My Toughest Challenge: Perry Sook

“Work [at the TV station I was running in Oklahoma city] was basically suspended for the first few days. Everything was focused on supporting any effort in the community that would help those affected. The memorial service was probably the first healing moment. Many of my staff including myself and my wife stood in line for hours to get into the auditorium to participate. I told people, ‘We will come back from this, and we will rebuild, and things will be better than they were before.’ I’ve used the lessons I learned from Oklahoma City to help our company deal with these types of things when they happen in a local community. From the Joplin tornado to the Las Vegas shooting to the hurricanes in south Texas and south Florida to the wildfires in California, we have television stations in 38 states and typically we are some of the first responders reporting live from the scene. With the right amount of compassion and positive reinforcements, you can overcome those things.”