PCCA Journal 3rd Quarter 2013 - page 26

PCCA Journal|3
rd
Quarter 2013
26
W
hen Katharine Lee Bates originally
conjured the words “America! Amer-
ica! God shed His grace on thee” for
her poem
Pikes Peak
, she was at the
pinnacle of that glorious mountain.
Bates, an English professor from back east, was inspired by
her train trip across our beautiful nation to Colorado Springs,
and her poem, of course, became the lyrics to “America the
Beautiful.” Now, 120 years later, PCCA members traveled
from all across our great nation to Colorado Springs for the
2013 Mid-Year Meeting and were welcomed, and perhaps
inspired, by the grandeur of those very same mountains.
Hosted and planned by PCCA President Glen Amerine and
his wife, Pat, at the renowned Broadmoor resort, the Mid-
Year offered top-flight education, tackled serious industry
issues, and provided the fun, easy-going networking events
that PCCA is famous for. The numbers were special as well,
as 177 people attended (the most since 2001) and 20 commit-
ted companies sponsored the meeting (the most ever; see the
full list on page 38).
The education component of the year’s Mid-Year covered
the association’s past, present, and future. In the here and
now, attendees were treated to a fascinating keynote from
Skip Yowell, the founder of JanSport, an avid outdoorsman,
and a high school classmate of Glen Amerine back in Great
Bend, Kansas. Yowell sprinkled in practical and creative
business advice throughout his account of JanSport’s rise to
the top of the outdoor industry and his many trips to exotic
locales. He discussed keeping a proper perspective (“I don’t
take myself seriously, but I take the business seriously”), the
value of mentoring, why you must follow through on your
commitments, and the importance of teamwork in business
building, mountain climbing, construction, and trade associa-
tions.
Following Yowell to the microphone, though certainly not
limiting herself to the podium or to the typical speaker-au-
dience dynamic, was Dr. Shirley Garrett for a return engage-
ment with PCCA, this time discussing how to stay positive
and how to keep those around you positive in today’s world.
Dr. Shirl, as we all call her now, had everyone out of their
chairs, meeting and collaborating with others, and learning
and laughing a lot. Among the many valuable lessons, we
learned how self-doubt undercuts productivity and how to
foster a higher level of belief in those around us. “Focus on
the reasons you’ll succeed,” she said, “not on past prob-
lems.” And for every negative comment you make to an
employee, try to work in three positive comments.
PCCA education past and future were the primary topics
for the Leadership Development Program (LDP) Commit-
tee on the Mid-Year’s final day, as we further planned the
transition from the Young Construction Professionals program
to the more-inclusive LDP and discussed the new project
manager training program. PCCA will launch the Leadership
Development Program with a full-day session at next year’s
convention, March 14-19, in St. Thomas. The project manag-
er training, based on FMI’s highly successful Project Manager
Academy but customized for power and communication con-
struction, will launch in January 2014. Please see the articles
starting on page 9 to learn more
about both programs.
PCCA meetings are where
members address issues that
impact their businesses—raise
concerns, discuss them from
many angles, and plan a course
of action. The primary venue
for these discussions is the
Construction Industry Round-
table, and this year in Colorado
Springs we had a very full agen-
da. Leading off the roundtable
was Ken Kuchno from the U.S.
Department of Agriculture’s Ru-
ral Utility Service, which funds
much work in the power and
PCCA’s Beautiful Mountain Mid-Year
Cooper Sellenriek goes for the perfect char on his marshmallow while making s’mores
along with, from left, Marlee Caldwell, Joy and Alex Oden, and Shirley Garrett.
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