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The Foxhole Award

fox•hole
(ˈfɒksˌhoʊl)

n.
a pit for one or two soldiers dug as a shelter in a battle zone.

“I would rather be in a foxhole with my friends than face the enemy as an army of one.”

The Foxhole Award is obviously built on a metaphor. The metaphor is appropriate when describing partners or people who have been instrumental and important to the firm over the last 20 years.  Starting the firm was a battle but we survived and learned from those initial battles.  Choosing and selecting good partners, whether Presidents, vendors, capital partners, or advisors, is a hallmark of the company’s tenure. I feel fortunate to have worked with the folks that are recognized.  More importantly, I want to publicly recognize them. They are special and here is why. After 20 years, you try and find those who can adopt a foxhole mentality. Character, ethics, moral compasses, stamina, calm under fire, sense of humor are all ideal.  However, you never know until that partner or employee is tested in battle.  I found the perfect description while surfing the internet:

“Consider two soldiers in a foxhole in a raging battle. Their common goal is survival. One has the ammunition, and the other has the machine gun. They are genuinely dependent on each other, one to provide the ammunition and the other to fire the gun. It does not matter whether they like each other or care about the same things in the other parts of their lives. What matters now is that they clearly know what their common goal is (survival) and that they work interdependently (feeding the ammunition into the gun and effectively firing the gun). This kind of willingness, a clearly defined common goal and effective interdependence, is referred to as a foxhole mentality.  A foxhole mentality is when people who may have different backgrounds and viewpoints accept that they have the same intent and are willing to genuinely cooperate. They must determine that their differences are less important than their need to work together.”

Alignment of interest, focus of intent, and truthfulness in the pursuit of action that secures the common goal is something we as a company strive to instill in our daily routine.  This all sounds easy but it is tough in the heat of battle, a great financial meltdown, a bubble bursting, a crazy election outcome, or a real military action.  Challenges can be found internally as well—a death of a partner, a misdeed of an employee, or a purposeful transgression—where survival requires a foxhole mentality.

We have survived battles with each honoree, we have assessed what we have learned and moved on after making any needed corrective actions and storing the experience into our hard drives and moving onto the next common goal.  If we sit and stew in the foxhole, we are doomed.

Gen George S. Patton Jr. said, “Go forward, those who lie in foxholes lie there waiting to die.”  I believe him, and I am thankful to have/had each of these folks in my foxhole over the last 20+ years to push us forward.  I get up every day to the adventure of finding additional folks who know how to use a shovel and prosper in a foxhole.

Foxhole Award Recipients

• Mr. Guerrino Savio
• Mr. Vance Detwiler
• Ms. Elizabeth “Liz” Madzula
• Mr. Jay Brinkerhoff
• Mr. John “Jake” Jacobsson
• Mr. Brian Earle
• Doss Knight
  Bill Knight | David Knight | Jason Brown
• Oak Street Real Estate Capital LLC
  Ms. Larissa Herczeg
• United Auto Workers Pension Trust
  Mr. Thomas Henley
• Parkwood LLC
  Morton L. Mandel | Jonathan McCloskey | Christopher Rossi