The Summary of Who is Steve:
I am hardworking and have a diverse and extensive career, particularly in the lumber business. I started from humble beginnings on a ranch, worked in the oil fields, and then transitioned to the lumber industry, where I held various positions over the years, including sales, management, and executive roles. I have experienced mergers, acquisitions, and the challenges of managing a publicly traded company. Throughout my career, I emphasized the importance of caring for people, growing managers, and fostering a positive work environment based on trust, integrity, and teamwork.
This article is by far the hardest thing I have ever written. I have never been the guy who likes to brag about myself or even talk much about my success. I have always been humble and hoped my actions would speak louder than my words. Now that I finally want to talk about myself putting the words on paper is difficult. So here goes: Who is Steve?
I grew up on a ranch just outside a small town on the Utah and Wyoming border. I learned to work hard, respect my elders, and be kind to everyone. Some would say that I had a very old style of upbringing, but I thought it was great. My Dad taught us to fix, build, and care for whatever needed to be done, not wait for someone else to do it.
My first jobs outside the ranch were in the oil fields in Wyoming. The weather was harsh, the work was hard, and the hours were long. You had to be tough to work in these conditions, but the pay was very good. I owned a car and a truck before I was even 21. As the oil field work started to stop in the mid-80s, I was out of work for several months, which pushed me to make a move.
In the Spring of 86, I moved to St. George, Utah, out of the cold and winter. St. George is where I began my career in the lumber business. I spent my first two weeks loading roof tile on new homes in the 95-degree weather. I quickly moved into driving a truck. From here, I can't even list all my jobs over the last 38 years. I took any job I thought would advance me into a better position and pay.
I was mostly in sales and sales management during this time in St. George. I helped open a new lumber yard and a window center in Las Vegas. Also, this time included our first merger with a larger company. I was one of several people who spent a lot of time going to North Carolina for training. We were a group that did much of the change management over the years.
In 2005, I moved to Salt Lake to take the role of Distribution Manager over 7 locations. This position was one of the biggest challenges of my career. I was managing tenured managers who had a lot more experience than me. I quickly learned I had to provide something to help them in their career, or I was disregarded. I attended a 10-day executive manager course at the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia during this role. This course helped me improve my understanding of management. We also went through another merger with a company from Great Britain. This merger put us in the public trading world and made many changes in our company. Again, many changes and changes in management are going on during this time.
2008, the housing downturn came, and our owner spun one-third of the businesses into an investment and holding company. The following two years were a growing time for me, and I learned how to rebuild the business from this group of people. I held multiple jobs during this time and did whatever was needed or whatever I asked to help rebuild the company. In 2013, this investment company successfully created an IPO and rolled us out to the public with an opening offer of $14. As you may know, this changed our business again. Managing a public company versus a private company is two different worlds.
In 2015, my change management skills were called upon again, with another large merger. This merger doubled the company's size and pushed our stock prices up. Things were looking up. I held many different positions during this time, and after this merger, I was back managing 8 locations. We also closed several locations and merged them. One of my biggest accomplishments was merging two locations that had been the largest lumber yards in the state. This restructuring was an 18-month process, and today's location rivals markets like Atlanta, Houston, and Dallas.
Then, in 2020, I was involved in the most recent merger. This merger was big; it is still evolving and growing four years later. I manage many millions in my group and oversee nearly 500 people. By the way, our stock price is holding around $200 a share. I guess that shows we are doing something right.
Hopefully, this short article will give you a little idea of my 38 years of learning. The one thing I have dug into is how to influence people and grow managers. I believe that you should take care of your people, give them a future, and make them feel like they are part of something, and the rest of the business will take care of itself. You still have to manage your business, but it is much easier when you have a team that wants to be there and wants to make a difference.
I believe in building trust, integrity, open-mindedness, servant leadership, and teamwork. If you create a team based on these principles, pay them what they are worth, and give them a future, you are on the winning side of high-performance leadership.
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