By: Cathy
Here's a riddle for you: what do PR and commercial fishing have in common? Ask Metis Co-Founder Courtney Hurst, and she'll tell you the two pursuits have taught her some similar lessons. Courtney, a Provincetown, Mass. native, grew up clamming and fishing for fun in the waters around the far reaches of Cape Cod. Today, she spends many of her weekends on a dragger and lobster boat named the Three Reasons.
CEO Magazine featured Courtney in its most recent issue in its “CEOs in the Great Outdoors” story. The magazine notes Courtney's weekend trips – anywhere from five to 12 hours at sea three seasons per year – in pursuit of oysters, groundfish and lobsters. We've had the pleasure of eating some of those lobsters with Courtney on the boat, where we shell them, cook them, and eat them right on the deck.
But even in our Boston office, far from the waters where Courtney's great grandfathers and many members of her family fished for generations, we see the business lessons Courtney has caught along with all those lobsters she sells to Provincetown wholesalers. CEO Magazine asked Courtney what commercial fishing has to do with her role as co-owner of a PR firm, and here's what she said:
“It has helped teach me to show up and work hard each and every day. With fishing, we never know what kind of a day or a season it will be. There are so many variables, Mother Nature to name just one. But, you have to show up. You have to work hard. The nets might come up empty all day for days on end, or they might come up so heavy it's hard to get them on the deck. There's no way of knowing until you're in the throes of it. But, you have to be there, consistently, and ready to work hard. You have to believe that the hard work will pay off and just keep at it.”
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