For years, Tom Bozzuto has been collecting quotes and thoughts that struck him as particularly important. They started as notes in a journal, and turned into his new book, Reflections of an Ordinary Man. After sharing a copy with every Bozzuto employee to commemorate our company’s 30th anniversary, we decided to sit down with Tom to ask him a few questions about his book.
Q: When And How Did You Realize You Had The Makings Of A Book?
A: As I wrote these reflections down over the years, I never thought about putting them into a book. The closest I came to that was when Toby and his sister Lexie were going off to college and I transcribed what I had written by that point into manuscripts for each of them. But, when Toby took over leading the company, one of the things I decided I wanted to do, with whatever “free time” I managed to find, was to put all of these things together into typed form. So, I compiled them and let someone look at them in the office and they in turn shared them with Julie Smith who said, “You really need to turn this into a book.” She suggested an editor and that’s how this thing came about. There wasn’t a lot of intentionality about it. I was really doing it as a guide for myself.
Q: If Your Readers Were To Take Only One Thing Away, What Do You Hope It Is?
A: It probably goes back to where we began in terms of my favorite quote. I think the real takeaway is that everything is possible for anyone of us. If you’re willing to take risks, if you’re willing to fail then everything is possible. In the trying is where the real joy comes from, so that’s the takeaway. Take the joy that comes from trying to make something of your life. The joy that comes from trying to have an impact. Life is very finite and I always consider it my good fortune that I realized that as a young person, because I’ve always felt the desire to make a difference and every one of us can make a difference.
To read more of our Q & A with Tom, visit our One Bozzuto blog.