Shane Parrish

because he was selling automobiles and cars needed oil and gas to run.

Why give that business to someone else?

And if it made sense to sell oil, it made sense to build a refinery.

And if it made sense to build a refinery, it made sense to build ships to transport it.

Each step created the logic for the next.

Harrison absorbed all of this, but one lesson in particular stood out.

He spent 18 months chasing a contract to supply a large power station with Irving fuel.

When he finally landed it, he called Casey delighted.

Irving's response, he simply asked if Harrison had managed to add lubricating grease to the deal.

The grease was about 4% of the total, but 100% of the business is better than 96%.

That was the lesson.

Harrison later described Casey's management style as management by suggestion.

Irving would say something like, if we had such and such account, that would fit just exactly.

And what that meant was get your ass out there and get the account.

There was no directive.

It was a suggestion that carried the full weight of an order, but left you room to figure out how.

And if you couldn't figure out how, you didn't last long.

At the age of 24, Harrison was the sales manager for nearly all the maritime provinces.

He pushed Irving to expand into Maine and New England and they did.

He was learning how to grow a business at the feet of someone who'd done it on a world-class scale from a small town in a tiny Canadian province.