Jim Best

Disease hasn’t grounded his life
Successful business owners must plan for the future, anticipating changes months, even years ahead of time. But to be a successful recovering alcoholic, a person has to be firmly rooted in the present, concerned with not drinking today.
It’s a curious balance, but it is one that Jim Best, owner of Olympic Air Express, takes on every day.
As Best explains it, he would not be a success in business if he didn’t have a great team and the support of his customers in the Milwaukee market. But all of that wouldn’t have been possible if he hadn’t stopped drinking in 1987 when he checked into a 30-day inpatient rehabilitation program.
“Never in my wildest dreams in the late ’80s would I ever envision that I would have not only one business but three that are successful,” Best said. He owns two Pilot Air Freight franchises (one in Milwaukee, the other in Las Vegas) and Rush Transportation, a Milwaukee-based trucking company.
Best agreed to talk about his experiences with the hope that his story may help others who find themselves in the grip of addiction. Before he was admitted for treatment, he didn’t know of any other executives who were alcohol-dependent. He also thought he could beat his alcoholism on his own. Both are common misconceptions about the disease.
“I thought I could beat alcoholism because I basically took on any challenge and beat anything in life,” Best said of his pre-recovery days. “I grew up on welfare in the city of Milwaukee, and I was bound and determined to work my way out of poverty — and I did. I felt I could control my own destiny. Little did I know about the disease of alcoholism.”
Among revelations about his own powerlessness over alcoholism, living the program prescribed by Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and meeting other professionals affected by the disease, Best realized that the decision-makers in the corporate world didn’t fully grasp that addiction is a disease.
“I was told by somebody, ‘You can beat this,'” Best recalls. “You can’t beat alcoholism. You can’t beat drug addiction.”
While he has slowly seen corporate attitudes change, Best worries that the rising cost of health care is eliminating the kind of inpatient programs that he credits with saving his life.
“I wouldn’t be alive, I wouldn’t be standing here today, if that wasn’t available to me in 1987,” Best said of the 30-day inpatient programs.
He admits living sober has changed the way he runs his business. He believes in positive spirals and leading by example. Even as his industry has suffered from the double whammy of a down economy and the post-Sept. 11 world of air transportation, Best’s companies are only down 4% from last year. The air freight industry as a whole is down between 15%-40%.
Best also insists on health insurance that allows the maximum coverage for inpatient treatment programs for alcohol and drug addiction. And when it comes to company parties, his employees and their families know that Best will take away their car keys if he feels they have over-indulged.
But he emphasizes that he’s not out waving his flag as a recovering alcoholic.
“It’s a very humbling approach to life and business these days,” Best says of his recovery. “I share my story because someone shared his or her story with me in 1987 and allowed me to move forward without alcohol. I also share my story because I’m a phone call away from anybody out there that needs to talk to a recovering person about what they’re going through.”
His advice to those who may be facing addiction: “Reach out to somebody who has experienced the addiction because, for those people, part of the recovery process is that we need to reach out and give back to people who aren’t recovering. In AA, it’s the desire to become sober (that counts). And if someone has the desire, no matter how many times they relapse, you’re welcome back into AA no questions asked.”
Dec. 21, 2001 Small Business Times, Milwaukee