Is it Marriott's Ko'Olina on Oahu? CJ
Yes it is, but we were referring to the power plant further up the road on the left were a previous "guess" picture was taken.
Anyone know this locale? Double props if you not only recognize the area, but can tell the location where the picture was taken.
This is the prior "guess" picture.
I have had two work projects on O'ahu, and both were wonderful experiences - without even considering that it was Hawaii.
The stellar experience was the first project in June 2002, when I did a one-week training program to orient wastewater treatment plant operators on procedures to audit wastewater treatment plant compliance with environmental requirements. The objectives were to create a team of internal auditors inside the wastewater treatment plant division, to 1) reduce the amount of money they were spending on outside audit teams, and 2) foster and facilitate internal information exchange, so that successful programs at one plant could more readily shared with other plants who might be having similar issues. But what I most remember about that training program was the non-haole employees who made a point of talking to me and talking share life during breaks and lunches. I was incredibly flattered and humbled.
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This photo happens to be from the second project, where I was directing a team that was reviewing electric power generation facilities on most of the Islands. I decided to handle O'ahu myself, and this pic was taken from the upper level at one of the primary generating stations on O'ahu.
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Going down a bunny trail - don't hesitate to skip if you lose interest.
In a subsequent performance review on the 2002 project, I ended up getting dinged because of the project. Not for the project per se, but collaterally. This project had been rescheduled twice. And after we were finally able to get it scheduled, my company subsequently scheduled a two-day marketing planning meeting I was supposed to be part of. But Honolulu insisted that the training needed to happen at that time, and that my participation in the program was essential. If I wasn't there for this reschedule, they would likely kill the project, and the firm in Hawai't that we were coordinating with on the project as well as my firm would probably get a big black eye. And we had identified Honolulu County as a target client.
I had been doing this business that point for over 20 years at that point and had been in a position where I was generating a minimum of $1 million per year in sales, conducting both marketing and sales programs (and keenly aware of the differences between those two), as well as being tasked with starting turnarounds for failing offices pending hiring of new office managers.
In my mind this was pretty straight-forward. Target client. High visibility project, with the client insisting on my participation, indicating establishment of a solid client relationship. If I request yet another project deferral, that project is likely killed, with considerable collateral damage to both my firm and our Hawai'i based partner, as well as my personal professional reputation. So I thought it was a pretty easy call. Beg off on the marketing session and be sure that we take care of the client - because, after all, don't our corporate values stress that there is nothing more important than client service?
So when I got dinged for not rescheduling the project so I could make the marketing session, I knew that my time with that company was winding down. My reviewer seemed fixated on how I missed the marketing session, and had little interest in how that would have screwed up relationships with a target client the firm had been courting for over five years. A few days later it dawned on me. He ran a significant line of business himself. He was not unaware of these issues and the implications. But he wanted me gone, and he was just creating documentation for an out-placement.
Five months later I was gone. I decided to go into business by myself, as a self-employed consultant, and it has been the most satisfying and enjoyable 18-years (and still counting) of my career.
