Ramblings from an Old YEO’er…
When I joined YEO in 1995 there were about 300 members and a small staff of people (most of which were volunteer) behind the scenes making it all happen. People like Doug Mellenger, Richard Bright, Keith Alpers, Vern Harnish, and a lot of others too numerous to name…all sharing a common goal of creating an Entrepreneurial organization of unprecedented quality. To that end I think they succeeded.
What is real and what isn’t is sometimes hard to tell – especially with a group of Entrepreneurs. My experience has been that the “real” ones stay and the others are weeded out. The strong survive and produce within EO.
YEO / EO has been able to bridge the gap and provide valuable intangible assets to some of the worlds most forward thinking individuals. The value was not what I thought it would be. Here is a list of what the Value was for me:
1. Friendships - over the years I have had (and still have) many friends, however, my EO friends are different. They understand cash flow, employee lawsuits, competition and how to not give advice but to just listen…then in pure Forum protocol say: “when that happened to me…” It is a common thread that runs through all of us that can bring hundreds of very different individuals (to say the least!) together into a group that otherwise would not be possible.
2. Learning – the happiest day of my life was the day I graduated from college. I was excited to not have anymore homework, tests, class schedules or anything else hanging over my head! So when I enrolled in my first university (Lake Tahoe 95) I was not looking forward to the classroom again. Wow was I surprised, I learned more in one university then I think I did in all of college.
4. Fred Diamond – I met Fred and Amy (his wife) at my first university. He owned a company that was called Fund Evaluation Group. They evaluated money funds and then made recommendations as to the quality. A few years ago Fred called me and we got together in Chicago ( I am from KC and Fred Cincinatti) for a quick dinner, overnight then back to work. We talked about our business’s I had sold mine to WebMD and he was thinking about selling his. We discussed our family, kids, wives, and what to do next. He told me about taking his then 13 year old son to a Chicago Bulls game and what a great time they had. We left each other promising to get together 2-3 times a year and a plan to go to the beach together with our families. Two weeks after our time together in Chicago I got an email from Fred. He had inoperable brain cancer. He died a few months later. Thinking about our time together and our past conversations, Fred had recommended that I attend the Birthing of Giants program at MIT. I enrolled and am happy to announce graduated in May of 07. Fred was one of us… a common thread ran though us. Amy if you read this, he made a difference.
3. A lifetime of memory’s – here is something I read recently… you’re not supposed to walk into your grave perfectly preserved, made up, and hair in place! No! Slide in sideways, body completely used up, martini in one hand, chocolate bar in the other screaming, ‘what a ride!’” I think for most of us (EO’rs) this sums it up perfectly. For us to be normal is abnormal.
To close I want to thank YEO/EO for the first half of my lifetime memories, and look forward to the second half!
“ I am not who I am because I belong to EO, I belong to EO because of who I am”
I look forward to meeting as many of you as I can in Vegas…or look me up we can “slide in sideways” together for a day or two!
Warm Regards,
-Kory
Kory Bostwick
PCdisposal.com
913-980-4750
kory@pcdisposal.com
