January 2022
As I look back on 2021, I see a year that began with great optimism, with thoughts that we had survived a very difficult 2020 that was ruled by the impacts of Covid (I hate to use the word) and that things could only get better. I don’t think anyone anticipated the lingering ability of this nasty virus or its strange effect on the economy and social behavior. As it turned out, 2021, in many ways, presented us with greater struggles than in 2020. This, without a doubt, put a damper on some of the ambitions with which we began the year.
We have now survived nearly two years of this upset, and in spite, as a company, we are still exceptionally strong. 2021 finished off with lots of rain that, even if not great for business, was much needed to put a dent in the drought and, maybe even more so, to drown out some of the added anxiety of water supply fears. I’d also call the rain a very needed cleansing to help prepare us for a brilliant year in 2022.
We have held together tremendously well as a team, and I can only say I’m really proud to be a part of this organization.
So why is 2022 going to be better? I’d like to say because McGuire and Hester now has a new president (drum roll), but we all know that’s not why. Mike Hester headed the success of this company for well over 30 years, and I can only say I’m intimidated with trying to fill his shoes. Under Mike’s watch, I witnessed McGuire and Hester survive potential closure around 1990 with about 30 remaining employees to grow into what we all see today. That’s impressive. Mike has been a brilliant president, and I’m glad he will remain close by.
So again, why is 2022 going to be better? Because we collectively now have a much better understanding of the social and economic parameters we will be working with. We now have a much better chance of seeing our future, controlling our emotional stability, and allowing us to put much better focus on forward-thinking. This comes at a time when there are just gobs of money that will be pumped into our industry. Between Federal Stimulus projects and an immense amount of private funding that has been in a “wait and see” mode for the last two years, the outlook for construction is bright. What I want to do as president is ensure our focus on our future and the opportunities this will present. I will be looking to every last McGuire and Hester employee to see these opportunities and reach out to our team so we can collectively seize them and make them ours.
I am super excited and humbled by the opportunity to be McGuire and Hester’s new president. I cannot do a single part of this without all of you, so I ask for your support. I also ask that you feel free to reach out to me directly when you see something we can do better. I want all of us and the world we work in to know that McGuire and Hester is the absolute best. Let’s go show them.
Brock Grunt