The home heating oil industry has a long and proud history, and Fuel Oil News has been there supporting it since 1935. It is an industry that has faced many challenges during that time. In its 77th year, Fuel Oil News is doing more than just holding
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BIO: Shane Sweet is an energy and management consultant with clients in the heating oil, propane and motor fuel sec- tors, a Partner with the firm of Lake Rudd & Company. As of Nov. 1, 2014, he is the new executive director and technical director for the New York Propane Gas Association. He served the industry as President & CEO of the New England Fuel Institute "NEFI" from 2007 to 2011, and as Executive VP/Director and Lobbyist for the Vermont Fuel Dealers Association "VFDA" from 1993 to 2007. CONTACT: He lives in Shaftsbury, Vt., and may be reached at shanemsweet@gmail.com or 802-558-6101 cell/text. Suggestions by readers for future column content, as well as general comments are welcome. http://www.linkedin.com/pub/ shane-sweet/7/a52/701 Shane Sweet OPERATIONAL INSIGHT E ver been frustrated, having a solution for a problem, having the means, opportunity and motive to execute a solution, only to be thwarted by others? Wastes a lot of your time and energy, doesn't it? In April I connected with a friend from my col- lege days. I get to see him every few years at best, and on this occasion we swapped axioms based upon our industry experiences over the years. As we discussed earlier years when both of us were just getting started in our respective industries, I commented on how my perspective had changed. Although "the universe is in entropy" theme (read: EVERYTHING IS ALWAYS CHANGING) was drilled into my head by my physic instructors in college, at the time I was certain that there had to be some things would never change. There had to be some inalienable truths, constant constants, or rules that were never broken. Right? On the topic of disappointment and disillusion- ment, recounted was example after example of how, way-back-when, we held a select number of indi- viduals, ideals and groups in very high esteem. At the time, we considered those individuals, those ideas and those entities the very epitome of what they possibly could have been at the time. They were so powerful. So infallible. So beyond reproach. All knowing. Always doing the right thing for the indus- try. All other considerations, including personal agenda or bias, were secondary. Believing in that high bar then, we understand now, provided a sense of comfort. Speaking just for myself (disclaimer: I never took a sociology or psychology course in my life) I understand that belief in something, anything, is garden-variety human behavior as we humans attempt to find meaning. Looking back, thinking that they were solid or unshakable in foundation, perhaps the very standard by which everything in the industry should be measured, fulfilled that need. All was well in the world, I thought. Their integrity and motives were inviolate. Apparently, though I did not know it then, it was simple: I just wanted—perhaps needed—them: the people, ideals and groups to be that way. The good news is that the overwhelming major- ity of those people, ideals, and groups indeed stood the test of time, which is to say: they have never wavered. To this day, they are the model, the stan- dard, the archetype. Thank you. The bad news is, consistent with the necessity to have exceptions to every rule, a nearly infinitesimal number of others; many, many years later now, have been and continue to be the very obstacles to necessary industry change. Individual ego and fear resulted in deliberate acts whose sole purpose was to thwart critical change. Groups, not immune, fell into the same trap by implicitly allowing, if not encouraging fear, manufacturing a threat of loss of control and cooked-up retrospectives of how good the "good old days" really were… and that somehow we can go back in time. These others, though small in number, have adversely impacted the industry on no less than on a tectonic scale. Observations: 1. Humans tend to believe what we want to believe, even when the facts say otherwise. 2. Some things a. cannot be saved b. don't think things need saving at all c. don't want to be saved d. think they can save themselves e. certainly don't want to be saved by you, even if they are drowning 3. Don't waste your energy on the Others. 4. You can't save everyone, so choose the ones you can save. That last metaphor popped into my head as my buddy and I ended our long-overdue catch-up session. I said it brought to mind the movie "The Guardian," and a scene in which Kevin Costner, playing the crusty veteran Coast Guard rescue swimmer Ben Randal, is trying to answer the unan- swerable question from his young but extremely gifted new recruit. (Paraphrasing) The recruit asks: "How do you decide who lives or dies when there are more than you can save?" The veteran says: "It's probably different for everybody Jake. It's kind of simple for me though. I just, I take the first one I come to or the weakest one in the group and then I swim as fast and as hard as I can for as long as I can. And the sea takes the rest." So, fight the fights you can win, put your energy to where it will do the best good and let the sea take the rest. Let the Sea Take the Rest l F O N www.fueloilnews.com | FUEL OIL NEWS | MAY 2015 33