Bill Wooditch
"Leadership at its best, demands the precision of a skilled surgeon, the feel of an orchestra leader, and the heart and will of a fighter. At its worst, it is a personification of arrogance, ego and stubbornness – one encourages, the other neglects, the human element of business." - Bill Wooditch
It’s a long way from the farms and factories of Western Pennsylvania. I was raised in a small town of 3,600 people. I was a rebel without a clue, choosing to work in a factory instead of pursuing a path of higher learning. I remember the frigid winters that were referred to by visitors as Siberia and to the locals as normal. Working in a factory and realizing that the current limitations were going to become my future reality, I began to intensely think of the means and method of escape. I gained strength from the abject conditions – I developed a strength of will and made myself an internal promise, one that I would soon realize from opportunity.
My parents offered the opportunity to go to college, and from that first step, I never looked back – I moved “Always Forward!” When I started in business, fresh out of graduate school, full of theory, but deficit in practice, I had two things to my name—a tremendous self-belief and an insatiable need to validate my self-worth through achievement. My promise became a commitment, and the commitment has become a life-long calling.
From the time of my youth, I was indelibly marked by a television series, “Have Gun Will Travel”. The protagonist of the series was a man called Paladin. Paladin was a man dressed in black, a gunfighter who championed causes of people in distress. He had a noble obligation to right the wrongs for people who could not fend for themselves or needed the support of this knight in a savage land without armor. My purpose, when I started in the business, was to change the nature of engagement in the industry. I took on the persona, figuratively, of a knight championing the cause of good.
There is something inside me that compels me to do what I love, and I am following my heart by living my purpose.
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Always Forward!
The hard-won lessons in Always Forward! are designed to alleviate the pain and shorten the distance between where you are now and where you are determined to go in the future. These secrets can create the foundation for an exciting and rewarding life if you are willing to face your fear and become compelled to move forward—Always Forward!
What we think and what we do in the moments, hours, days, or decades will determine whether our life is enriched or impoverished. The voice that seeks excellence echoes the tone of possibility; it is steadfast in the face of risk and humble in the accumulation of reward. If you are determined to make a change in your life—Always Forward! will serve as both your essential toolkit and indispensable guide.
No matter what industry you’re in, you cannot sustain forward movement without the unconditional resolve to give and do your best every day—no retreat, no surrender. If you can live to the spirit of this commitment, the detailed philosophies, strategies, and methods outlined in Always Forward! will help you experience a significant difference in both your business and personal pursuits.