b'room was and how well these individuals work together. Even though the project started off really well, there was no unity amongst this team. About the third day after Message from the Presidentworking 12-hour days getting there early and staying late, I had our plan formatted for the whole crew to see. Kevin RamboMICA President Everybody assembled on time and was starting to go to work after a small safety discussion that had no relevance to this specific site. I announced that I wanted everybody to look at a new job plan I had formatted for their approv-al. The Amazing Journey of Almost Half a Century- I had all ears tuned in around the room at this point, they President, Kevin Rambo.had never heard such unity, so I preceded to ask them if we My job title for F&H is-Commercial Insulation Divi- could first work through our safety meeting again and talk sion Managerabout a topic relevant to our current situation (everyone agreed). We did this every day thereafter to begin the day, then I mapped out the entire job and every area where we Before I am done in this trade it will be a half of acurrently had work to do. I began to explain to them after century, as I reflect back it makes me think of manythis that we all needed to decide together who was best in things and many changes I have been working to im- the different areas for the purposes of quality and produc-plement for the last ten years.tivity. This took no more than five minutes for everyone to As I was starting in the trade in 1977, I almostagree on our plan. I presented them with one last thing. I thought I was in the military with how policies and(continued on page 23) directions were given, (Im sure the elders in this or- MICALEADERSHIP: ganization know what I am referring to). In 1987, I was the one protecting these policies andPresidentKevin Rambo giving direction as a very young person in the trade. IF&H Insulation, Kechi, KS. quickly noticed if people are shownthe value theyPresident-ElectCarl Petersen, have to your organization, theyrespond much differ- Delta Thermal Services, Mankato, MN. ently than MY WAY OR THE HIGHWAY.Vice-PresidentGordon Vierck Luse Thermal Technologies, Aurora, IL. Back in the day, whether you worked for a bossAssociate PresidentAndrew Hiatt (manager), Father, Uncle or cousin, you were barkedBuckaroos, Inc., Indianapolis, IN. orders that you must follow and there was unlikely any discussion, you were dismissed if you didnt fol- Immediate Past President Lee Stuckenschmidt low the order exactly the way you were told, even ifSystems Undercover, Inc.you possibly had a better idea.MICABOARD OF DIRECTORS: Ted Nickel, Mavo Systems, Inc. So, its taken me sometime to implement a differentWhite Bear Lake, MNway of leadership that is more of a team approachMatt Hymer, Midwest Materials Co. and this is how I train new managers as well. For theJoplin, MO last 20 years or so, I have not been on one projectTim Hughey, Colorado Mechanical Insulation every day until 3 years ago when I had to take over aEnglewood, CO. very large project at a military base. This is when IAdam Sease, Gagnon Inc.really had decided this is my opportunity to train thisBettendorf, IAway not only with the managers, but the people in theChad Brueggeman, L&C Insulation field too.LaCrosse, WI Doug Barton, Midwest Insulation Services I began to plan how I was going to do this, uponOmaha, NE greeting the crew the first couple of morningsAdam DeGraaf, Industrial Construction &(always being the first person on site every day), IEngineering, St. Peters, MO was more or less feeling what the temperature of theAndrew Davis, Cornerstone Services Group Omaha, NE 3'