There are many Arrowmen in the business world! No matter what business occupation they may be in, each has at least one thing in common. One aspect every Arrowman has instilled in them, are the principles they have learned through of The Order of the Arrow and Scouting. Today, we take a look at the values of the OA; brotherhood, cheerfulness, and service; to see how Cowikee lodge adviser and Frit Industries Vice President Adam Benefield has applied them throughout his life.
Whenever Adam was a kid, he started to develop the values of scouting when he joined cub scouting as a wolf in Ozark, Alabama. Since the beginning, Adam was determined and goal-oriented. He worked hard to earn his Arrow of Light and crossed over into Troop 20. While in Troop 20, he worked diligently to advance through the ranks, was inducted into the Order of the Arrow. In 1993, Adam earned his Eagle Scout rank, and was able to attend the 1993 National Jamboree. He remained active and participated in a high adventure trip to Seabase. Adam continued to work with Troop 20, and after some time, his father became the scoutmaster for Troop 18. Troop 18 was a very active and productive troop! Adam joined Troop 18 and worked to help with newer scouts, frequently going on camping and hiking trips at least once a month.
“My eagle project taught me many things throughout the process, many of which I have been able to use throughout my life. Some of the main things learned were working with others, planning a task and seeing it through, and being able to plan, adapt, and overcome obstacles that were not planned for during the project. These things I constantly use in my day-to-day job at Frit Industries and as an adviser for the lodge.”
After he was inducted into the OA, Adam hit the ground running by joining the ceremony team and running for the Lodge Executive Committee. He was elected as 2nd vice chief and was able to learn many other leadership skills including, time management, working with others, communication skills, and overcoming unplanned obsticles. While in the OA, Adam continued his adventures by going to NOAC’s in 1992 and 1994 as a youth, and keeping his vigil in 1994.
During his high school and college years, Adam was able to apply the skills and ethics he had started to learn in scouting and the OA to his summer jobs. After graduating college with a marketing degree, Adam went to get his first big job. He started out as a district executive for the Black Warrior Council located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Here, he continued to learn and apply the scouting values to his work and daily life. While his time as a district executive, the job showed him the other side of scouting. The job showed him the more business and administrative side that not a lot of scouts get to see.
“Most people right out of college are still a little unsure about the world and what's going on. But since I grew up in the scouting program, I knew it was a good program and one I truly believed in, I was excited about taking on the position and seeing a different side to Scouting, which truly is a different side. My time there had a heavy focus on generating new scouts, new packs, new troops, new crews, and generating money. I also had to work with the adult volunteers to help develop a good program for the youth. I used a lot of the leadership skills that I learned earlier in the scouting program. I learned how to lead and work on different projects, how to manage time, how to meet deadlines, and how to balance scheduling between different programs. For example, multiple Scout promotions and school nights that all had to be done in three weeks for all the schools in Tuscaloosa county and Bibb county.”
After his time as a district executive, he started working at TNT Custom T-shirts, eventually taking over the company. He talks about how hard work and dedication is one of the keys to success. Not only having those attributes, he accredits many skills he learned throughout his time in scouting and Order of the Arrow.
“Going into TNT and having my own business, I took the same skills of leadership and scheduling to run the business. One of the hardest things is working with employees and personnel and keeping all of that straight. At the same time, you have to work with diverse groups of customers and vendors to sell yourself to generate business, while also working with timelines and deadlines. Scouting also taught me how to talk to people, I quickly learned to use those skills to make phone calls and knock on doors to get more customers. The more you do it, the better you get at it, but having good customer relationships makes for a successful business and we continued to increase the business year over year. It was definitely more than a nine-to-five, but as the owner and leader, you have to do what you can to get a team together to accomplish the goal, and I learned a lot of these techniques and attributes from my time in Scouts.”
After 14 years at TNT, Adam sold the business and moved back to the Ozark area to join his family's business, Frit Industries. Frit Industries is an international company that produces and sells fertilizer to distributors around the globe.
“Working at Frit is largely the same thing as it was at TNT. There was a bit of a learning curve going into a different field of business, but it's still the same sales and managing people. You are still meeting with new customers, making cold calls, and developing relationships. You have to introduce yourself and start a conversation; show people you are interested in growing and working with them. It goes a long way and people see that you're dedicated to building relationships and making the business last. People buy from people”
After the move, Adam quickly got re-involved with his old lodge from his youth. After a couple of years, he became the lodge adviser and continues to hold the position today. The lodge has been considered a high-performing lodge for six years in a row.
“I got back into scouts as soon as my oldest son was able to join Cub Scouts in 2011. Since then, I have held many leadership roles in scouting, but being the lodge advisor is probably one of my favorite scouting jobs that I've experienced. The OA kept me active in scouting when I was an older youth and continues to today. Ultimately, without it being explicitly written into the handbook at the time, that’s what OA does; it helps to keep the older scouts active and continues teaching them life skills. It’s been doing that for a long time and I enjoy it! It has been really good to interact with a lot of different adults and youth, and hopefully we get to be a positive influence on those in the program. There have been so many projects at camp that our lodge has been able to do. It has been great being able to make camp a better place, and it is rewarding to think that scouts will be able to enjoy it for years and years. At the same time, it has been a dream to take my two sons to camp and experience scouting again through them. Now I understand the time and dedication my parents had to scouting during my youth.”