Don't Tell Me It Can't Be Done

By Ray Hickey

After a legendary career of almost fifty years on and around the Columbia River, colleagues and customers alike tabbed Ray Hickey "the King of the River." They appreciated the way Ray ran his company,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0615194834
• ISBN13: 9780615194837
• Release Date: May 2008
• Publisher: Ship's Wheel Press
• Length: 217 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 0.5" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Ray Hickey is my kind of guy...

I was very impressed with the candor and honesty with which Ray Hickey told the story of his life in this book. I have seen men like him on almost every job that I have held in my life: Good men who are honest and have a strong work ethic. But you don't see so many who have gone to the heights that this man has. Ray Hickey started as an engineer trainee under trial by fire basis (he'd had no experience on neither river barges nor sea going barges before, he only had training in diesel mechanics) but by the time his career had ended Ray had gone on to own the Washington state based company Tidewater Barges, the largest river barge company West of the Mississippi, having bought out the original owners 100%. In my younger days I was in the United States Navy for a spell. Many of the barging stories that Ray tells on his way up the ladder remind me of those days I had at sea. He has spun his tales in a positive fashion, never speaking ill of anyone, at least that they did not deserve it, and giving credit to many people who were due credit. You can also see that part of Ray's secret to success was to surround himself with hard working people who were honest and loyal and he showed them exactly the same honesty and loyalty. Like, Ray Hickey when he first joined the company, many of these people had varied backgrounds and didn't necessarily have barging experience. Many of these people stayed on working with Ray for decades, which speaks volumes about the man. There was one really interesting point that Ray Hickey kept trying to get across that many of our today's success gurus would totally disagree with: You don't need specific goals in life to rise to the top. Just work hard and lead a simple and honest life. Who am I to say that he is wrong about this? I personally believe that people who have specific goals will, and do, go much further than those who don't. But I recently read another book by a self made billionaire, Sam Wyly, who also interestingly made the same claim. He had no goals to get where he got. Both were men with relatively poor backgrounds who worked their ways into wealth. This common trait they shared provided much food for my thought. The style of the book was simple, straightforward writing. You have a real feeling of honesty when you read about Ray Hickey's life. Anyway, I will have to say that I am impressed with Ray Hickey and I found his book to be fascinating. He has had a blessed life and I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to review this biography.

The most engaging book I have read in 2008

Reviewed by Adra Young for Reader Views (9/08) Ray Hickey, the former owner of Tidewater Barge Lines, takes us all back on a historical adventure covering over forty years of his life. From his humble beginnings as a child, whose family consisted of two adults and ten kids, Ray was never a stranger to hard work. From an employee and business owner, till now a retired passionate man sincerely committed to charity, Ray provides in his documentary the morals and values of a good human being which in return played a vital role in him achieving a multitude of ongoing goals, and accomplishments in his lifetime. Starting from the bottom and working his way up to the top, Mr. Hickey's life was not always a basket of peaches. From one of his first jobs as a dishwasher, till making repairs on one of the Barges in freezing ice cold water, he like many of us had to endure tough times. Because work ethics were instilled in him at such a very young age by his parents, he refused to let anything get in the way of him doing the best he could possibly do. Reading this book, I've come to honestly believe that Mr. Hickey's blessings and prosperity evolved from the positive karma he continuously chose to throw out in the universe. During his days as an employee for Tidewater, Mr. Hickey stated and lived by following words," We provide it well and we treat all of our customers the same." As an employee of Tidewater, he treated his coworkers with dignity. As supervisor of Tidewater, he treated the men that he superseded as brothers. As owner of Tidewater he treated all of his employees as one big family. Mr. Hickey placed emphasis on doing the right things in life and as result due to being honest, hardworking, and a man of character, great things came to him in return. Some of the words stated by Mr. Hickey that positively impacted me the most were," let your goal find you," and "don't forget the humor." In life we often find ourselves trying to find that "Ideal Job" or career instead of letting it find us. And more importantly, at times we all take everything entirely too serious! After all, what's the meaning of life, period, if we can't laugh about it all from time to time? As a business owner, Mr. Hickey realized early in the game that if you take good care of your people, they will take care of you. The section in this book that absolutely validates the character of this great man falls in the "Maintain a positive attitude" section. The very thing that stuck out with me the most is that when the company endured financial hardship, everyone including Mr. Hickey took a 10% reduction in pay. However, when business increased again, Mr. Hickey saw to it that everyone was nicely compensated. In most businesses you'll come to find that making money comes first, and environment and ecological factors are pushed to the side. Once again, Mr. Hickeys proves to be an exception to the norm. Due to the birds and fish being polluted due to oil leakages

Hickey's story behind his success running a successful barge company

To become a respected entrepreneur to all around you - something nice to shoot for indeed. "Don't Tell Me It Can't Be Done: Your Career Is Your Ship - You Be the Captain" is Ray Hickey's story behind his success running a successful barge company and retiring comfortably at a good age. He rose up from the lowest ranks of the company to the owner of it, and he grants out his inspirational wisdom to encourage others, that no matter where you are in life, reaching the top is something that can be done. "Don't Tell Me It Can't be Done: Your Career is Your Ship - You Be the Captain" is highly recommended to any community library career collection.

Yes, it can be done

This memoir is a good and interesting read. I found the positive attitude and work ethic of Mr. Hickey very refreshing. The photos are a nice touch also.