By Jim Stavis
Each July marks another Paragon Steel anniversary. The company was founded in Long Beach on July 5th of 1988 with just four employees and a vision of its owners Doug Carpenter and Yours Truly. I was recently doing some spring cleaning and came upon a memo that I had written exactly 18 years ago when the company was beginning its fourth year of business. When reading it, I found that many of the challenges we faced then are still relevant today. And even with the perspective that we now have after being in business for 22 years, I believe that there are many lessons still to be learned.
This is the memo:
A Need for Perspective & the Quest to Survive
Ah change. We resist it, we dread it and yet we need for it to occur. For without change, nothing would happen. Nothing good or bad for all of us to work for. Paragon Steel continues to evolve each and every day that we show up for work. We never know what a day shall bring, be it for better or worse.
When we began this journey just four years ago, we really had no idea where the journey would lead. We knew with sound management, aggressive sales and a decent market that we could "form" a company. As to how successful or unsuccessful the company might be was a real crap-shoot. Those who started the company were willing to invest valuable time out of their lives to help fulfill the dreams and ambitions of Jim and Doug. We truly appreciate the dedication and efforts of those who helped the early success of Paragon Steel.
And then the "change" element came into play. The company changed and changed and changed. It had to. No longer were the original characters who helped found the company as critical to its success as they originally were. The company began to build systems, organization, structure and procedures that became a necessary evil in order to survive. The companies that can make this transition from small to mid-size and ultimately to big are the ones that survive. Those companies that remain disorganized, without structure and without discipline, are destined to eventually fail.
Paragon has been a company entrenched in this transition of becoming a mid-sized company with employees who can still remember the "good old days." And the "old days" were fun, but those days are becoming distant memories of days gone by. The "new days" are indeed here and we had better get ready for more and more changes to come.
As for our future? For those employees who continue to strive for the success of Paragon, there are great moments that lie in the future. The changes which have occurred in the steel industry have created an environment that terrifies all of us. With each distributor that shakes out, the reality is that the environment improves for those of us that remain. Though the swirls of change reflect the instability of the times before us, we know that in our survival lies a place that will be a much better place to exist within. We are quite confident of this. We believe that a well-managed and focused team can survive in these rough times and flourish in the better days ahead. We all must work hard for our customers and be constantly in pursuit of new business and opportunities. We cannot rest on our laurels. We can only hope that better times lie ahead and know that we have given it our all to ensure our own survival.
Since I wrote this memo 18 years ago, many employees have come and gone. We are proud to say that we currently have 10 employees who have been with our organization more than 10 years—seven of them for 15 years. So for those who have hung with the company through the ups and downs, we thank you. You have been a big part of our success story. And yet the quest to survive continues. The recent economic meltdown is the worst we have seen in our 22-year history. We know it will eventually pass, but in the meantime, we appreciate all of the support from our loyal customers and welcome the new opportunities as well. We are at your service!!!
YOUR LIFE IN A JAR
When things in your life and business seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day isn't enough, remember the mayonnaise jar.
A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and started to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.
The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured it into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.
Next, the professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous "Yes."
The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the remaining empty space between the sand. The students laughed.
"Now," said the professor, as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life." The golf balls are the important things (family, children, spouse, friends, passions etc.); things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the things that matter, like your career, house and car. The sand is everything else (the small stuff). "If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all of your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you."
So...
Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the dripping faucet. "Take care of the golf balls first, the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."
One of the students raised her hand and asked what the coffee represented. The professor smiled, "I‘m glad you asked. It just goes to show that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple cups of coffee with a friend."
