Spring 2003
Work Ethic:
A day in the life of a CEO and an Environmentalist
by Helen Hollister
David Syre rises at 6:30 or 7:30 a.m. every morning to run.
He runs to be alone.
He runs to think.
He runs to set priorities for the day.
Syre has been running for 25 years, 30 to 60 minutes a day, five days a week. It gives him a sense of achievement, he said.
“It’s really important to accomplish something each day,” he said. “I think a lot of people could benefit from that sense of accomplishment.”
As founder, chairman and CEO of the Trillium Corp., an international investment company based in Bellingham, Syre has more than his share of accomplishments.
He attributes his success to an insatiable intellectual curiosity, flexing his creative side in the form of complex business strategy. He has devoted a substantial portion of his life to building his business from the ground up. It is what he lives for. Syre's life has more or less been defined by Trillium. And he wouldn't have it any other way. His work is his life, and he loves his work.
“If you measure the physical hours I am in the office, that’s less than 40 hours,” he said.
In addition to the typical workweek, Syre puts in between five and 10 hours of work-related reading, including five to seven newspapers each day as well as several business periodicals. Social and dinner meetings on the weekends add an average of five more hours to Syre’s workweek.
“I probably do another 10 to 20 hours thinking and trying to solve problems,” he said. “A lot of that time is creative time.”
With Syre’s relentless work ethic, one would think he is deserving of the “work-aholic” label.
“I had a friend tell me that just the other day,” he said. “I just smiled. He’s the only one who’s said that. He just came back from six weeks in Hawaii.”
Syre admits his workload has been a little out of control during the past few months.
“Just a lot of things to do and not a lot of time to get them done, things that aren’t easily assigned to someone else,” he said.
For the past few years, Syre has not taken any vacation time.
“That’s something I want to change,” he said. “I think the last two years I’ve worked more than I should, but I don’t know if I’m a work-aholic.”
For many years, he was very disciplined and would always reserve four to six weeks for vacation time annually. He has, however, done a tremendous amount of work-related traveling.
“I think it’s important for renewal of spirit to take time away from whatever it is you’re doing and do something different,” he said. “It’s very energizing to do — have change.”
While he hasn’t been able to leave for a vacation recently, when he is able to get away, he has no problem leaving his work behind.
“I don’t think I’m addicted to going to my office everyday and needing to be there to satisfy that addiction,” he said.
Syre does feel a certain responsibility as the leader of his company to serve as an example for others.
“That means I must be the model that figures out the right balance,” he said. “If I was a model who played golf three or four afternoons a week, that probably wouldn’t serve our business well.”
Syre's work ethic has inspired his son, Jonathan, 28, who serves as Trillium's chief operating officer.
“Family balance when I was younger was excellent,” Jonathan said. “He's always made me and my sisters feel welcome in the room. Whether as children or today — he always makes time for us.”
Despite his rigorous schedule, Syre manages to stay flexible, Jonathan said.
“By working as hard as he has, he's been able to own his own business which has afforded him a flexible schedule to be with me while I was growing up and to be with my sisters,” Jonathan said.
With his ability to balance family and work, Syre is a man almost entirely free from the plague of stress. He doesn’t even consider himself a busy person.
“I consider people who are busy out of control,” he said. “I can have what I call ‘intense-scheduled’ days where I have a lot of meetings. I have a lot going on. I have a lot of stuff in my head, but it’s all in order. I think someone who is really busy has a cluttered mind.”
Carolyn Yatsu, Syre’s executive assistant for the past five years, said his near-photographic memory helps him to stay organized and clutter-free.
“He doesn’t need to carry a lot of stuff around,” Yatsu said. “He keeps very organized. He has a very minimal amount of paper because everything is in his head.”
Syre’s office décor is beyond minimal. A phone, and nothing else, sits on his desk. A few chairs surround the desk and the only other objects in the room are a group of red, green and yellow model tractors on a shelf against the wall. Syre has no computer. He does not use e-mail or voice mail. He carries a medium-sized briefcase, which contains only his most important and current files.
Yatsu spends most of her time managing Syre’s schedule, which can get fairly hectic. Meetings are set and reset. Schedules are juggled. The frantic pace of the office shifts between almost chaotic and borderline-overwhelming, she said. But Syre’s work ethic and spirit keep the office atmosphere positive and motivating.
Yatsu said Syre is a classic optimist.
“There’s no box for him,” she said. “He worries a lot less than most people. It’s good to have someone like that as your leader.”
Jonathan estimates that approximately 80 percent of his father's time involves work at Trillium.
“I think he is in the high end of Americans with that particular workload,” Jonathan said. “However, I think he is average in being someone who owns his own business.
“Trillium is his business, it’s my mom’s business and it’s our family business, and so it is us,” Jonathan said. “We spend a lot of time on it.”
Currently David Syre is working on the acquisition of two major sawmill companies. This process involves negotiating complex purchase agreements, dealing with legal concerns, taxes, human resource issues and eventually, merging the two companies.
Syre is fascinated by the creativity involved with seeing the end product.
“Like a puzzle that has a thousand pieces — the satisfaction of putting it all together,” he said.
Executing duties like these is what Syre lives for.
“That’s very stimulating to me,” he said. “I’d much prefer to do that than playing golf, fly-fishing or shooting some poor duck.”