Northern Nevada Business Weekly: Tell us about Azimuth Strategies:
Harvey Miller: Azimuth Strategies provides strategic guidance to companies and organizations that are looking to grow or re-position due to changing market conditions. Azimuth Strategies is part of Northstar Investors and reflects some of the early roots of its founder, Chris Howard. Our presence in this market actually spans nearly 30 years. This is the basis for our experience and diversity.
NNBW: What role do you play in the company?
Miller: Managing director.
NNBW: What kind of boss are you?
Miller: Balanced, patient to a point but can be a little pushy when the situation merits. Not too laid back, but not overly reactive to office issues. Strive to have team members develop their strengths as well as their career paths.
NNBW: Who were your childhood heroes?
Miller: Superman because he could fly, and Hank Aaron because I was a Milwaukee Braves fan.
NNBW: How did you get into this profession?
Miller: Attracted to it by my desire to be challenged every day by something different. Repetition is not my friend.
NNBW: What do you enjoy about it?
Miller: The people within our organization and the clients we serve.
NNBW: What do you find annoying about it?
Miller: The time delays. Sometimes the discussions take numerous sessions or the follow up meetings are significantly delayed. Sometimes one just has to remain patient.
NNBW: What are some of the challenges that face your profession in the next few years?
Miller: Timing and capitalizing on opportunities and properly assessing the return to our company.
NNBW: If you could have had any other profession what would it have been? Why wasn't it your first choice?
Miller: The profession that has always held an interest is architecture. The blend of design, logic, and construction options allows for tremendous creativity. The challenge is the extensive calculations with materials and formulas with load bearing, structural design, and building codes. It also requires an apprenticeship. In hindsight, those hurdles are much smaller than I perceived them to be in my youth.
NNBW: What effect has the changing economic environment had on your company?
Miller: Favorable, as many customers have had to re-think their products, target customers, and general strategies.
NNBW: How do you spend your time away from the office? Why are these activities important to you?
Miller: Golfing, skiing, working out and time with friends and family. The key is to balance the demands of work with enjoyable releases.
NNBW: If you could have a mulligan on your career, what would you differently the next time around?
Miller: I had the opportunity to work for Atari in the very early days of the dot.com world. My life might have been very different, but not necessarily better.
NNBW: What world events had the most impact on you while you were growing up? Did any of them personally affect your family?
Miller: The two greatest world events were both tremendous losses to this country. The first was the death of JFK. That was one of the first events in my life that impacted the entire country. The process lasted for days, from the announcement of his death through the funeral. The second event was 9/11. This event impacted me personally even more. I was on the East Coast when it occurred. My wife and I were unable to return home for several days due to all flights cancelled for days. My daughter told me to just rent a car and drive home. The change that hit this country ranged from bringing people closer to our country being so exposed, all at the same time. I hope that we never experience another 9/11.
NNBW: What's the best advice anyone ever gave you?
Miller: Not to worry about things you cannot control. That seems to resonate every time I fly.
NNBW: Any final thoughts?
Miller: You can tell you are in the right career if you look for ways to expand the scope of your activities, rather than look for excuses to avoid the work you have on your plate.
