As Don Greenwell, Jr. begins retirement, the longtime Walbridge employee and former Executive Vice President penned a farewell to the team.
To say my tenure of 35 years at Walbridge was “interesting” would be an understatement.
I have been fortunate to be part of the some of our iconic construction projects in the last third of Walbridge’s existence. Listing them would undoubtedly be a disservice, as I would miss some, but suffice to say by my own accounting (and I am decent in arithmetic), it tallies up to more than $7 billion in construction.
Not bad for an engineer from a small old-line contractor, where at the time, Construction Management was just a “fad.”
Many have heard of my start with WA as a temporary consultant to support John Rakolta, Jr. and Steve Klimes with the acquisition of the much larger Darin & Armstrong. It was a great introduction into the young up-and-coming leadership of WA, and was fortunate to be part of our version of the “The Art of the Deal,” as orchestrated by John Rakolta, Jr., long before it was published.
My father, a VP with that small old-line contractor, called John, Rick and Mike Haller, and Ron Hausmann, the “whiz kids.” Now, I am witness to reaching full circle with a new generation of leaders.
But the memories are still vivid – from a surprise visit on a cold December Saturday by Mr. Rakolta, Sr. and Jr. to a young project manager (me) in the trailer at Nissan Research (on their way to their annual poinsettia purchase at Farmer John’s) to the elaborate façade selection mockups at Chrysler Tech Center by Lee Iaccoca, the legendary Chrysler CEO. And it goes on; from the implosion of my childhood memories at the 25 story downtown Detroit Hudson’s to the oh-so-foreign Argentina Temple. And more; Saturday mornings with Mike Haller pondering diverse worldly topics – even some work related (as long as I made the coffee), to the national office building of the year at Delta Dental. And get me going, there are hundreds more!
And as with any journey, it did not always possess glitz and glamour – a government project that I was told to tear it down and start over again, or tough decisions in the uncertainty of a downturn in the economy. But through it all, we not only survived, we thrived.
We flourished by virtue of incredible leadership. I have always professed that I have tried to replicate the strengths of all my bosses over the decades – John Rakolta, Sr. and Steve Klimes, my friend Bill Gruebnau and E.G. Clawson, more recently, Rick Haller, Ron Hausmann, John Rakolta, Jr. and Mike Haller. But it does not stop there, I have been blessed and I’m thankful to work with incredible teams of men and women that have accomplished great things – even the seemingly impossible.
Posted over my desk for years, I am grounded in a short comment with many variations and debated as to its attribution that may resonate:
Success is never final,
Failure is never fatal,
But it is courage that counts.
Don Greenwell, Jr.