Page 20. MAINE COASTAL NEWS February 2016 70S MEMORIES: THOUGHTS AND HELP WITH LEADERSHIP By Lee S. Wilbur Year was 1984-1985, mid-way through
the “Golden Years”. Wilbur Yachts had launched the new 34’ model in 1983. W-38 was still selling well and plans for a new Hunt designed 63’ were on the drawing boards. Hectic time. Days, I’d hardly know which way to turn or who to talk to next. Wasn’t just our yard. All the MDI yards were fi lled to capacity. Bass Harbor Head to “the bridge” we counted fi fteen boat- builders, large and small craft. Time when a builder hardly needed to advertise. This particular day, mid-morning, warm spring day, one of the crew found me, said “There’s a couple of guys out in the dooryard, like to have a chat with you. Said there was no hurry, they’d wait in the car and when you had a few minutes come out. You won’t have trouble fi nding em’. They’re in a red “Jag”. I fi nished up what I was doing, walked out through the downstairs offi ce into the parking area and he was right. No trouble spotting a car I’ve admired and desired since I’d seen the fi rst. John “Jack” Schnei- der was sitting there, door open talking
with his friend “Ted” Wellworth. I stuck my hand out, introducing, asking why they didn’t come inside. Jack responded they didn’t want to get in the way, fi gured I was busy and they were in no hurry. Thus start- ed one of the more pleasant relationships and learning experiences I’ve ever enjoyed, and, I was quite fortunate to have many, in thirty years of boatbuilding.
Little did I realize that morning
Jack’s business history. Ex-President of CBS Television Network. Then, when Warner-Brothers and American Express bought CBS, Jack moved up as president of Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment Company, of whom, as Wikipedia relates, “.by 1981, he oversaw the launch of one of the world’s most infl uential television networks, MTV Music Television”... You know the one. Willie does a new song, MTV does an accompanying “movie” piece in the background, sells twice the records, makes four times the money. We weren’t long in talking over plans for a new boat. Jack liked the “34”. Primar- ily wanted a day boat, occasional overnight if he wanted to join a yacht club get-togeth-
Department of Marine Resources News Continued from Page 13.
County, was sworn in by Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher in January and began serving in the Lubec Patrol of Section 6, which stretches from the Hancock Bridge to the Canadian border.
Marine Patrol Offi cer Foss fi lls a vacancy created by the promotion of Russell Wright to Sergeant of Section 3, which runs from the Kennebec River to the St. George River. Foss began his career in law enforcement as a Police Offi cer in Lubec where he served from 1986 to 1987. He also served as a Washington County Sherriff’s Deputy be- tween 2001 and 2005. In 2005, he joined the Maine State Police and served from Machias until 2015. “Offi cer Foss’ extensive experi- ence in law enforcement and knowledge of the people and places in Washington County will serve him well in his career in the Ma-
rine Patrol,” said Major Rene Cloutier. Foss also brings to the position knowledge of the working waterfront in Washington County. Between 1991 and 2005 he worked for several aquaculture operations including Maine Pride Salmon, Treats Island Fisheries and Atlantic Salmon of Maine. His duties included site work, boat operation, scuba diving, and operation of computerized feed- ing systems. “Offi cer Foss’ experience on the water, operating boats and dealing with a commercial operation gives him unique insight into the challenges and opportuni- ties of the working waterfront in downeast Maine,” said Major Cloutier.
“I like working on the ocean and I feel lucky to have been hired by the Marine Pa- trol,” said Offi cer Foss. “Working in Lubec is like going back home. I probably know 80 percent of the local fi shermen and I look forward to getting to know fi shermen in the area better.”
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er (New York Yacht Club). Said his delight- ful wife, Beth, would never consider the idea of staying overnight on a boat. By now we’d been building the 34 long enough to have pretty much any “de- fugilties” under control; however, Jack had a few ideas of his own in the forward cabin and along with Ted, who’d accompany him on most of the trips from Connecticut, we’d spend a few hours over the course of build- ing discussing some of the fi ner points. One “fi ner point” was shape of for- ward half bulkhead between head and vee- berth. Hazard to say at least a morning was spent with one of the crew working several “curves and adjoining curves” and their ex- act placement before then christened “Well- worth Curve” was decided. Later, when we used”’Christiana” at The Norwalk Boat Show, Jack would have had a few friends come aboard and ask specifi cally to see “The Wellworth Curve.” Became standard issue on all 34’s.
Jack was a true gentleman. Nev- er seemed to raise his voice if something wasn’t quite to his liking or standards. Here was a man, who with his wife, traveled in the stratosphere of American business and entertainment. Graduated from Notre Dame and then later elected to their Board of Trustees. Here I was, small town boat- builder, only claim to fame was a stretch on Board of Selectmen and two years as chair- man, kiddingly called “The Mayor”, and treated by Jack with deference as an equal. Not long into our relationship, I was
trying to fi gure out how to keep the com- pany growing in a logical manner and not spin out of control as I’d witnessed others. Neither Jack nor I slept past 5AM so sev- eral times I’d call, ask for advice or have a good conversation before going to work. It was during that time we got on the sub- ject of leadership and I asked Jack to give me some of his thoughts. This fall, while attempting to bring order from chaos in my “fi nally, almost completed” workshop, studio, library, retirement offi ce which I’d been hammering nails on for 10+ years, I found Jack’s fi le and with great delight sat down to read, study, and enjoy it once again. Then, reading Rudy Guilliani’s book
on this same subject of leadership this past few weeks, I thought this column could be a good opportunity to share Jack’s conver- sation. I fi rmly believe Jack’s statement to be useful not only in business (small and large) but in personal life and certainly charity work as well.
Mission Statement: “The discipline of writing a mission statement is extremely useful because it makes you think out the implications of the mission you are about to undertake. A leader must go beyond just having a concept. He must be in a position to share that because a leader must cause others to follow and they must be following a path. The reason that the chief at Gener- al Motors gets two million dollars a year is that he creates the vision and energizes the organization with discipline to fulfi ll the vision. Leadership is like salesmanship-the leader causes others to do his will. You must cause others to do your will without losing their sense of identity, their dignity, their sense of self. Leadership is what is reward- ed. The leader sets the tone and defi nes the mission but it is important that the mission be articulated and the purpose of writing a mission statement is to discipline the leader so he can set it down in simple, understand- able terms so he can share that with (his) following. Sometimes there are techniques such as writing a mission statement which provide discipline to the leader, the leader then applies discipline to the organization. If the leader were left without certain disci- plines, such as the mission statement there would be no device to cause him to meet certain goals. If you can’t write down sim- ple one or two sentences for the statement then you don’t have a clear sense of the mission. Because, believe me you are go- ing to have to articulate it and rearticulate it as you are tested, because people won’t understand or will choose not to understand for their own reasons that we will never suffi ciently understand. And, they may not understand, but will keep testing your will and resolve and you will go back and revis- it the mission statement when things don’t go well. Then you will say wait a minute. To revisit our mission statement or the charter we made for ourselves is important. It is additionally important to have check- points called the schedule, because we must achieve so much by a certain time or the mission may fail. Here’s hoping this advice will be of as much help to some of you as it was to me.
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