WEBVTT - Community Before Self: Malin Burnham

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<v Speaker 1>And we continue with our American stories, and up next

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<v Speaker 1>the story of Maelan Burnham, a business leader in San

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<v Speaker 1>Diego who's made a massive impact on his city, as

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<v Speaker 1>so many business leaders do. By the way, I spent

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<v Speaker 1>quite a bit of time with Maelan and it was

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<v Speaker 1>a real pleasure, a gift actually for me. And he

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<v Speaker 1>talked a lot about pivot points in his life, and

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<v Speaker 1>there were several. So when you hear the word pivots,

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<v Speaker 1>think about your own life and those moments were a

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<v Speaker 1>turn one way or the other. Here's our own Monty

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<v Speaker 1>Montgomery with the story of a man who truly put

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<v Speaker 1>his community before himself. Mayland Burnham is a philanthropist, a sailor,

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<v Speaker 1>and known as mister San Diego, which makes perfect sense.

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<v Speaker 1>He's lived there his whole life. A lot of people say, well,

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<v Speaker 1>why wouldn't you want to move around and see more country,

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<v Speaker 1>line said, because I've got the best place in the

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<v Speaker 1>world to live. My first pivot that I can imagine

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<v Speaker 1>or think about was aged seventeen in August of nineteen

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<v Speaker 1>forty five. My dad was His sport was golf, and

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<v Speaker 1>he played business golf. That is on Wednesday afternoon and

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<v Speaker 1>Saturday mornings, he'd take a client out and play golf.

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<v Speaker 1>My mother, her recreation was beach, swimming, suntan and those

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<v Speaker 1>type of things. So she took my brother and I

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<v Speaker 1>to these little private beaches, not private, but public beaches,

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<v Speaker 1>but you had to go between two houses to find them.

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<v Speaker 1>In this area of Point Limit. We'd go several times

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<v Speaker 1>a week. I guess my brother in line, and we

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<v Speaker 1>would see these little junior sailboats, sixteen foot sailboats called

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<v Speaker 1>a starlet, and they were all from the Samuel Yacht Club.

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<v Speaker 1>These little junior boats that they practiced and raced in,

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<v Speaker 1>sailed back and forth in front of our beach. Never

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<v Speaker 1>once in a while, I want him to say, hey, kids,

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<v Speaker 1>you want to go for a ride. And we'd swim

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<v Speaker 1>out and climb on these little boats. After a couple

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<v Speaker 1>of summers are doing that. My mother taught my dad

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<v Speaker 1>in the joining the Sanniel Yacht Club and they didn't

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<v Speaker 1>know one another boat from another. But that's how I

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<v Speaker 1>got started in the sport or sailboat racing. So fast

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<v Speaker 1>forward to nineteen forty five, I just graduated from Point

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<v Speaker 1>him All High School. As soon as our graduation in June,

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<v Speaker 1>most of my buddies signed up for the Navy, and

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<v Speaker 1>I was prepared to do that after the Summer Hawai

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<v Speaker 1>Navy because we were a navy town and that's what

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<v Speaker 1>we knew, and the people and so one's little Ford.

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<v Speaker 1>But as Mainland mentioned earlier, he was only seventeen, so

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<v Speaker 1>while his older friends could join the Navy, he couldn't.

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<v Speaker 1>So Mainland's parents helped him and his sailboat crew do

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<v Speaker 1>something else. My folks sponsored my crew to send us

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<v Speaker 1>on the train to Stanford, Connecticut. Darry Yochler was hosting

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<v Speaker 1>the international competition for the championship of the Star Class

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<v Speaker 1>International World Championship, which was now a twenty two foot

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<v Speaker 1>boat that I had acquired or my folks acquired for me. Anyway,

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<v Speaker 1>we ended up winning that we got it, and we

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<v Speaker 1>came back home on the train. And about halfway between

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<v Speaker 1>New York City and Los Angeles on the train, it

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<v Speaker 1>stopped in the middle of nowhere. We didn't know why.

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<v Speaker 1>It turned out that it was VJ Day. Everybody was

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<v Speaker 1>celebrating the war's over. So when we get to Los

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<v Speaker 1>Angeles get off the train, my mother and father came

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<v Speaker 1>up to big us up in the car and the

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<v Speaker 1>first thing, they said, well, congratulations song. And next thing,

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<v Speaker 1>my dad said, son, you're going to Stanford and said, no, Dad,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm going in the Navy with all my buddies. You

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<v Speaker 1>know that. And he said, know the war is over,

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<v Speaker 1>you know that, and the draft is going to stop

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<v Speaker 1>sooner or later. And he says, I've already got you

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<v Speaker 1>a role. And that was my number one pivot that

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<v Speaker 1>I did. I decided that I would go into industrial

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<v Speaker 1>engineering because even though my dad said, son, you know

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<v Speaker 1>you're in a great position. You get in ato being

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<v Speaker 1>the CEO of General Motors or Westinghouse someday, and the

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<v Speaker 1>morning I thought about that, I don't think I want

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<v Speaker 1>to do that. And so anyway, I took industrial engineering

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<v Speaker 1>and that was the best thing I've ever done as

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<v Speaker 1>far as education is concerned. So I graduated with a

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<v Speaker 1>Bachelor of Science degree and industrial engineering, and a week

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<v Speaker 1>later I was employee bought my father in John Burnham

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<v Speaker 1>and Company. The name of the company was after my grandfather,

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<v Speaker 1>who had passed away before I was born. I never

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<v Speaker 1>knew him. At that time, I was the eleventh employee

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<v Speaker 1>and about half of the business was in real estate brokerage.

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<v Speaker 1>So I decided and my dad decided probably that how

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<v Speaker 1>to be started out in the mortgage business and learned

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<v Speaker 1>a little bit about not only about real estate, but

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<v Speaker 1>how to praise a property and engineering. If you think

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<v Speaker 1>about it has to do with structures. Well, real estate

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<v Speaker 1>has to do with structures. I got so that I

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<v Speaker 1>could if I had a potential buyer client that wanted

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<v Speaker 1>to spend a million dollars buying an apartment house, in

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<v Speaker 1>a moment or two, I could figure out the size

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<v Speaker 1>of the put that department house ought to be, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>for a million dollars or is the numbers grew five

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<v Speaker 1>million or ten million in that So I could walk

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<v Speaker 1>down the street here and look at the building and say,

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<v Speaker 1>would you that one would work for Oscar? But that

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<v Speaker 1>one over there wouldn't. So that's how I got started,

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<v Speaker 1>and along the way you would learn many lessons his father.

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<v Speaker 1>What I learned from my dad was disciplined. Son. We've

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<v Speaker 1>got office hours, we've got business hours. We expect you

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<v Speaker 1>to be here, we expect you to do this, we

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<v Speaker 1>expect you to do that. So there I was disciplined

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<v Speaker 1>or top discipline as to what business was all about.

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<v Speaker 1>My dad also taught me the makeup of the company

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<v Speaker 1>was that we were all working together. We didn't allow

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<v Speaker 1>any one person to dominate a client by themselves exclusively.

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<v Speaker 1>We wanted people to work together as partnerships and that

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<v Speaker 1>type of thing. So I learned that from day one.

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<v Speaker 1>Interesting when my brother was older, but he was in

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<v Speaker 1>the military, So I got into the business a year

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<v Speaker 1>before he did. His attitude grew up to be he

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<v Speaker 1>wanted to be responsible entirely for his client. He didn't

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<v Speaker 1>want somebody else to be part of it. And that

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<v Speaker 1>was okay, but it wasn't the feel of my father,

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<v Speaker 1>and it wasn't the way I was feeling. So all

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<v Speaker 1>a lee, my father and the company bought my brother

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<v Speaker 1>out and we helped him set up his own internance agency.

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<v Speaker 1>So I've always been a team player in sailing. We

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<v Speaker 1>got eleven people on the crew. If I'm a skipper,

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<v Speaker 1>the guy on the bow is just as important as

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<v Speaker 1>a guy that's steering the boat, because if he frews up,

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<v Speaker 1>you lose a race. Anybody on the team screwp So

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<v Speaker 1>I've always been oriented to that type of thing, and

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<v Speaker 1>I don't want to be in a rut. I don't

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<v Speaker 1>want to just say my way is the best way.

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<v Speaker 1>And soon this team player would be in charge of

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<v Speaker 1>his father's company at a unique time in business history

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<v Speaker 1>that would present interesting challenges to mainland challenges he would

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<v Speaker 1>tackle in a way that would change his life. While

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<v Speaker 1>my dad didn't say early on when I got into

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<v Speaker 1>the business that he was going to retire at any

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<v Speaker 1>particular age, once he would had confidence in my steerage

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<v Speaker 1>of the company, after the first probably six or eight

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<v Speaker 1>years that we were together, he did. It was a surprise,

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<v Speaker 1>and it was a pleasant surprise, because, yeah, I anticipated

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<v Speaker 1>i'd take over the business sometimes and I had enough confidence,

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<v Speaker 1>I guess in enough experience after a few years that

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<v Speaker 1>when he announced, I was happy for him, and he

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<v Speaker 1>was happy for me. And this was in the early

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen sixties when large real estate broke reage firms like

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<v Speaker 1>Cold Banker in Cushman Wakefield were coming out of their

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<v Speaker 1>headquarters and putting offices satellite offices in different places of

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<v Speaker 1>the United States, including San Diego. And after one or

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<v Speaker 1>two of those came in not just but in real estate,

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<v Speaker 1>but also in the insurance industry in which we were in.

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<v Speaker 1>So when two of my three specialties in John Burnaman Company,

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<v Speaker 1>I got a little concern because our family attitude, and

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<v Speaker 1>it was my grandfather's and my father's attitude, that we

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<v Speaker 1>didn't need to be the biggest, We wanted to be

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<v Speaker 1>the best. So that meant that we were very satisfied

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<v Speaker 1>being a regional company. But I said to myself in

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<v Speaker 1>the mid sixties, you know, I'm seeing these big companies

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<v Speaker 1>put in satellite offices. How am I going to survive?

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<v Speaker 1>So what I did, and I don't know how it happened,

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<v Speaker 1>but I decided to go talk to some of my peers.

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<v Speaker 1>And I went to probably five or six of them

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<v Speaker 1>in one at a time, independently, and I said, look,

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<v Speaker 1>what do I have to do to survive against these

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<v Speaker 1>big boys coming in here and we're dropping an office

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<v Speaker 1>in and bringing a season manager in. And they said, Maelan,

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<v Speaker 1>get to know the community better then the person they

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<v Speaker 1>send in to run their office. That's what I started

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<v Speaker 1>doing more of Mainland Burnham's life story here on our

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<v Speaker 1>American stories, and we returned to our American stories and

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<v Speaker 1>with Maelan Burnham and in a way the story of

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<v Speaker 1>his own town San Diego, because he could have traveled

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<v Speaker 1>and moved a lot, but he thought, why not just

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<v Speaker 1>concentrate on this little batch of earth and grow my

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<v Speaker 1>business as the city itself rode. When we last left off,

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<v Speaker 1>Maelan had taken over his father's real estate business during

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<v Speaker 1>a perilous time in his industry. Ultimately, Maelan would keep

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<v Speaker 1>his father's business and decided that he wanted to follow

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<v Speaker 1>in his dad's footsteps and retire early as well. Let's

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<v Speaker 1>continue with Maelan's story. Retirement as not in my vocabulary.

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<v Speaker 1>Let's start there well. At age fifty four, I wrote

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<v Speaker 1>a letter to my five managers in my business and

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<v Speaker 1>I told them that it was my plan that within

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<v Speaker 1>five years I wanted to retire from business. And I

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<v Speaker 1>just arbitrarily picked those numbers at age fifty nine and

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<v Speaker 1>five years from the time I wrote them this letter,

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<v Speaker 1>and I said, I would then like to sell this

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<v Speaker 1>business to you people. I didn't put a promise, I

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<v Speaker 1>didn't put a price, I didn't put an exact date,

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<v Speaker 1>but sometime within five years. The end of five years

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<v Speaker 1>was in December of eighty six, when I was in

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<v Speaker 1>the middle of the America's Cup in Perth, Australia and

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<v Speaker 1>sold a business to these five chaps. And there was

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<v Speaker 1>really back then, especially, there were not many people there

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<v Speaker 1>were full time at my age in the nonprofit world.

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<v Speaker 1>It just wasn't being done. So I said, why not

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<v Speaker 1>Mainland would turn entirely to community oriented projects to make

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<v Speaker 1>his city even greater. And it wasn't long before a

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<v Speaker 1>massive project came his way courtesy if Alan Uk, a

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<v Speaker 1>local San Diego businessman and politician. I was sitting in

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<v Speaker 1>my downtown office one day when I got a telephone

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<v Speaker 1>call when Bob licked. I had already had sold the business.

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<v Speaker 1>Bob was one of the buyers. I picked up the phone. Bobs,

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<v Speaker 1>he said, man, I got this crazy guy and he

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<v Speaker 1>said it run in front of him, but he got

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<v Speaker 1>this crazy idea of bringing the USS Midway aircraft here

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<v Speaker 1>to San Diego, making a museum out of it. And

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<v Speaker 1>Bob says, you know, I don't know anything about the navy,

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<v Speaker 1>or about the water, or about boats or ships. Would

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<v Speaker 1>you mind talking to it? So I said sure, and

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<v Speaker 1>I helped him put a group together. So that's how

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<v Speaker 1>it got started. It was up in Bremerton, Washington, in

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<v Speaker 1>the Navy yard and the trash yard, and showed to speak.

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<v Speaker 1>It was out of commission. Is still the Navy ship.

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<v Speaker 1>It took eleven years of this team to get the

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<v Speaker 1>letter of use. Navy is kind of crazy. The reason

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<v Speaker 1>that they won't give it to us or anybody else

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<v Speaker 1>is they may want to put it back in service.

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<v Speaker 1>So there was a lot of planning that we have

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<v Speaker 1>lifetime until they want to get it back. All of

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<v Speaker 1>this eleven year time, we had opposition, public opposition from

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<v Speaker 1>what is known as the California Coastal Commission. California Coastal

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<v Speaker 1>Commission is probably fifty years in existence and they have

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<v Speaker 1>jurisdiction over what happens within a thousand feet of the

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<v Speaker 1>coastline of the Pacific Ocean and waterways that come out

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<v Speaker 1>the Coastal Commission. Their problem was that the midway was

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<v Speaker 1>going to block the view. The Coastal Commission want people

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<v Speaker 1>to have access to the water and the beaches and

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<v Speaker 1>the coastline, but they said, if we park it here,

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<v Speaker 1>it's going to block the view. Whither or nuts because

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<v Speaker 1>can't we move fifty feet or one hundred feet and

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<v Speaker 1>get the view back? Was sure he can't, and the

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<v Speaker 1>team would have to present in front of the Commission

0:14:09.760 --> 0:14:13.440
<v Speaker 1>to get final approval for the USS Midway project. So

0:14:13.840 --> 0:14:16.720
<v Speaker 1>halfway through our presentation, somebody got up to the mic

0:14:17.280 --> 0:14:20.040
<v Speaker 1>and said, the Midway. We got this backwards, the midway,

0:14:20.200 --> 0:14:22.200
<v Speaker 1>not get to block the view. The midway will be

0:14:22.320 --> 0:14:27.240
<v Speaker 1>the view, and the whole audience erupted in chairs. Finally

0:14:27.320 --> 0:14:33.160
<v Speaker 1>we got one hundred percent approval and open the Midway

0:14:34.080 --> 0:14:37.400
<v Speaker 1>in two thousand and four, twelve years after the project

0:14:37.480 --> 0:14:41.960
<v Speaker 1>initially started. The museum would open and beat nearly all

0:14:42.000 --> 0:14:45.400
<v Speaker 1>the expectations people had for it. Two years before we

0:14:45.440 --> 0:14:47.320
<v Speaker 1>got the ship, I picked up the phone one day

0:14:47.360 --> 0:14:51.000
<v Speaker 1>and I got a call from one of the riders

0:14:51.040 --> 0:14:53.760
<v Speaker 1>for the art newspaper Union Tribute. I picked up the

0:14:53.760 --> 0:14:56.240
<v Speaker 1>phone and he says, hey, man, this is So and So.

0:14:56.880 --> 0:14:59.240
<v Speaker 1>He said, I want to talk to you about the Midway.

0:14:59.240 --> 0:15:03.480
<v Speaker 1>AND said, oh. And he says, you know I cover

0:15:03.560 --> 0:15:05.920
<v Speaker 1>all the museums in San Diego for all these years,

0:15:06.400 --> 0:15:09.560
<v Speaker 1>mister Burnham, if you are fortunate enough to get the

0:15:09.600 --> 0:15:13.080
<v Speaker 1>Midway here, it's going to be the biggest mistake of

0:15:13.080 --> 0:15:15.320
<v Speaker 1>your life. And I said, well, why do you say that?

0:15:15.440 --> 0:15:18.200
<v Speaker 1>And he says, well, you know I cover all the

0:15:18.280 --> 0:15:20.600
<v Speaker 1>museums and so and he says, so I know all

0:15:20.640 --> 0:15:24.720
<v Speaker 1>of the attendance reads. I said, okay, and he says,

0:15:24.800 --> 0:15:28.480
<v Speaker 1>you're proposing that in the first year, you're going to

0:15:28.560 --> 0:15:32.720
<v Speaker 1>get four hundred thousand paid attendee and he howls. He said,

0:15:32.760 --> 0:15:36.120
<v Speaker 1>you're crazy. You're never going to get that. After he

0:15:36.200 --> 0:15:38.520
<v Speaker 1>howled about the four hundred thousand, said well, hold on,

0:15:39.440 --> 0:15:43.600
<v Speaker 1>excuse me, publicly said that we had mentioned our business

0:15:43.600 --> 0:15:47.280
<v Speaker 1>plan four hundred thousands. What we canlo I said, before

0:15:47.320 --> 0:15:49.680
<v Speaker 1>we got to that point, our consultants came back and

0:15:49.680 --> 0:15:51.960
<v Speaker 1>said they thought we'd do six hundred thousand. Well, this

0:15:52.080 --> 0:15:54.760
<v Speaker 1>guy gave another howl on the phone. You know, Oh,

0:15:54.840 --> 0:15:57.720
<v Speaker 1>you guys are out of your mind. The first year

0:15:58.480 --> 0:16:01.200
<v Speaker 1>we did eight hundred thousand and has grown every year

0:16:01.240 --> 0:16:06.800
<v Speaker 1>since then. We are the fifth largest paid attendee museum

0:16:06.880 --> 0:16:10.000
<v Speaker 1>in the country. This is an icon for San Diego.

0:16:13.120 --> 0:16:17.000
<v Speaker 1>The USS Midway is also part of Mainland's legacy in

0:16:17.040 --> 0:16:21.080
<v Speaker 1>the town he's lived his entire life in, loves so much.

0:16:21.760 --> 0:16:26.280
<v Speaker 1>Legacy is more than a career. If you think about

0:16:26.320 --> 0:16:30.920
<v Speaker 1>your career, I want to be the best X, then

0:16:31.120 --> 0:16:36.120
<v Speaker 1>in my opinion, you're too limited. I'm a multi tasket

0:16:36.400 --> 0:16:40.360
<v Speaker 1>interested person, not necessarily an one that's an expert in

0:16:40.440 --> 0:16:43.280
<v Speaker 1>all these things, but I never wanted to be a

0:16:43.400 --> 0:16:48.640
<v Speaker 1>single type interested person. When I think about career, I'm

0:16:48.640 --> 0:16:53.600
<v Speaker 1>thinking about more than especially I'm thinking about the nonprofit

0:16:53.640 --> 0:16:57.640
<v Speaker 1>world and what San Diego was all about community before. So,

0:16:58.720 --> 0:17:00.800
<v Speaker 1>by the way, I read a lot of book but

0:17:00.920 --> 0:17:04.720
<v Speaker 1>they're I don't read novels, I don't read personalities. I

0:17:04.800 --> 0:17:07.600
<v Speaker 1>read it. I try to read about the future. Everything

0:17:07.680 --> 0:17:10.760
<v Speaker 1>I do, I try to think about the future and

0:17:10.960 --> 0:17:17.600
<v Speaker 1>anyway or this book it was entitled the Why, the What,

0:17:18.400 --> 0:17:23.160
<v Speaker 1>and the How, and they explain those questions in sequence.

0:17:23.920 --> 0:17:28.560
<v Speaker 1>So I've adopted that. So when I think about doing something,

0:17:28.880 --> 0:17:35.080
<v Speaker 1>I use those three questions why why do I want

0:17:35.080 --> 0:17:38.640
<v Speaker 1>to get involved? And if I can't figure that out,

0:17:39.400 --> 0:17:44.320
<v Speaker 1>then don't do don't spend any more time. Well, mostly

0:17:44.520 --> 0:17:47.879
<v Speaker 1>when I answer that question is because I want to

0:17:47.920 --> 0:17:53.000
<v Speaker 1>helpmate San Diego a better place to live, work and play. Okay,

0:17:53.160 --> 0:17:57.000
<v Speaker 1>then go to the second question, the what what are

0:17:57.000 --> 0:17:59.439
<v Speaker 1>you going to do to help do that? How are

0:17:59.440 --> 0:18:01.400
<v Speaker 1>you going to do that? What are you going to propose?

0:18:01.480 --> 0:18:03.960
<v Speaker 1>And so on? And if I can't answer that question,

0:18:04.040 --> 0:18:06.680
<v Speaker 1>I tear it up and go do something else, and

0:18:06.720 --> 0:18:09.560
<v Speaker 1>then I finally get down, Okay, how how are you

0:18:09.560 --> 0:18:12.480
<v Speaker 1>going to do the what And you know, I think

0:18:13.080 --> 0:18:16.200
<v Speaker 1>because I'm I'm a joiner, because I'm a team player.

0:18:16.600 --> 0:18:18.680
<v Speaker 1>I try to think not of me, but I try

0:18:18.720 --> 0:18:23.439
<v Speaker 1>to think of the team. When I look back on

0:18:23.560 --> 0:18:27.760
<v Speaker 1>the mighty skyline of my hometown, I can still see

0:18:28.160 --> 0:18:33.359
<v Speaker 1>beneath the skyscrapers, the great ships, and the stadium, the

0:18:33.480 --> 0:18:37.919
<v Speaker 1>San Diego that was, that is, and that will be.

0:18:39.080 --> 0:18:43.000
<v Speaker 1>I'm humbled by the site, by the fact that I

0:18:43.080 --> 0:18:46.800
<v Speaker 1>was given the chance to be part of that history

0:18:47.359 --> 0:18:51.639
<v Speaker 1>for longer than I could ever have imagined, that I

0:18:51.720 --> 0:18:56.159
<v Speaker 1>am still part of the story. And think, what a

0:18:56.240 --> 0:19:02.200
<v Speaker 1>lucky guy I am. And great job by Monty Montgomery

0:19:02.200 --> 0:19:04.520
<v Speaker 1>on the production, and what a lucky guy I was

0:19:04.600 --> 0:19:08.200
<v Speaker 1>to spend some real time with maelanm Burnham. MAELM Burnham's story,

0:19:08.359 --> 0:19:10.760
<v Speaker 1>in a way, a story of the city he loves,

0:19:11.640 --> 0:19:14.600
<v Speaker 1>San Diego. Here on our American Stories