Industry Achievers, a publication of BIC Publishing, promotes continued learning among professionals of all ages in business and industry, featuring entrepreneurs, like Davis, as well as successful managers, leaders, mentors and educators. Davis, 44, was chosen for the publication because of his determination to succeed in the face of adversity. A graduate of South Park High School and Lamar University, Davis was resolved to build a technology business. However, just as his plans began to fall into place, the dot.com bubble burst, market conditions worsened and Davis was diagnosed with cancer. He remained resolute.
Through his trials Keith emerged not only healthy personally but his business prospered. The book captures the essence of Keith’s willpower this way:
“Don’t waste time whining,” Davis said in the book. “No matter what happens, you still have to work to earn a living. There are a lot of people out there who have dealt with adversity much worse than anything I’ve encountered. I think back to the year 2000, when I was trying to write code and run a business while driving 90 miles to Houston every day to get radiation treatments. The company went downhill and we ran up a lot of debt. It was just monstrous. All we could do was concentrate on survival.”
Industry Achievers, goes further to discuss Davis’ tough times and how they caused him to reevaluate and restructure the general offerings of his business, which ultimately led to his current success providing custom programming services for the petrochemical industry.
One of the younger business leaders featured in the book written and edited by BIC Alliance CEO and Founder Earl Heard, Davis attributes his current success - 16 employees working in a 7,000-square-foot space, serving the software application needs of Fortune 500 companies – to his management style and team.
“When the company does well, everyone gets a bonus,” Davis said. “We’ve managed to put together an effective team, and I feel like we’re successful because we take care of them. There are a lot of companies in our industry that work their people really hard. We work our team hard, but we have a fun way of doing it.”
Like Davis’ chapter in the book, available in hard and soft back, the remaining chapters feature key lessons about how to show empathy when dealing with customers, keeping life and work in balance, finding great mentors and overcoming adversity.
“We believe the book will serve as a guide to success for business and industry professionals at all stages of their careers,” Heard said. “We feel this kind of material is more important now than ever since many knowledgeable and experienced veterans of industry are nearing retirement and are taking their wisdom along with them. As the old saying goes, the more we learn the more we earn.”