Our company, Youth Systems Unlimited, and our great Inner Circle left Las Vegas in 1972 and moved to Lake Tahoe. Lenette and I went a bit earlier to do a study for the owners of the “Billy Jeanne King Tennis Club.”
We immediately saw the club as a great family resort. There was tennis, of course, but also winter skiing, summer golfing possibilities, and a youth program with Camp Shasta possibilities. With condos, a restaurant, and a bar, It offered tremendous potential for year-round use. And we were the one company that could provide it all.
Long story short, it rained every day during our first summer, and it was the driest winter in history, so there was no snow. We were sold out, but everyone canceled.
The land owner made us a remarkable offer, but interest rates were so high that investments completely dried up. The cost for the necessary improvements Lenette would make was substantial.
We were offered the money and a minor partnership role, but with the requirement that I remain its operations head for fifteen years. Lenette wisely refused the offer. She knew that I could never function as a tool. Youth Systems Unlimited closed its doors. We moved our Inner Circle into our home in Incline Village, where each of them could sort out their lives. Lenette and I left in our VW pop-top for a seven-month adventure—a healing, spiritual journey in Mexico.
Author: Sy Ogulnick
Sy Ogulnick received a BA from UCLA, Teacher’s Credential from Los Angeles Board of Education and completed phase I (Master’s portion) in a Doctor of Behavioral Science program at California Coast University. Sy leased and operated a summer day camp in LA. He and his wife then purchased virgin wilderness land in Northern CA, where they built and operated a coed summer camp. They moved to Las Vegas, NV, and purchased, built and operated a community children’s program for families staying in a major resort casino in Las Vegas. They have created programs for children nationwide that employed many people and in the process developed successful training programs for personnel. This led Sy to lecture on how to train staff and the creating of community within the workplace. Sy was then invited to speak at professional conferences on how best to hire and train employees, which led to his becoming a consultant in the art of improving relationships in a work environment and eventually to his epiphany that “Leaders are the primary problem and the answer to the personnel issues that arise in the workplace.” Sy has written numerous papers on the subject of interpersonal relationships, leadership and power. He has lectured throughout the United States, has been interviewed by the media and has appeared on many radio and TV talk shows
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