The first thing Scott looked for was a core or driving purpose for United Chemical:

Jock and I loved to talk science – we were a bit nerdy like that. He was incredibly smart, and seemed to know everything. I remember I was about 12, and I was so impressed by something he said, I asked:

“Dad you’re so smart. Why are you making pool chemicals? Why aren’t you working at NASA, or President or something? Why not do something that matters.”

He thought to himself for a minute, then replied:

“Well, I do think what I do matters. I make people happy. I make the world better.”

Something Jock often said was “you can do a lot of things – but never lie to me.” And if I lied to him – it took years to regain his trust. As an organization, Jock was very honest – he was never afraid to speak his mind. He had no doubts about what he believed and said, because he had no doubt about his honesty as a person.

But Jock’s honesty was beyond just “speaking his mind”; he was also honest with himself. In conversations about the company, he would talk about successes and failures, opportunities and limitations. He was honest in every facet of his business – always striving to get the clearest picture and to maintain that when he shared what he learned.

I remember he came home one day from work and announced with a sigh

“well, I just lost $20million dollars today”.

My faced turned white – that was a big number and I assumed that was the same as saying “we lost everything”. He saw the look on my face, and kind of chuckled. He explained that he had made a promise decades ago, and by keeping that promise had cost him a $20 million dollar opportunity.

I asked

“Well, if it was so long ago – and it doesn’t really affect the people you promised – why not go ahead and do it?”

He simply replied

“because I gave my word.”

Jock was known as a Maverick; he often went against the grain of the industry. He was never satisfied with the status quo – or simply going with the flow. Rather, he always looked for ways to do things different and better.

Jock had a phrase he often liked to say. He even made me print it and place it next to my bed so it would be the first and last thing I saw every day. It was:

If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.

Jock built United Chemical on educating customers. He often would spend his time handling technical calls on the phone – sometimes taking a single call for hours at a time. It didn’t matter if you were a multi-million dollar client, or a homeowner – he wouldn’t let you off the phone until you fully understood what he was talking about.

But it wasn’t limited to teaching; Jock was constantly educating himself. A constant student, he would learn and become an expert at everything he could get his hands on. Often strewn around his office were various business books, magazines, systems and anything else he was interested in. And the more he learned, the more he shared – with customers, employees, and just about everyone he met.