ANECDOTES, QUOTES AND TRIVIA
Graybar roots: Victor Jury Sr. was a manager for a major electrical distributor in Albuquerque when he "retired" in 1976 at the age of 53. He had worked for the company for 28 years and was the head of exports to Central and South America and the Caribbean. He was educated at Notre Dame and Texas Tech. He and co-worker David Meredith often talked of starting their own business.
Lesson of a quarter: Victor Jury Sr. tells a story about having a disagreement with a priest while at Notre Dame. "Before it got too heated," Jury said, "he held up a quarter in his hand and said 'Tell me what you see.' He saw George Washington, and I saw an eagle. Neither one of us was lying. We saw different things even though we were looking at the same object. He was trying to tell me to look at all angles and all viewpoints before making up my mind."
First job: Summit President and CEO Victor Jury Jr. says his first job was selling decorative light bulbs door-to-door. He says he was 10 years old at the time. "I bought root beer floats for my friends because I had money," he said. He would later work as a shop boy for an electrical contractor, an electrician's helper and a full-fledged electrician.
Workaholic: Jury Jr. described his father's working habits in a 2002 newspaper article. "He was legendary (at the company)," Jury Jr. said. "I still run into people who remember stories circulating through the company — which has several thousand employees — about my dad sleeping on his desk, under the desk, on the lunchroom table, all night, all weekend. He had that kind of work ethic."
Product of boredom: Shortly after retiring, Jury Sr. called his son (who was living and working in Florida) with a proposal for a business. "My dad said he was bored and wanted to do something," Jury Jr. says. "He said, 'What do you want to do? Where do you want to go?' I said I didn't know. He spelled out a vision to start a small company that we would run and see where it went."
Great Depression: In a frank interview with an Albuquerque newspaper, Jury Jr. described what it was like to work with his father: "I didn't see him a lot as a kid," Jury Jr. said. "People from the Great Depression had a sense of necessity about the things they did. They equated hard work with coming out of things successfully. So when he came to me with this idea, it appealed to me partly because we could spend time together."
Empty boxes: Jury Jr. often tells the story of when the company first started, they wanted their warehouse to look fully stocked, even though they didn't have enough inventory to fill the shelves. To fill the blank spaces, when they'd receive new inventory, they'd reseal the empty boxes and add them to the inventory.
Sales secret: Jury Jr. offers a glimpse into how "customer service" is defined at Summit. "One thing we always train people to do is under-promise and over-deliver," Jury Jr. said. "If you make a commitment, you had better meet or exceed what you commited to."
Hiring secret: Jury Jr. says his dad has a simple philosophy on hiring. "Hire smart people, and let them do their job, stay out of their way," he said.
Virtue of modesty: Despite his son stating that he was the "writer, director and producer" of Summit before his retirement, Victor Jury Sr. was described in a 1989 magazine article as a "modest, soft-spoken man with an easy smile who prefers to give credit for the company's success to his employees and partners."
Location upgrade: Summit's first location in Albuquerque moved into new quarters at 2811 Stanford NE when it was about four years old. As longtime Associate Vince Kreamer describes it, one benefit of the new location was a proper loading dock. "We didn't have dock areas to offload the freight trucks. We'd have to use a chain to drag the pallets to the back of the trailer before we could use the forklift."
On expansion: Growing into other markets makes sound business sense, Jury Jr. says. "When you're exposed to a single market, you're exposed to all the fluctuations within that market," he says. "That dependency can be dangerous. By expanding into other markets, we had the opportunity to smooth out some of the cycles of individual locations."
Focus on quality: While others define "value" by the sticker price alone, Summit prides itself on a broader definition, summed up in its Total Value Package. "We have never had a reputation in our market for being the lowest-priced supplier across the board," Jury Jr. says. "We have always worked to be competitive, but we understand the cost involved in service. Our delivery fleet, for example, is expensive to own and operate, but it does allow us to deliver high service."
Slippery slope: Summit's response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks — large charitable donations and the purchase of patriotic billboards — was well-publicized, and Jury Jr. acknowledged struggling with the notion of drawing attention to Summit during a time of national mourning. "We are not doing this to benefit our company," he said, "this is for the community. My hope is that other organizations will continue to be motivated to find unique ways to support America during this difficult time."
A bargain: After completing the Warren Electric Group acquisition for $10.5 million, Jury Jr. expressed his delight to an Albuquerque newspaper. "It's very exciting," he said. "We made a bargain purchase, probably $25 million off the value of the company. It's like a grab bag, and so far, every time we reach into the bag, the surprises are pleasant."
Running with the herd? Summit bought the Warren assets despite a general economic downturn and the fact that some industry experts argued that Warren had limited value without the Allen-Bradley products it had failed to secure. Jury Jr. explained his reasoning to a national trade publication. "I tend to be a bit of a contrarian," Jury Jr. said. "When the herd is running in one direction, I tend to look over my shoulder at what they're leaving behind."
Eliminating fires: In a 2003 article for a national trade magazine, Vic Jury Jr. explained his duty to initiate action, as opposed to reaction. "Think of it as constantly fighting fires in order to save a building rather than building a fireproof building in the first place," Jury said. "The key is to manage proactively, not reactively."
High standards: Summit was honored in April 2003 with an Ethics in Business Award after being nominated by a local chapter of the American Red Cross. "What impressed us so much about Mr. Jury and his company is that, even when there aren't big national disasters, they truly care about people in the community," said Bettye Pressley, the Red Cross chapter's executive officer. "They really understand the importance of giving back."
Out the window: In the Dec. 29, 2005, edition of the Albuquerque Journal's Business Outlook, guest commentator Steven Chavez, president of Integrated Control Systems Inc., refers to Victor Jury Jr. as his "mentor," and said the main thing he learned from Vic was that "true leadership is about looking out the window, not in the mirror."
Chocolate on a pillow: In an article in the January 6, 2006, edition of New Mexico Business Weekly, Jury Jr. had this to say about Summit services such as the 30-Second Counter Service Guarantee and 24-Hour Emergency Service: "In and of themselves, they are unexceptional. But they're like chocolate on a pillow at a hotel — things you don't have to do that make the experience better."
On excellence: "When you live in a world dominated by mediocrity, there is always a place for excellence. Customers will gravitate toward that." — Jury Jr. as quoted in a 2006 newspaper article. |
