Hall of Fame

The Association of Educational Publishers

Past Honorees
Garry C. Myers III
Kent Johnsons' Acceptance Speech

Garry C. Myers III
CEO
Highlights for Children Inc.
(posthumous)
2005

Kent Johnson's Acceptance Speech:

Thank you Allen and John for your kind words about Garry and Highlights for Children.

It is privilege and honor for me to be able to accept this recognition of Garry’s contributions to educational publishing on behalf of the whole Highlights for Children Family.

I thank AEP for this honor.

It is both humbling and inspiring to be a part of this ceremony and to share the stage with people who have contributed so much to children, parents and educators over their careers.

Although I only worked with Garry for about 6 months, I have know him as long as I can remember as a leader in our company and in our family – he was an uncle with an incredible sense of humor and a certain devilish smile by which we will always remember him.

In the time I served on our Board of Directors with him and over the short time I worked with him, we discussed an incredible range of business topics, from direct marketing, organizational structures, our many markets, his approach to business ethics, our company’s missions and goals, how to make difficult decisions in an ever evolving world. Not once did we discuss his opinions or approach on acceptance speeches.

I do know he would have distributed credit broadly, thanking our many talented and hard working employees, our partners and colleagues in the industry, our committed Board of Directors, and our supportive shareholders. He would have reflected on our customers – the children, educators, parents, grandparents who have engaged our products and services over the years.

Beyond that, I don’t know where he would have gone.

As many of you know, he was not a man to exhibit personal pride or bathe in credit for either his own successes or the companies collective successes. I do however think it is relevant for me to reflect on aspects of his approach that contributed to the successes we have had over the years:

Garry always demonstrated an unwavering commitment to honesty and the highest level of ethics. He formed and sustained his critical relationships based on trust and chemistry. Having this level of integrity as the top defined a standard of behavior throughout the company, and it certainly sets a high bar for us to live up to going forward.
Garry believed that Highlights was nothing without its people – that our people are our most important asset. Lots of people say this, in fact such a concept almost loses its meaning, becoming a cliché in books on business success and executive stump speeches. I think that Garry believed this at his core and acted on that belief in ways that have created great strength in our organization.
Garry emphasized keeping both the long term and the short term good in focus, never sacrificing one for the other. For us short term and long term have never been defined in terms of the latest quarter or fiscal year numbers. Of course we watch those numbers, but we always focus on sustaining ourselves over long time periods in order to serve the next generation of educators and children.
He never lost sight of our core mission – some believe that there are companies that are mission driven and there are companies that are profit driven and one has to make a choice. I believe, and Garry always believed, that this was a false choice - that we are both profit and mission driven simultaneously Earning a fair profit allows to us to continue in our mission and over the long term sticking to our mission is critical for maintaining our success in the marketplace.
Finally, Garry always made the long term health of the company, the family and their combined mission his highest priority. This included a willingness to make large personal sacrifices without hesitation or regret. Many examples have elements too private to share publicly, but I will attest to being humbled by completeness of Garry’s unwavering commitment to this family and this company.

In addition to Garry’s commitment to the future of the family and company, Garry was a geneology buff – interested in the history of family and company - and I would be remiss not to reflect that Garry’s induction today connects him to his grandparents and our Founders, Garry and Caroline Myers, who were also inducted posthumously into this Hall of Fame on April 6, 1996. We certainly appreciate and celebrate that connection today.

In that spirit, I would like to share with you a poem that was written by Garry’s grandfather. This poem was selected by Garry’s sons as the most appropriate message for the cards sent out after Garry’s memorial service. The poem is titled

A Wish

I’d like to be a person no one would ever mention as showing off to get attention.

Others will notice me whenever I can be just what I am.

To close, I want to thank the AEP again for recognizing Garry for being who he was with this honor and also for recognizing the extended Highlights family in this way. I pledge to you that we will continue in his tradition, with a dedication to serving parents, children and educators in all the ways we are able – guided by the belief that “children are the worlds most important people”

Thank you.