10 questions with Harry Hipps

Harry has been a good friend of mine for nearly 25 years and he is the person that inspired me to start this site. We have come a long way in a short time with the Hound. This weekend we will hit the 10,000 unique visitor mark. Harry has a great philosophical mind and I highly value his opinion. I can assure you that this Q&A is the real Harry Hipps. (#3 in the series)

1) Can you give us some background and a history of yourself? (Where were you born? What is your educational background? Why did you come to or stay in Hickory? Tell us about your professional accomplishments.) - I was born in Newton and was a graduate of Newton-Conover High School. I was elected Secretary/Treasurer of my class by write in vote, one of few to do so. I am a graduate of ECU with a degree in Music Education, a life long musician, currently doing some Church music and a member of the Newton/Conover Community Band. I am a volunteer for Rescue America Ministries, which was spun off from Charles Colson's ministries. Its focus is prison ministry and has focused on the Alexander County Juvenile Detention Facility. My home church is Gateway Baptist Church. I'm a baker by trade, formerly of Stone Hearth Bakery, now Pretzeltime at Valley Hills Mall.

2) Tell us about the accomplishments you are proudest of achieving in your life? Something besides having a family or raising children. We all recognize that those are common goals that we all aspire to. What’s the most exciting thing you saw/did/experienced/were a part of in your personal life? In your professional life? I have shown sales growth every year in the high single digits to double digits in good economies and bad. I've had the opportunity to employ and befriend numerous younger people and help mentor them. My relationship with God is paramount and Spiritual growth is a joy and a challenge. Engaging people on the greatest and deepest issues of life is a passion of mine.

3) If I were to ask people that know you to describe you what would they say? Well, if they were from my younger years they would say I'm a real jokester and should have been a comedian! Those who know me now would, hopefully, say that I am well read and have a passion for education, intelligent discussion on the issues we face in the world today and have a number of creative ideas.

4) How much bearing do the opinions of the people around you have on your decisions? They have a great deal of impact on how I view what is happening in the world today and what I need to be aware of, but I also have to bounce them off my core values and ideas, beliefs, and practices that have proven to have lasting value. I am not too influenced by the buzzwords, trendy attitudes, and the "herd" mentality except to be aware of the influence it has on the people around me. I am comfortable in my own skin and have a solid framework for viewing the world.

5) Can you tell us of a professional mistake that you have made that may have had an impact on who you are today? Does it still bother you? Can you share with us how you came to grips with that error? In my early days of managing people I was somewhat of a perfectionist and wanted the same in others. I frustrated some good people by not knowing what is enough and when to leave well enough alone. Now I can better gauge what is possible and find different avenues to reach what is needed.

6) If you were given enough money to tackle one project (think nearly unlimited) that you felt was important to the Hickory Area, what would that issue be? To conserve land and open spaces, while using the already developed areas in Hickory to better effect. You could write a book on this topic, but it involves public transportation, densifying Hickory's residential, office and institutional buildings, and other structures, to allow for fewer car miles and easier access to the goods and services we want and keeping as much of the woods, farmland and fields as possible.

7) Let’s say there is no money available for the foreseeable future. What one project (priority) would you push as part of your agenda that can be done with little or no money? The democratization of City and State government. We can and should engage more people. With the internet we can give out public notices and save advertising costs. E-mailing links to interested citizens to the council and committee meetings could inform them what is coming up and they could respond to representatives with their concerns or suggestions. There are other ways we can include more people more often. To just hear from the population once every two, four, or six years at election time is simply not a vibrant or healthy way to run a democracy in the fast paced world of today.

8) What is your overall philosophy of the development of this area? Where would you like to see us in 5 years? 10 years? 20 years? The overall theme would be transformation and revitalization. The globalization of the economy, leading to the loss of furniture and textiles, has fundamentally changed our future. I would like to take the great land, climate, cultural community, proximity to beaches, larger cities, mountains, lakes, and the other great assets and attract creative, productive people that can work in the global economy from Hickory and bring their distinctive talents to the area. We need to stop looking back, lamenting the loss of the things we can't control anyway and look to what is desirable and possible. Now is the time to recognize that we have to rebuild and we have opportunities to rebrand Hickory as a unique blend of the friendly hometown culture of Americana and the limitless possibilities of the high tech, molecular economy we are moving into.

9) If you could define your Personal Legacy what would you like it to be? What would you like to be remembered for? My hope is that I would be remembered as a person that came through turbulent times in my personal life and as a member of our society in times of transformation and finished the race well. I strive to serve God by being faithful to Him and to serve others. Jesus said the greatest gift was Love and I would hope to show it by living as purely as possible and serving others.

10) How do you define Leadership? There was a god of ancient mythology named Janus. Janus had a head that was looking in two directions at one time. I think a leader has to be somewhat like this. A leader has to be a really good listener and be able to understand the situations, ethos, and stivings of people and work on the modalities to see people achieve what they want. At the same time, a leader can't just see which way the wind is blowing and jump out in front of it. Sometimes a leader has to be an innovator or a person who sees what the crowd doesn't see and take the initiative when it may cause personal stress and unpopularity in the short term. How someone balances these disparate impulses is a critical feature of leadership.