What Roger Sherman Learned

On Thursday I had a short conversation with Roger Sherman, lobbyist for the forestry industry. We have known each other for perhaps 15 years and while it’s an adversarial relationship, it’s not hostile, instead it’s professional. We talked about our agendas and I pointed out that the session hadn’t been as bad as we anticipated this year, given the lengthy wish list of the oil and gas industry and the traditional concerns of the coal industry. In fact, oil and gas got almost nothing this year. He responded that we normally are crying about our losses. Not this year I said. Roger then added he learned something from me. What could that be?

I never give up he said. He learned that. An unexpected compliment.   Of course, he took that lesson to heart and finally got what his industry wanted- a rollback of the timber severance tax. But it took years and years of patient work.

Maybe you set aside a goal for a while. Maybe you try a new approach. Maybe you wait for an unexpected opportunity. But never give up.