Problem-Solving Mentality: From Mentorship to Practice

The first half of my career was spent working for my mentor. I started working for him right out of college. I worked as his CFO for twenty years and almost everything I know about business I learned at his feet. He was, and still is, one of smartest men I know. He long ago became one of my dearest friends, and every day I open my mouth and he comes out.

One of his oft repeated lines to me was, "Don't bring me problems; bring me solutions." And he meant it! I cannot recall one time in all those years going to him and saying , "I can't." It was not that I feared him; it was that I never wanted to let him down. Armed with that attitude, problem solving became almost as much a part of my job as running his company.

This has always been my attitude when dealing with issues. COVID is no exception. Early on in March, we took an aggressive approach to dealing with this demon. Now that we are on the tail end of it, I am happy to report that the vast majority of our parks not only survived, but most thrived.

In life, there always has to be a "Plan B." We have to be able to maneuver situations and find ways over and around them. My former job forced me to solve problems and make them go away. I was always challenged with finding a way when there seemed to be no way. I have my mentor to thank for the boot camp training I received. He often handed me things that I had no idea how to do-but he had enough faith in me to know I could figure them out.

This same thinking drives us at AOS. We will look at problems, turn them over, throw every idea against the wall until we figure out a path forward. G-d has blessed me with some of the most creative minds in the industry-and their dedication to our client success is something I wish our clients could witness. I see it day in and day out when and what they have done with our parks during COVID has been nothing short of amazing.

We hope we are at the end of this painful period in our nation. I have been humbled by the goodness of Americans.