It took a decade. My designated successor unexpectedly had to retire for health reasons despite being almost a generation younger, so I had to step back in. Various approaches did not work out . Finally successors were in place and I could step down.
I had an opportunity to say goodbye to about forty managers sitting at the plenary session of The Manor Group’s annual meeting.
That morning while soaking in the hotel spa followed by baking in the sauna (and before a swim), I determined the five matters I would talk about.
The first was to acknowledge the many ‘stars’ in our company’s history and what had been accomplished over five decades had been collaborative. My chief role has been as a facilitator.
The second was my proudest business accomplishment is the unblemished safety record of about 400 swimming pool seasons among our hotels and apartment complexes.
The third was reference to the credo established almost ninety years ago by Robert Wood Johnson, then president of Johnson and Johnson, setting forth the multiple responsibilities of a company to customers, employees, suppliers, communities, not just stockholders.
I then referred to the continuum of life where we all stand on the shoulders of our predecessors and later help lift up our successors.
And in conclusion, I mentioned a speech I had witnessed during our lunch period as a sophomore in high school on early television. In 1951, Gen. Douglas MacArthur addressed a joint session of Congress on his return from decades of service abroad. As I excerpted the last paragraphs of his address, I choked up and my son Richard took the paper and completed reading the quotation:
“And like the old soldier of that ballad, I now close my military career and just fade away, an old soldier who tried to do his duty as God gave him the light to see that duty. Good-by.”
POST SCRIPT: Yet it took another year.
POST POST SCRIPT: I haven’t attended any more annual meetings (although I hope to do so in 2016 to celebrate the fiftieth year of the company), but through necessity, I have continued to play an important advisory and leadership role. July, 2015
