Bill Borders stepped up onto the podium. He had just been introduced as the new Vice President of sales for Kiechler Building Supplies. As he looked out at the fifty seven faces staring back at him, time seemed to stop and everyone was motionless. Bills mind wandered. This wasn't a nervous reaction; it was more of a reality check.

Bill had already met most of the fifty seven faces that were now looking at him in anticipation of what he might say. In fact, he had individual casual conversation with many of those faces in the audience.

Bill had been hired by Tom Thompson, third generation President/owner of Kiechler Building Supplies just five short months ago, but he had already managed to personally visit every single one of the sixteen branches Kiechler owned. He was hired to change the direction of the company, to recapture lost market share, to rejuvenate the sales force and put Kiechler back on the growth track to become the premier building supplies distributor in the Southwest once again.

Bill was confident that he could meet the challenge that Tom Thompson had laid out before him. His personal history and knowledge of the industry gave credibility to his confidence. Challenge was no stranger to Bill Borders. Being a decorated Marine platoon sergeant combined with the street experience he gained growing up in the building supply Business, provided Bill with exactly the quality of leadership necessary to tackle the issues Kiechler had been facing for the past five years. Lost market share, deteriorating competitive advantage, a culture of compassion that lost all of it's acquaintance with accountability and a lack of trust in the leadership of the company was pushing Kiechler toward the brink of disaster.

As Bill stood on that stage, facing his sales force all together for the very first time, he scanned the room looking from left to right and then right to left. As he looked into the faces of the people that held a major share of Kiechler's final destiny in their very own hands, he briefly revisited his decision to accept Tom Thompson's offer and plea to come out of retirement and help rebuild a company that had seemed to have lost it's passion, it's energy, it's sense of urgency and most importantly it's will to regain the reputation it held for over fifty years as the premier building supply distributor in the Southwest.

Bill had sold his own company located in the Northwest and moved to Southern California four years ago. He was only fifty eight years old at the time. Retirement seemed like the very thing he wanted to do. After two years of playing golf five days a week and relaxing by reading over 100 different books, boredom started setting in. Then Tom Thompson approached him with an offer. Bill accepted Tom's offer and they agreed on a three year contract that would take Bill to age sixty five. Bill knew with complete confidence that he could solve Kiechler's problems and recreate the success factor that had once existed at the company. Bill knew that Tom Thompson needed guidance, coaching and mentoring, but he believed that Tom was not the root cause of the problem even though he was a young forty two year old President trying to fill his father's shoes. Bill was confident that in three years, he would make Kiechler Building Supplies the number one distributor in the Southwest once again. He was sure that he could rekindle the passion, the commitment, the culture and ultimately the reputation Tom's grandfather began creating the day he opened the Business in 1957. He knew it would be a challenge, but Bill seemed to have that unique leadership quality that made people want to follow him. He had that unique ability to get people to release the discretionary energy that is critical to success, energy that is only released if you believe in the company and you believe in your leader.

A few seconds had passed since Bill stepped onto that stage, but time was still at a standstill in Bill's mind. He scanned the room one more time. Slowly this time looking squarely into the eyes of the men and women that represented the $125 million in revenue Kiechler reported the prior year. This was a year that reflected a 20% decline in previous year's sales. As Bill looked into the eyes of his sales force, he felt he could almost feel the many dif

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