I accepted the role of president and chief executive after the necessary approvals.

My title did not make me more important than the people who worked beside me.

It made my responsibilities harder to ignore.

I kept the first payroll ledger I’d ever written for Crestview in my desk drawer.

Its pages were stained with coffee and full of corrections.

I’d made those entries when I was young enough to believe hard work alone could protect anything worth loving.

Now I knew it also took boundaries, accurate records, and the courage to ask unwelcome questions.