Big Shoes to Fill
Last month our company, Correct Craft, celebrated the 100th birthday of Ralph Meloon, a son of our founder and lifelong member of the Correct Craft team. Ralph has had a tremendous impact on our company and has served pretty much every key role at Correct Craft including President and Chairman. He still serves today as our Chairman Emeritus and we are honored to have him as part of the Correct Craft team.
Celebrating Ralph’s 100th birthday caused me to once again think about both the leaders of our industry and its future. We have a lot of change coming and we will need people to fill the shoes of leaders like Ralph to guide our industry through change.
I have written before about how globalization and technology will impact our industry in the years ahead and with each passing day I begin to think those two catalysts will be affecting us even sooner and with even more impact. We need great leadership to ensure our industry thrives in a season of dramatic change.
At the same time as we will be experiencing meaningful change, our industry is going through a significant transition as many of our past leaders either sell their businesses or look to retire.
For decades, the boating industry had strong, high integrity leaders like Ralph Meloon, Paul Kuck, Leon Slickers, Eddie Smith, Pack St. Clair, and my personal mentor Ed Bronstien. We need to ensure that leaders of their caliber step up in our industry in the years ahead.
I would encourage our organizations, both companies and associations, to work together with a goal of preparing our future leaders to ensure that as the years pass our industry stays in good hands. It is one of the best things leaders of today can be doing to ensure our industry thrives in the future.
Bill Yeargin is the president and CEO of Correct Craft.
