You miss 100% the shots you never take

I met Tom in Silicon Valley in 1995. Tom was the Director of Manufacturing at Cisco Systems. He hired me to help coordinate a big computer project. Cisco was growing quickly and their information systems were a disaster. The manufacturing line shut down for one week so the board of directors gave Tom 10 million dollars to build a new ERP system. We had nine months, like the birth of a baby to build a world-wide Oracle Enterprise Resource Planning system.

I helped Tom setup systems and problem solve. I only had one hour each week to meet with him and plan my work. I was really impressed with how Tom made quick decisions and solved problems. Later I found out that Tom was fighting cancer. He was working part-time with the ERP project and would fly down to Southern California for chemo treatments.

I remember Tom had a great CD music collection and that he played classical guitar. When I would meet with Tom and go over what I was doing to solve problems, he would listen carefully to my report and then say, “Great, make it happen!” I had to find ways to get this ERP project going ASAP. We were hiring computer programmers to write code, planning meetings to decide how to build this world-wide system of ERP. This was fast track everything. Get a computer TODAY for a programmer when it would take purchasing two weeks. I did not have two weeks to wait. So I would lease a computer and have it delivered the next day. I learned from Tom to cut through bureaucracy and get it done. He would always back me up.

Tom would slice through the politics and dramas quickly and help the team stay on focus. The T shirt you see above is still in my closet. I never knew why I chose to keep this T shirt. Eleven years later, after I fought Colon Cancer and won, now I know why I still keep the T-shirt…. To remember Tom and to thank Wayne Gretzky for the quote.

Wayne Douglas Gretzky, OC (born January 26, 1961) is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player who is currently part-owner and head coach of the Phoenix Coyotes.

Born in Brantford, Ontario and nicknamed "The Great One," Total Hockey: The Official Encyclopedia of the NHL calls Gretzky "the greatest player of all time". He is regarded as the best player of his era and has been called "the greatest hockey player ever" by sportswriters, players, coaches, and fans. Along with his many awards and achievements, he is the only player to ever have his playing number, 99, officially retired across the entire National Hockey League.

Identified as a hockey prodigy at a very young age, Gretzky regularly played at a level far above his peers.[7] He became a full professional at the age of 17 in the World Hockey Association, leading to a long career in the NHL. He set 40 regular-season records, 15 playoff records, 6 All-Star records, won four Stanley Cups with the Edmonton Oilers, and won 9 MVP awards and 10 scoring titles. He is the only player ever to total over 200 points in a season (a feat that he accomplished four times in his career). In addition, he tallied over 100 points a season for 15 NHL seasons, 13 of them consecutively. He retired from playing in 1999, becoming Executive Director for the Canadian national men's hockey team during the 2002 Winter Olympics. He also became part owner of the Phoenix Coyotes in 2000 and following the 2004-05 NHL lockout became their head coach

From : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Gretzky