Dear friends, welcome to the October 2016 issue of BIC Magazine. As we at BIC enter the fourth quarter of 2016, it is easy to note how God has blessed our work and company. Still, we remain diligent and very busy trying to close on a strong note.
In addition to reviewing performance and status and beginning the process of setting goals and budgets for 2017, there is the day-to-day business that seems unrelenting at times. With the time still remaining, if we were to coast to the finish, strong gains would be negated. Errors follow inattention and leave lasting impressions. One cannot let up. No matter the context — be it sports, work tasks, job tenures, relationships or life in general — how you finish is certainly more important than how you start. The effort you put in at the end determines whether you win or lose.
It is cliché in sports. But clichés are predicated upon more than a modicum of truth. How many games are determined in the two-minute drill in football or in the last several possessions of a basketball game? I am reminded of an amazing finish in the women’s 400-meter race at the Rio Olympics. It was an effort that seared a permanent place in my memory. Shaunae Miller of the Bahamas, holding off a late charge by her competitor, dove headfirst over the finish line, past Allyson Felix of the U.S. I was cheering feverishly for the American. But Ms. Miller’s heroic, give-it-your-all effort at the end gave me such joy. I couldn’t help but be happy for her. First impressions shape our thinking, but it is the last impressions we always remember.
While ending employment relationships, the same is true. When leaving my job at Exxon years ago, I gave my boss ample notice and optioned him more time if necessary. We worked together on a knowledge transfer and really enjoyed our last weeks working together. He knew I was taking a position that provided a major jump in career development, one that he could not provide at the time. I still have the card he gave me when I left. In it, he told me to contact him directly if I ever needed another job. I consider it some of the highest praise I have received in the workplace.
As an employer, I have had similar circumstances with talented professional employees who have “graduated” into another position. Others, unfortunately, sometimes mar an otherwise good record by choosing not to finish strong. Having made up their minds to leave, they quit while still on the job. My partner, Earl, has always modeled a spirit of really trying to help his employees reach success. There isn’t a more dizzying height than the joy found in truly helping another. Conversely, nothing is more somber than trying to help someone who feels tough times are a time to give up.
Understand something good can always come from the tough times. One only learns perseverance through trials. If you want to make trials work for you, don’t see pain; see purpose. Don’t ask, “Why me?”; ask, “What do I need to learn?” Don’t give up; use the opportunity to grow up. If you control your attitude instead of trying to control your circumstances, you may find a renewed freshness, akin to so many beginnings full of hope. You may start fresh right where you are, instead of finishing weak and spoiling your name.
Some time ago, a young friend of mine — a husband and father of three children — passed away after a four-month battle against a dreadful infection. For all of his bad circumstances, his attitude was amazing to all who visited him in the hospital. During this process, his infected legs were amputated in an effort to stop the spreading. He never asked, “Why me?” Instead, he spoke with enthusiasm about learning to walk with prosthetics. He also was a man of great faith who was not afraid of dying, although he most certainly didn’t want to leave his wife and kids behind. He finished strong. But it wasn’t just his time in the hospital. Those who knew him say he lived each day with a gusto and purpose, focusing on the priorities he had set for his life.
It is one of the great spiritual enigmas. We are taught to live each day as though it will be our last. Yet we are to be encouraged today is the first day of the rest of our lives. I hope you will embrace both of these lessons.
We hope you are able to learn and share many lessons from this issue of BIC. In it, you will find insight from DOE Secretary Dr. Ernest Moniz, Huntsman Port Neches Operations Site Director Chad Anderson, American Society of Safety Engineers Foundation Director Mary Goranson and Johns Manville Innovation Leader for Insulation Systems Ames Kulprathipanja.
We also bring you the latest information on a wide variety of industry best practices, including reducing costs and improving project outcomes, managing performance, protecting your workers from heat stress, successful turnarounds, fall safety, the election and American energy policy, and more.
As always, please share this issue of BIC with your colleagues, family and friends, and visit BICMagazine.com daily for the latest industry updates and events. And be sure to look for our special pullout wall map of Louisiana industrial facilities in this issue!
tbrinsko@bicalliance.com