Issue At Hand, USGlass, February 2010

Volume 45, Issue 2 - February 2010

Issue@Hand

Snow Job

If you live on the East Coast between Philadelphia and Caroline County, Va., you can stop reading here, because you lived it. In those areas and our own D.C. suburb of Stafford, Va., we received all-time record-breaking, massive amounts of snow just one week ago. At right, you can see a picture of my backyard. What is most notable about it is that the fence in the photo is six feet high. That should give you an idea of the amount of white stuff with which we were left to deal.

Now to those of you who deal with this type of snowfall all the time and are chuckling, I have just one thing to say: of course you are chuckling, you deal with this all the time. You have things like high-powered plows and Caterpillars. We have to call out the National Guard. Your schools maybe open an hour or two late. Ours closed Friday, February 5, and 11 days later they were still closed due to the snow. Our offices were closed for four days because you couldn’t get here from anywhere.

I learned a bunch of things from the snow. I learned that, even though it is beautiful and is generally good for the glass business, there really can be an event that brings too much of a good thing. I learned that the ancient Greeks were right and their dictum “nothing in excess” holds true today.

But the most important thing I learned from the snow was something I already knew. I’m writing this on Sunday, February 14, Valentine’s Day, and beginning at 9 a.m. this morning a team of the absolute best people in the world you could work with descended on our offices to put this issue to bed. Because of their efforts, you should get it toward the end of the month as you normally do. What the snow taught me, reminded me really, was how in the end it all comes down to people. People make or break a company. And I feel fortunate I get to work with some of the most professional, dedicated people around. There’s more to this story, but that will have to wait until next month.

Two other quick notes: On page 15 you’ll see news that USGlass magazine has been named a finalist in the prestigious Jesse Neal Awards—the Pulitzer Prize of business-to-business journalism. We are honored to be one of only three finalists in the “best feature article category.” Congratulations to editor Megan Headley and author Tara Taffera.

I also hope to see you at Glass Expo Midwest ’10 in Chicago next month. It should be a great event and even includes a tour of the famed “Ledge” in Chicago. For more details see page 38.

—Deb