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Company growth<br />
rendered the oncespacious<br />
YWCA<br />
<strong>of</strong>fices cramped.<br />
In 1990, <strong>DAI</strong> moved<br />
to 7250 Woodmont<br />
Avenue, Bethesda,<br />
Maryland, where it<br />
was headquartered<br />
for more than 15<br />
<strong>years</strong>.<br />
<strong>40</strong><br />
asked, “Would you please come out to Manila<br />
so that we can cancel your contract?” Plagued<br />
by mishaps and bad management, the Barani<br />
regional planning project in Pakistan—one <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>DAI</strong>’s largest—had fallen apart, and Mickelwait<br />
was obliged to get on a plane personally to save<br />
it. He flew to Pakistan, set the team to work,<br />
and began producing a master plan for rainfed<br />
agriculture in Punjab province at a breakneck<br />
pace. Although the project budget had been<br />
exceeded when the work was complete, the<br />
client was satisfied, and <strong>DAI</strong> could take pride in<br />
the work it had done. “That was not a difficult<br />
choice for me to make,” Mickelwait recalled.<br />
This would seem an unusual sojourn for the<br />
president <strong>of</strong> a sizable company, but it is telling.<br />
Despite his business school enthusiasms,<br />
Mickelwait had always been more comfortable<br />
in the field than the <strong>of</strong>fice. And when the firm’s<br />
reputation was at stake, he was tireless in his<br />
determination to solve whatever problems had<br />
arisen, and led well by example. Although he<br />
had been the leading advocate for growth, once
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