Family Album

Genuine Vision
By: Mike Bolen

What is McCarthy now?” “What will McCarthy look like in 10 years?” “What will our world look like in 10 years?” “Where does McCarthy fit in it?” If you ask a cross section of McCarthy employees those questions, chances are you'll get wildly different answers from each.

As Mike Hurst and I travel around the country to different division seminars this summer, the bulk of our remarks will center around our Vision of McCarthy's future. The net result answers the question of the day, “Now That It's Ours, What Are We Going To Do With It?”

At the risk of being redundant, I'd like to focus on a few key points from our presentation… leading off with an explanation of what we mean by the word “vision”.

Vision starts with the ability and willingness to see “what is” clearly, and this requires that we be brutally honest with ourselves. Like the poet said, “tell it like it is, not the way you wish it was.”

This kind of honesty gives us the basis to then look deeper into the future, anticipate trends, make decisions, and plan in a way that allows us to take advantage of opportunities. However, to complete the vision cycle we must then have the courage to act on our beliefs and execute our plans. The punch line to the “vision thing,” as old President Bush referred to it, is a solid track record of accuracy. We have made a lot of progress on this front over the last few years, but we've got to keep getting better as we go forward. That will be my number one priority from here on out.

Honest assessment tells us that historically the Company has not done a very credible job of communicating our vision to each of you. That notion has to end today. One thing I've learned over the years is that success comes a lot more frequently when everyone is clear about what we are trying to get done, understands why it is important, and gets behind the effort completely. With the ownership transition behind us, this is more true than ever.

So… all that being said, what is our Vision for McCarthy? There are really two parts to the answer — one more short term, and one farther into the future. Simply put, our immediate task is to EXECUTE. Block, tackle, play defense — not because we are in trouble, but because that is the quickest path to the second part of our vision. That one is easy and can be summarized in one word: GROW.

It may surprise you, but McCarthy really hasn't grown our revenue in the past 10-15 years. We do about the same amount of work today as in 1988. The difference is that we have gotten one hell of a lot better at the work we do. Quality, schedule, complexity and profit have all dramatically improved over the last 15 years. But it's not reasonable to expect that we can squeeze much more out of flat revenues. It's time to pack up our vastly improved performance model and start growing that top line. I want to do better — and I hope you do too. And we will… and it all comes down to that word GROW.

We will become a growth company. We are going to grow our sales, we're going to grow our revenue, and we're going to grow in our ability to add value to what we do and be compensated for doing so. The specifics of what and where are yet to be determined, but rest assured it will happen and it will take each of you pulling together to turn this shared vision into reality.

To get all this done will take more than sales and revenue growth. To be successful we must make certain that each of you gets better — and that you are able to develop and maximize every skill and talent you possess. Training, experience, technology, recruiting and individual opportunity will all become increasingly important. Yes, the bar is rising, but in my opinion it's a wonderful bargain that's developing between each of us and the Company… a real chance to spend our careers in the big leagues with a beautifully simple management philosophy: “from each according to their ability, to each according to their contribution.”

Looking back on the last year and reflecting on 138 years of company history, it is crystal clear to me that our collective future has never looked brighter. We are really where I had hoped we would be after the transition. Mike McCarthy left us with a fine mousetrap and plenty of cheese to catch mice. Now it is up to us — let's get ready to GROW!