We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give. For myself I am an optimist-it does not seem to be much use being anything else.
— Winston Churchill

You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot build character and courage by taking away people’s initiative and independence.
— Abraham Lincoln

This is not how I intended to start this Back Page; but I learned and was sorry to know that Walter Tilden, the co-founder and President of Tilden-Rent-a-Car has died. He was known to, respected by and held in high regard by all who came in contact with him in the Fleet business in Canada.

Walter was a kind and generous man, he gave his time and energy not only to the building of his company but to the broader community; his voice was always that of the trusted, reasonable man.

I had originally intended to comment on some of the less desirable effects that many current economic realities here and particularly in the USA are having on fleet operations, pushing up fuel prices, adding to operating costs and generally making the present and the future much more difficult to manage and predict.

So long as the economic outlook remains questionable, some component members of the fleet community are impacted more than others. As balance returns to the supply-demand intricacies surrounding oil, things will almost certainly improve…a bit. We are however according many economists, in for a somewhat extended period of uncertainty.

It is the people who provide the leadership, who deal with customers, who maintain the drive and energy needed to make the organization function, who will determine success.

Coping with today’s challenges will require large doses of resolve, initiative and determined, but often difficult to summon up and maintain, essential optimism and trust in ourselves and others. The central challenge as always, is the human challenge.

Coincidentally, as matters would have it, a few days ago, I found myself trying to explain just how central are the personal relationships that have established hallmarks of trust, cooperation and mutual support in the Fleet industry. It’s a very difficult idea to put easily into words, I could not define the concept, but like you, I know it when I see it.

I had experienced that elusive notion of trust and corroboration personally while in the service and was surprised but very pleased to recognize it so clearly demonstrated in the character of so many I have gotten to know in Fleet; those who understood those values and lived by them.

And, while it’s a truism, it is easier to identify those who lack such characteristics rather than those who have them. People in positions of power and influence can, by their individual bearing and behaviour, enable others to perform honestly and responsibly without fear of being “second guessed”. That’s leadership. Human nature though, particularly in difficult times like these, inclines some to move quickly to impose direct as well as implicit limits on initiative and reasonable argument in the management process and that’s destructive. Organizations that do survive and succeed in tough times invariably seem to be led by those in whom absolute confidence can be assumed; confidence that principle and commitment will not be tossed overboard when the going does get tough.

These times do seem to have whittled away somewhat at levels of optimism in tomorrow’s possibilities, the essential outlook for success in the Fleet world. The urgent difficulties that face all businesses today; fuel costs, increasing regulatory constraints, inflationary, credit and financing pressures; the possibility of job losses, corporate downsizing and on and on, have created enormous stress at all levels of the business world, in supplier and customer organizations alike. In the face of these daunting realities and notwithstanding their effects, inevitably, challenge and trust even more critically must go together. The greater the challenge the more we need strong partnerships, alliances and mutual encouragement.

It is my hope though and reasonable expectation that those familiar virtues of dependability, trust and good faith will make this time a thing of the past sooner than we might think today caught up as we all are in its uncertainty and troubles.

Some of the process will not be easy, escalating anxiety, vague but powerful and urgent perceptions real or imagined, will continue to colour our day to day business calculations and experience for a while yet. Balanced decisions are always more difficult to formulate in circumstances like these when optimism is scarce and the shape of the future indeterminate. Sound decisions are even more critically important to successful outcomes when times are particularly uncertain.

When all has been said and done, the achievements of individual leaders built the fleet business in Canada to a very high measure over the years. They did it based on courage, determination, ability…and trust. And, they did it setting high standards for their own performances and the willing collaboration of their colleagues, competitors, customers and associates based on long established, tested, trusting relationships.

That’s the significant lesson going forward.