In Watford City, at my third job, the manager of my manager, recently resigned. He was the regional manager, responsible for all construction activities in North Dakota. I was sorry to hear that he resigned. I did not see this coming. He was in his late fifties, calm, steady, controlled, and having more energy than anyone I know.

I don’t blame him for quitting. The owners of this company have management teams in Texas and New York City, and they were calling daily to quiz and question the managers. The management teams wanted to put constant pressure on the managers here in North Dakota, thinking that this was necessary to make them perform optimally. In my opinion, when this happens, you tell management to get somebody else.

The regional manager here in North Dakota was extremely intelligent, highly competent, very knowledgeable about all areas of finance, business, and construction. I see no way that this company will be able to find anyone equaling his abilities. This is exactly the kind of person you let alone to do their job, because there is no one that could do this job as well or better.

One of the reasons that this company did such a stupid thing as to make this regional manager quit, is because they are from Texas, they are stupid, obnoxious, loud-mouthed, know-it-alls. Likewise, the managers in New York City are also pushy, obnoxious, know-it-alls. I don’t know which is worse, people from Texas or people from New York City.

Why do they know better than the regional manager here in North Dakota? Because of the recent internet and newspaper articles like “Oil Boom Headed For North Dakota! (It’s About To Get Crazy Again!)”. In one of my recent blog posts I explained that this article was a desperate attempt by people in Williston to get people to move to Williston to occupy their nearly vacant new apartments. I was angry about this article because it was spreading misinformation that would cause people harm.

The company managers in Texas and New York City read articles like “Oil Boom Headed For North Dakota! (It’s About To Get Crazy Again!)”, where it stated that the population of Williston was going to climb from 30,000 to 80,000, and new construction was needed right now. How could this be? All the managers in North Dakota have been saying that new construction occupancy rates are at 30%, and that 80% of the oil field workers have already left Western North Dakota.

The managers here in North Dakota tried their best to explain what was happening here. In order to operate a business you have to understand what is actually happening in your environment and have a strategy to succeed in that environment. Right now in North Dakota, it is not the time for property developers to buy more property, to create more subdivisions, to build more apartments, for construction companies to hire more employees, to buy more equipment, because most new construction is at 30% occupancy, and may even decrease.