When I understood the source of my emptiness it occurred to me that I was free to act to correct it.  What an important revelation!  What a luxury.  And when you understand and consider how rare this is in our world it becomes less taken for granted.  I am truly grateful to all those who dedicated their lives to preserving freedom.

So the burning to return to Little Falls prompted action.  Having evaluated my skill set and my limited business experience, I decided to see if I could pursue an opportunity in the beer distribution industry back home.  Again, Providence intervened and I learned that Valley Beer Wholesalers in Herkimer, NY had been purchased by R.W. Burrows, Jr. – the same man that owned the Herkimer County Trust Company, the bank in Little Falls where my mom worked.  So I wrote Mr. Burrows a letter of introduction.  It seems now, upon reflection, that the rest of this story is a function of that very action.

What happened from here is a long tale and likely worthy of capturing in detail but I choose to simply summarize it all by saying my career and my professional maturity was established over the next ten years.  I am truly grateful to Bill for his confidence in me, for the many significant opportunities I was provided, and for many other things – the people I met and learned from, the MBA from RPI, the YPO experience, the network I established, the tests of character, the failures, the successes, and the experiences that have shaped my destiny both professionally and personally.  It all mattered greatly. 

It was during these ten years that I focused on my career first, family second, and everything else a distant third.  Immersed in my career, I asked Bill one day at dinner to tell me honestly what I could improve on.  His response was, “What you lack is vision.”