Polishing The Old Brown Shoes is a corporate and personal journey of survival in the backwoods and in the boardroom. Victor Wood, a former CEO of Burger King Canada, recounts life stories showcasing survival skills learned in childhood that became the recipe for a lifetime of leadership, achievement, fulfillment and happiness for a son, husband, father, grandfather, naval officer, thirty-year corporate real estate executive and retiree. This blueprint for success stresses the importance of being prepared, developing and executing a plan, anticipating setbacks, adapting to change, seeking new challenges and employing an iron will necessary to thrive in the toughest of circumstances. Whether adapting to a simpler life plan necessitated by economic circumstances, struggling to retool a career made obsolete by newer technologies or simply settling into retirement, Polishing The Old Brown Shoes advocates embracing challenges that might otherwise derail the achievement of excellence. The words encourage those experiencing a personal or professional transition to dig deep within the memory's hard drive and resurrect basic survival skills developed early in life--not merely to survive--but to come out better on the other side for having had the experience.
About the Author: R. Victor H. Wood, Jr. is a retired United States Navy commander and president of Florida-based commercial real estate consulting firm, Wood Commercial Enterprises, Inc. He holds a B.A. in Economics from Washington and Jefferson College, Washington, Pennsylvania. Wood's thirty-year career in corporate real estate acquisition and development includes serving as national director and first international director of real estate for the McDonald's Corporation, overseeing site acquisition and management in France, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, etc. In 1976, he joined the Burger King Corporation as a vice president and in 1981, was named president and CEO of Burger King Canada. As senior VP of development for footwear retailer Payless ShoeSource, Victor was responsible for a portfolio of over 3,000 stores in 36 states, overseeing architecture, construction, and legal in addition to real estate acquisition and management. He was also president of development for Diversifoods, a start-up company later purchased by Pillsbury, and senior VP of development for Jumbo Sports, a nationwide sporting goods chain. Legendary for his negotiating skills, Victor Wood acquired a reputation in the commercial real estate industry as the "Wizard of Retail." A member of the board of directors and a founding member of the National Association of Corporate Real Executives (NACORE) now CoreNet Global, Victor earned its distinguished Membership Cup in 1980 and was inducted into the group's Hall of Fame in 1996. He is also a founding member of the NACORE Institute, designed to provide continuing education for real estate executives across the U.S. A former president of NACORE's Restaurant Industry Council, Wood was also the first inductee into Retail Construction Magazine's Hall of Fame in 2004. Victor and his wife, Beryl, live in Indian Rocks Beach, Florida in the Tampa Bay area on Florida's Gulf Coast, where he is active in local government. A lifetime member of the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA), Wood is past president of its Clearwater Chapter and presently a member of the St. Petersburg, Florida Chapter. A past director of not-for-profit Keep America Beautiful, he also served as president of Indian Rocks Beach Action 2000, a local community beautification organization. Wood has two sons, Rurik T.H. Wood and Jason D.V. Wood.