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[C. Lykins] The concept was born last summer. Natural gas prices were very high, much higher than they are today, a lot like the $4 a gallon gasoline prices that we saw last summer. We were very much concerned about the impact of high energy prices, especially coupled with high gasoline, high costs, all those pressures might be on Indianapolis families. So we decided that we needed to kind of own that high cost issue, to get out in front of it, to warn people, tell people about it, why, and most importantly, be sure that people understood that there was assistance available, and that customers have a great deal of power and control over the size of their gas bill. So wanted to be able to tell people how to reduce their gas bill as well, make them aware of safety issues, and aware of the availability of assistance for those who need it and qualify.

The thing I enjoyed the most, I think, was the feedback from retail customers. I talk to our employees, individually on a regular basis, I talk to major industrial kinds of customers on a regular basis, but I rarely speak with a residential customer, and I actually got feedback from customers, and I got feedback back from customers, and I got feedback that was actionable. We made some decisions based on some issues that were raised with me during those chat sessions.

Last year and again here in a few weeks, I have been one of several mentors to a small group of Kelley MBA students here in town. I focus on a couple of different thoughts with them. One is this issue of communication. It\'s much harder than we attribute. I often say around here, I think 90% of our employees would agree with 90% of our decisions if we would simply tell them what we\'ve decided, and why we decided it. What we did and why we did it. And you\'d be amazed at how frequently we fail to do that.

The other thing i focus on, especially with the MBA students, is that it really is important to focus on relationships. Being successful in business means you\'re a successful relationship manager. That\'s how you\'re successful. And at times you even have to put their needs at a higher level than your own--in advance of your own--to be successful. It\'s not about debits and credits so much as it is about relationships.

As a student at IUPUI, I was a commuter student, and would fly into campus, go to class, maybe eat lunch in my car, come back out of campus, and go to work. I think at that point IUPUI was seen as a valuable asset to a student. Now of course we\'ve seen it grow magnificently, both in terms of the size of the student body, but also in terms of the employment and the impact upon the community, and I think now any informed business leader in town would tell you in an instant that IUPUI is the crown jewels of the city, and our success is inextricably linked with the success of IUPUI, and of course, vice versa, so it\'s a very strong and very important relationship. I think it\'s very important for business to pay attention to the welfare of IUPUI, not just because of the supply of educated young people that come out of the there, but because of the overall impact on our community.