MAN IN THE ARENA

This week, I taught myself a lesson in patience. For the past two weeks, the drone that we use here at Nikola has been out of commission after it had an unexpected glitch and decided to land without the assistance of guidance. Needless to say the landing was not quite as smooth as expected and said drone is now out for repairs. As our work in Coolidge is ramping up, I was a little dismayed that we were missing the ability to capture the progress and to share it. 

You see, the past few months have not been the greatest for me to show what we have been working on. Design, and engineering, and surveying and grading don't make for the best of pictures, but it is an incredible amount of work and the foundation for a great project even if the sign is all that shows above the ground for awhile.

Luckily (?) in today's age of social media there are a plethora of folks willing to drive to Coolidge and give reports of our progress, however they don't always do justice to all the hard work of our general contractor, Walbridge, or the partner subcontractors or all of the great people who are working behind the scenes or literally in the dirt to make our factory a reality. 

A few weeks ago one of my colleagues here shared a quote with our team. It has always been my favorite and comes from a speech by Theodore Roosevelt, titled "The Man in the Arena. "

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat"

Nothing could describe Nikola and those who we are partnering with, right now , better than this. Ups and downs are to be expected with a drone or a startup. When they happen, you just have to get back up, brush off the dust and keep going. the progress still happened even if the drone didn't capture it, the project is exactly on schedule, even if some opine that it isn't. We are real, even if you doubt it. We will make mistakes, and we will learn and push forward. Our desire to bring a better truck to the world is worth some criticism and we are devoted to the cause. 

At the manufacturing facility in Coolidge our team is working hard even if I cannot show you a picture from our drone. To all of the team "in the arena", thank you for everything you do. To our supporters, thank you. If you choose to point out our flaws or don't wish us well, it's okay, you just make me want to work harder. 

To all, a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays...More updates to come.