We are on our January Florida vacation for the last two weeks, with some work mixed in.

Shale Crescent is taking part in a U.S. Commercial Services Roadshow in Turkey in early February. We are making travel arrangements and scheduling meetings separate from the event with Turkish companies we are already working with. In addition, we continue to work with Canadian Roadshow and SelectUSA contacts, a dialog important to continue while we are in Florida.

A couple Lynnda and I have known for decades is vacationing with us this week. Relaxing after dinner one evening, I asked everyone, “What would you do, if you knew you could not fail?” The ladies struggled for a quick answer. Rex responded at once, “I would get my Ph.D.” I never realized how important it was to him. He had his master’s, then life happened and he never got his Ph.D., even though he taught at a college for a while. We reminded him, “It is still possible.”

What would YOU do if you knew you could not fail? After a little thought, I realized it is what I am doing right now, helping to bring jobs to our region and make a positive difference in people’s lives.

Our children had to leave West Virginia after college to find jobs. If my high school soccer players want to leave West Virginia after college, that is fine. My dream is to have high-wage jobs in our region if they choose to stay.

The dentist who did my dental implant is a former high school player of mine. He moved BACK to West Virginia from Colorado to start his practice. In my little world, I am seeing young people return and others who have chosen to stay because of good jobs now here in our region.

On a personal level, if I knew I could not fail, I would snow ski out west again with my children and grandchildren. After my soccer injury a few years ago, I’m worried about a serious leg injury. This one question helped me to understand myself and the goals I need to set.

Sales expert and mentor Jeffrey Gitomer, a hall of fame speaker and author of several books, said, “If you want to get good at sales, learn to ask great questions.” Great questions cause people to think. They also result in surprising answers. I asked an executive friend, “What keeps you awake at night?” His unexpected answer was, “Greg, we are doing more solar installations. I need to explain to my intelligent clients why they need a backup power source because solar power does not work at night.”

Great questions start conversations. We learn more about people when we listen than when we speak. Learn to ask open-ended questions about things others are interested in, like themselves. You may find unexpected things you have in common. You may learn things you didn’t know.

When we do receptions or meet-and-greets, our focus isn’t on us or our message; it is about how we can help others. We need to seek to understand another before we can help them. We do this by being sincerely interested and asking questions.

Questions are important in family relationships. While my mother was alive, I called her every Sunday evening. She wanted to know what my family was doing, and I wanted to hear about

Mom’s week. She was a wise woman. We learned from each other. When our children call, we want to hear about them and their families because we care.

A few years ago, Lynnda and I were invited to our family doctor’s daughter’s wedding. They are also close personal friends of ours. At the wedding, Doc introduced me to Bill, his neighbor, who happens to have a famous TV daughter. I asked Bill what he did and learned he was a retired Ph.D. chemical engineer from Union Carbide. I mentioned a little about the work Shale Crescent USA was involved in with chemical companies. At the reception Bill found me. I asked one question, “What did you do while you were at Carbide?” For over 30 minutes, he talked, I listened. He told me about chemistry. Most I did not understand. I learned Bill developed and was involved in many groundbreaking chemical processes.

Over 400 retired Ph.D. chemists and Chemical Engineers still lived in the Kanawha Valley at that time. Many are still here. These are the people who helped to give birth to and grow the chemical industry. Bill did the talking. One simple question reminded me the American chemcial industry was born in the Shale Crescent USA, not the Gulf Coast. Because of our now abundant natural gas and natural gas liquids, it is beginning to return.

Science and engineering are about asking questions and looking for truthful, exact answers to simple questions like “Why” and “How.” The goal should always be to find the truth, not political correctness or an answer that makes everyone happy. Solutions start with truth.

Before we started our Florida vacation, we spent New Year’s week in Scottsdale, Arizona, with our daughter and her husband. We achieved a goal of playing our first desert golf courses.

Arizona and Florida get sunshine year-round, over 200 sunny days compared to less than 60 sunny days a year in the Shale Crescent region. Virginia has a clean power plan and is adding solar power. There are solar projects in Ohio and West Virginia. We saw few solar projects or rooftop solar in Arizona and Florida like in Ohio, West Virginia, and Virginia.

In Marco Island this week in southwest Florida, we have not seen a single rooftop solar installation, residential or commercial. This area has an hour more daylight in the winter than we have in the Shale Crescent region. The only solar power we saw was for the blinking lights around stop signs. My question, why? Do Florida and Arizona know something we don’t in the Shale Crescent region?

Greg Kozera, gkozera@shalecrescentusa.com, is the director of marketing for Shale Crescent USA. He is a professional engineer with a masters in environmental engineering and over 40 years of experience in the energy industry. Greg is a leadership expert, high school soccer coach, professional speaker, author of four books and many published articles.