Americans know him as the founder of J. D. Power and Associates, the widely quoted market research firm that tracks customer satisfaction in the auto industry and for dozens of other products. But to crew members on board the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Eastwind (WAGB-279) in the mid-1950s, Dave Power was the youthful ensign who had never been to sea before and got off to a bad start with the skipper. He ultimately became a savvy officer of the deck and executive officer, but it wasn't all smooth sailing. Here's how he pulled it off.
I joined the Coast Guard for three good reasons. It was the smallest of the military services, and I thought I'd probably get more out of it. I'd never been on a ship, and the prospect of sea duty seemed as though it would be an adventure. The Korean War was winding down, too, and the other services had no openings.
Getting started wasn't glitch-free. There was a three-month delay, during which time I worked in a pick-and-shovel job for the New England Power Company. Then I spent 120 days in officer candidate school. By February 1954, I had become an ensign, about to go on active duty.
The recruiters had asked what I wanted for my first duty-station, and being from Boston, I listed three warm-weather areas
Florida, Southern California, and Hawaii. True to tradition, I was assigned to the USCGC Eastwind, an oceangoing icebreaker bound for the Arctic.We had 22 officers and 180 enlisted men on board, and I was the assistant communications officer, commissary officer, and laundry-and-morale officer
a little like Ensign Pulver in Mister Roberts. But my initial experience on a Coast Guard cutter wasn't a laughing matter.During my first day, we conducted an early-morning man-overboard drill that involved lowering a boat over the side while the ship was traveling at five knots. My performance wasn't a textbook operation, and when I got back on the bridge, the captain ordered me to get back into the lifeboat and take the oars.
As I rowed
alone the skipper stood on the bridge with a megaphone and gave me helpful pointers. "Feather your oars! Row with your back!" he roared. And he had me circle around the ship, while the whole crew was watching. When I finished, I was mortified, and the crew members were stunned."I've never seen anything like this before," said a mustang lieutenant who'd risen through the ranks over more than 25 years. I immediately became an object of sympathy for the whole ship's company.
But I learned my lesson
and studied, observed and practiced. A few weeks later, when we set course for Greenland, I was conning the Eastwind through the icefields. This time the skipper called me aside and congratulated me, making me officer-of-the-deck under way, icebreaking an honor for an ensign.I was absolutely thrilled.
Over the next few years, we took three cruises to the Arctic and one to the Antarctic, and I never forgot that hard work and determination paid off. I held a variety of jobs. I was navigator for one of the trips.
In the mid-1950s, we were at sea for ten months out of 12. We crossed the Arctic Circle on 4 July, went through the Panama Canal via the Caribbean, and reentered the Arctic Circle on 24 December, the height of summer in the Southern Hemisphere. As fall approached, we headed back to balmy Boston via New Zealand, Samoa, and the Panama Canal.
After the Eastwind, I served a year on board the USCGC Cactus (WLB-270), a seagoing buoy-tender that set all the buoys off the coast of Massachusetts. In October 1957 I left active duty to attend graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business.
My first civilian job, in 1959, was as a financial analyst for the Ford Motor Company. I then moved to MarPlan, a market-research company that was a part of the Interpublic Group of advertising agencies. I was interested in consumer surveys, but I became restless at MarPlan and wanted to strike out on my own.
So in 1968 I founded J. D. Power and Associates, the consumer-research company that became my biggest achievement and a source of great pride. The firm thrived for 40 years, becoming a global corporation with a reputation for solid performance. We sold the company five years ago. It still bears my name.
It's impossible to list all the things I learned from serving in the military. My time in the Coast Guard was my first big experience away from home and my first experience in a military environment. I learned how crucial teamwork was, and how important it was to be able to do myself whatever I asked of others.
I also learned that when you're out on your own, you've got to work with what you have available. I got a better understanding of people with different backgrounds, and of how to handle myself with them. I learned how to provide leadership, and how to moderate things in tough times.
The way I handled my shortcomings on my first voyage
pulling myself up by my bootstraps and working to improve showed me how much I could accomplish if I tried hard enough. The skipper was really down on me at first, until I tried standing up for myself and showing him that I could perform.I've discovered over the years that I'm not the only veteran who has come to appreciate what he has gained from serving in the military. We former Eastwind crew members have been meeting every other year—in Boston; Portland, Maine; and Yorktown, Virginia—and the stories get longer and wilder as we age.
A few years ago, my daughter followed my example, joining the Coast Guard while she was at college and then staying in the reserve for three years. Although she, too, is pursuing a civilian career, she still gives boot camp a lot of credit, saying it taught her how to perform in today's competitive world.
Now, at 79, I still have a lot of empathy for what the Coast Guard has been doing. I'm just delighted to see that it's taken over the mission of port security, and that it's finally getting the attention it deserves.