Mickey Busby has been with G.A. West from nearly the company’s conception. Busby, the company’s most seniored hourly employee, sits down to talk about his nearly 30-year tenure with G.A. West.
How has the company changed since you’ve been here?
We kinda took the Ronald Reagan approach. Gary [West] hired as many good people as he could to take care of all the areas of the company, people he trusted to run the company with him. He looks for people to be faithful and keep the ball of momentum rolling. We’ve changed by growing people into those positions and they’ve ended up extraordinary. Like the old saying goes: it doesn’t matter how you start; it’s how you wind up.
What do you enjoy most about working at G.A. West?
We’re G.A. West AND Company – that “company” means a lot to me. It’s like G.A. West AND Family. You spend so much time with them they feel like family. When you work with someone 6 – 7 days a week, you learn things about them and they become part of your family. I know some people here who would drop everything and help you out. Loyalty and faithfulness. These people are loyal and faithful and you can depend on them day after day.
Describe the favorite part of your job.
I like where the Safety Department is going now. We’re building relationships with our employees. We relate to them. When talking to them about safety, I don’t say “hey look, don’t do that because you may get killed” or “I’ll fire you if you do that.” I say something like “Look, you have kids. Do you want your kid going to work for someone who is going to get them killed or do you want your kid to work with someone who is going to do the job right, take care of your child, make them perform the job safely, wear the proper PPE and keep them safe?” When you do things right, you do things the safe way.
What are three career lessons you’ve learned thus far? (here or elsewhere)
1) There’s no easy position; every position takes work.
2) You should always work hard at what you do and as smart as you can to the very best that you can.
3) The best thing to do is to take what you know and apply it the best you can to your job.
What is the best advice you have ever been given?
Every individual is a person and should be treated as such – a person. Our employees are valuable to us and we should always show our appreciation of them.
What has kept you with G.A. West for nearly three decades?
I think I’ve stayed because of Gary West. Being the person he is, I know that no matter what, he’s going to strive to keep us going. You can see that Gary has a heart for doing this. He’s not the kind that will throw his hands up and quit. He’s going to stay in there and grind day after day until things get better. You know you can count on him and when you can count on somebody, you want to stay with them.