Man In The Arena
A choice to spend 30+ years in the field of Supply Chain Operations is not made for glory or glamour. Instead, it is rooted in an inexplicable pull toward "the grind," not away from it. Even the most thoughtful Operations Strategy is tested regularly by the immediacy of decision demands and the urgent expectations of stakeholders up-down-across the organization. In trying times, I've always found great strength in the words of Theodore Roosevelt's MAN IN THE ARENA, so much so that I chose it as the name of my firm.
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat"
- Theodore Roosevelt