Final Thoughts

Today, June 6, is D-Day. I know there are many who read this newsletter who are well-removed from those who served in World War II. For us baby boomers, the children of the men and women who served either in the military or supporting the war effort at home, we learned early in life about the tragedy of war. Today, the public is horrified when any lives are lost in battles in Iraq, Afghanistan or elsewhere (I don’t mean to trivialize any loss of life as each loss is truly tragic). However, to put the losses we see today into context, according to Wikipedia, “Over 425,000 Allied and German troops were killed, wounded or went missing during the Battle of Normandy. This figure includes over 209,000 Allied casualties, with nearly 37,000 dead amongst the ground forces and a further 16,714 deaths amongst the Allied air forces.” On June 6, 1944, there were 10,000 casualties amongst the allied troops with 4,414 confirmed dead on that single day. Truly staggering and sobering numbers that should not be forgotten.

Earlier this week we announced that the industry executive who will mentor for a day our 2019 SMU NexGen Leadership Award winner will be Mark Millett, Co-Founder, President & CEO of Steel Dynamics (SDI). This is an exceptional opportunity for one of the young rising stars in your company. There are a number of other benefits, as well. To be a “rising star” does not mean the individual must be at a managerial or executive level. We are looking for someone who is particularly creative within their role, or perhaps working outside of the box and assisting others in the company on how to recognize challenges and solve them in new and interesting ways. This person could be in a customer service role, information technologies, logistics, working on a factory floor, in sales, purchasing, accounting, credit management – you name it. We do not want to overlook anyone who is 35 years or younger and has talent.