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"I'll see you back at the office."
We've all heard or uttered this phrase, when departing on a business trip. For Dan Shefland, vice president operations/engineering for McC Inc., it holds a distinctly different meaning. Those were the last words he ever spoke with McC Inc. project manager Dave Kammerer.
"They were sitting on the runway waiting to depart and we had just talked about our missing laptop and we decided to deal with it later when we were all back in the office," says Shefland. "As it turned out, there were a lot more important things to deal with when we returned home."
Shortly after Shefland hung up the phone with Kammerer, the single-engine Piper 46 aircraft carrying Kammerer, 41; Environmental Control Systems Inc., co-owner Waylon Karsten, 36; and founder/president of McC Inc., Dave McCormick 44; who was piloting the aircraft, disappeared from radar shortly after takeoff.
The trio had left the Fuel Ethanol Workshop meeting in St. Louis the morning of June 28, 2007 and left Shefland to man the McC Inc. booth. Around 9:30 a.m. Shefland received a call from a McC Inc. charter pilot, explaining that McCormick's plane was missing. Hours later, authorities confirmed the wreckage of a plane found 80 miles from St. Louis was indeed that of McCormick's plane.
What ensued was a chain of events that changed the lives of McC Inc.'s leadership team and its nearly 300-employee team forever. However, out of the tragedy of that day, McC Inc. learned many lessons. Some were hard. Some challenged their beliefs to the core, but in nearly every instance, these lessons reinforced the reasons why they got in the business in the first place.
First lesson: Set and Meet Short-term Goals
In the face of incredible shock, McC's leadership team was faced with two immediate short-term goals: Take care of our employees and reinforce customer confidence in the company.
"Being a family-oriented company, naturally it was a difficult time getting through the memorial services and funerals," recalls Jon Walters, president, McC Inc. "It was the week of the July 4th holiday, so what should have been a festive lead-in to a long holiday weekend was, in fact, something completely different."