A Transition and A New Beginning

As you have already seen from Mary’s note, last week she wrote me a check, and I signed papers giving my stock to her. PSI is now entirely owned by Mary McGlynn. This is a huge transition for the business, for Mary, for us as a couple, and for me personally. 

It is all good. Under Mary’s leadership, the company is in good hands. The progress that has been made in the past two years is stunning. Yes, we have had setbacks and blows to the gut, but with amazing resilience the team has brought us back. The future looks bright: PS new design; branding; the office redesign; variation in program delivery options; new clients jumping on board and old ones scheduling new programs. 

I love metaphor. Here is one you would not expect to hear from me. Saturday I attended the Cal-Washington game in Berkeley. Early in the first quarter, Cal was on the Huskies’ 1 yard line ready to score. Cal fumbled. Washington running back Shaq Thompson grabbed the ball and ran 99 yards for the first touchdown of the game. I was on my feet screaming my guts out. Not good considering I was surrounded by Cal fans. 

The metaphor here is the great comeback. In the photo, Cal player #6 is all issues we’ve overcome in the past few years. We are Mr. Thompson, heading into the end-zone. Go Huskies!

As you know, I’ve had almost no role in the operation of the company for a couple of years. My “retirement” has been on a gradual slope downward (or, upward, depending on your point of view.) This has been as it should be. When you own your company, you don’t retire like Schmidt in “About Schmidt.” 

From here on out, I will have zero influence or control about how PSI is run. You can find me at 10AM on Monday morning in the local coffee shop reading the paper with all the other white-haired geezers. 

Seriously, this is a bitter-sweet moment. Although I am in good health, it feels like death. “Old trainers never die, they just fade away.” I will be around and be available if needed for things like speeches about Speaking Up. I expect to see you at various functions, and especially the final Trainers Day of the year in December. 

It has been a thirty year ride of pleasure, satisfaction, and accomplishment – with a few bumps in the road along the way. I could not have wished for a more self-actualizing career. When I launched the company in 1985 at age 46 from a bedroom at our house, my wildest dream was that the company would grow to be well recognized in the immediate Bay Area, and that we would even have an office with a sign on the door: PowerSpeaking, Inc. Well looks like we made it. With the skilled help of everyone who is reading this, plus many others who have moved on, PSI has grown to be a successful, well known, and dare I say it, beloved company in the Bay Area, and around the world. What a rush.  I plan to write more about the detailed history of what happened between 1985 and today… but that will come later. An early memento:  

First money transaction for the new company. In April, 1984, I funded FGA with $500. We were off and running.

 

Hope to see you soon. 

Rick

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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