-all-trades" he helped my mother raise us four boys.
You don't find individuals that are dedicated to companies that they work for anymore. He was a hard worker and someone that they could always count on. My father really only had two jobs in his lifetime. He is probably the only guy that I know that was so honest he wouldn't even take a pencil from the office (if he did it by accident he would go out of his way to make sure that he returned it).
He worked as a civil engineer for Exxon for 17 years and the State of Washington for another 21 years (then worked as a consultant for the State for another 10 years).
I don't think that I know any other person that is that honest. They broke the mold when they made my father. I am sure that he made people mad because he wanted everything done right. No short cuts. No back talk. I always hope that a little of that rubbed off on me. But because of his honest and integrity he also made a strong core of allegiant co-workers that respected him.
He used to give me a hard time when I left K2 Skis and moved down to Portland, OR to pursue other indeavors. He thought that K2 was the perfect job but I needed to flourish and "test the waters". I was not ready to be tied to a desk for the rest of my life. My attitude has been to never look back at the decisions that you have made - you move forward and take in as much as possible. It is education to your existence - it makes you who you are.
As I tell my clients, sometimes you need to stick your neck out to get anywhere in life!
