While the government shutdown probably curtailed their sight-seeing a bit, the idiotic behavior and lack of leadership by some of our fringe elected officials wasn’t going to ruin the trip these self-made business men and women. Most of them went through the same apprenticeship I did before hanging a shingle, and the same qualities that have made them successful in contracting meant they were going to make the most of the trip no matter what.
They invited me to join them for a get-together downtown on Sunday afternoon, and because I arrived at the event early, I was able to watch as so many people that had a profound influence on my professional and personal life filed through the door. There was one cat I probably hadn’t seen in 15 years named Dan Henrich who ran work for Amelco Electric where I had served my apprenticeship in Los Angeles. He, along with his wife own their own very successful company now, and there are lessons he imparted on me in my late teens and 20s about how to run work and treat people that still stick with me today. Perhaps most importantly of all, he also showed me it's OK to laugh along the way while doing it too.
Stan Lazarian was there too, and though I worked for his
great company for only a very short time in my early thirties, I remember the experience
well because of the way he treated me over the course of what was a very compressed
and high-stress upgrade project. He too taught me a lot about management in
that short period (and in the years that followed working in another capacity) that
I continue to try to replicate today.
Ralph Woods was also in attendance…and though I didn’t work
directly for him, there were lessons to be learned in my association with him
working in a labor management capacity through the way he was able to retain
his competent and loyal workforce. He
always smiled and seemed to be in a good mood too…and though he was always
busy, I never forgot the fact he attended my going away party.
Steve and Cathy O’Bryant, who along with local chapter
president Eric Cartier were serving as gracious hosts. I never worked for their
company, but I did work a lot with them in a labor/management capacity. They as
much as anybody taught me about how to
treat people and about the need to be nimble in a very competitive environment.
I remain forever grateful for the things
I observed about their style that I still try to emulate today.
Rick Jarvis was a
superintendent at the time for the last contractor I ever worked for before
switching gigs…and he was there too. I
remember standing by the Los Angeles river talking over a host of issues on one
of the largest construction projects in Los Angeles in the 90’s. Like all the
people above, he taught me lasting lessons about how to run work and treat
people that I continue to use every, single day.
The Local Chapter Manager Jim Willson and my former boss and
union business manager Marvin Kropke. It would take three days to read all I
could write about these two cats…but in summary, these two folks as much as
anybody demonstrated what can be accomplished when labor and management work
together for the betterment of the greater good.
I was feeling awfully good after visiting with all these
mentors over the course of a couple of days, but other than the normal
nostalgia that is common when seeing old friends, I wasn’t exactly sure why. Then
yesterday, I was reading a tidbit in the book “How to Win Friends and Influence
People in the Digital Age.” Somewhere deep in the book, was a paragraph that
made it all clear. I’d give it to you word for word, but that would mean I’d
have to go upstairs and fetch it…so instead I’ll just paraphrase. In essence,
it said that leaders have the single most effective tool available to them when
managing people…and that is to demonstrate through their own actions the
behavior they are trying to encourage. People learn through what they see…so if
you want to get people to behave in a certain manner, you need to lead by
example. That’s what sticks with the folks that are listed above and so many others I spent time with this past week…and that is
why it was so special. Even after the passage of all this time, these unknowing mentors, along with so many others I've worked with since and now,
all demonstrated behavior I still try miserably to emulate every single day.
Have a fabulous weekend, and if you can, see if you can’t remember
and then deploy some great lesson someone once taught you. If I had to guess, it’s probably
going to have something to do with the way you treat other people. Over time,
that is the type of thing that is going to matter more than the stuff we can
all get tricked into thinking matters more now.
This morning’s song might be offensive…but if so…I wouldn’t
know. Heard it this week on Pandora and thought it had kind of a catchy beat.
No comments:
Post a Comment