I never had an employee’s attitude, or to put it another way, I always had my independent streak. I did work for others during the winter in my own fashion. I did what I was asked or told to do but managed to do it in my own way. The stamp of my personality seemed to come through in almost everything I did.
About six months ago, I sat with a dear friend at our kitchen table. He also worked for me and was a member of my inner circle. We were discussing our history together, and he rubbed his fingers together, saying, “I needed this, and you didn’t.” He was talking about “wages.” At that moment, I realized I had never thought about earning a wage; I had only thought about ideas. I always focused on picturing what those ideas looked like and how they might function.
For example, Lenette and I could see that the parents who visited Camp Shasta and stayed for a few days loved the experience. So, we began to think of building an adult facility at camp to create fun and “learning” experiences for them. We also thought of educational and recreational bike trips and tours in Europe. All of this was in the early 60s. As it happened, Las Vegas and its demands changed all of this. But never once did we consider money or profits. In our mind at that time, things like that would take care of themselves. It was, and is, how we see the world.
Back to the kitchen table: It took months for my guest’s moving fingers to form into what he was saying about the people Lenette and I are. He is a leader, without question, yet he needed me to give him the platform where he could do the leading. Without being led himself, he was only an excellent employee working for wages. That is always the difference between the roles of leaders and the leader of leaders.
So good a man, he—Takes charge when need be, is he. Does this easily