That Old Grizzled Guy

It was 9:01 a.m., I know because I had just looked at my phone.  I was walking down one of the newly framed corridors of the latest project when I heard, “Good morning, Sir, I have a question”.  This interaction was nothing new and I didn’t really give it much thought until I was walking back to the construction trailer 10 minutes later.  When was the term “Sir” attached to me? 

 

Sir.  The military uses that title regularly and it denotes respect.  My father always taught me that the term "sir" was for men of age and experience.  But I’m not old.  Most of the time people say “sir” to “That Old Grizzled Guy” in the corner.  You know, the guy that’s been around so long that no one seems to know where he comes from.  He’s just always been there.  However, you know he has the answer.

 

So I started to thinking back on my career.  My first job was at 15 with Coach Jones.  He was the High School Basketball Coach that worked with the County Rec. Department looking over public parks and the swimming pool during the summers when school was in recess.  He was a pretty good egg.  He taught me a lot.  I called him "Sir".  Tragically he died early in a trucking accident.  He seemed like that “Old Grizzled Guy”, at the time.

 

After High School I became an apprentice electrician.  I was hired on as a gopher, shuffling wire here and there for the Journeyman.  Conduit in bundles of 10 gets very heavy after the first 3 flights of stairs.  The Superintendent of construction was most definitely one of those Old Grizzled Guys.  People said “Sir” to him all the time.  For heaven’s sake he must have been way over 50.  I know this because his side burns were very grey.  My boss even referred to him as “Sir”, and my boss was old too.  I don’t remember him being overly harsh.  I don’t remember him yelling, screaming, being demanding or anything some might expect from the “Bosses boss” but I was nervous in his presence.

 

I soon moved to painting, then framing, then a stint in roofing and on to drywall.  Each time I can think of one or more persons that I worked for or purchased materials from that fit the title of “That Old Grizzled Guy”.

 

Eventually, my brain had to take over because my body was braking down, and I went back to school to finish a degree that I’d started 25 years earlier.  I really had fun sitting with class mates young enough to be my son or daughter.  Even some of the teachers were younger than me.  In fact, one of the mandatory classes was a framing class.  The instructor was a young man that used to be my employee.  You can imagine what that might have been like, especially when he had taken my oldest daughter out on a date once.   Was I a “Sir” to him?  Some of my Professors were well established in their career, and had grey hair, or no hair.  They were “That Old Grizzled Guy” as well.  But what I began to notice about "that guy" was he was becoming a lot more fun.  He listens to the same music as I did.  Watches the same kind of movies and remembers who and what the Bandit is.  We might even talk about our glory days in Football. 

 

So as I sit here I have to ask myself, when did I become“Sir”?  I do have a piece of paper saying I finished school.  I do have 30+ years in the industry.  Most of my kids are out of the house.  I am grey on the sides.  And I am the Superintendent.  But now I realize, I’m probably that “Old Grizzled Guy”.  And I hope I have earned and deserve that great label.

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Roger D. Laws, an old grizzled guy, is a Commercial Construction Superintendent.  He has been a builder for the past 30 years.   His completed projects include many homes and basements, a Walgreens, a dentist office, a rehabilitation center, a community living center and many others.  He is an avid motorcyclist; touring most of the western half of the United States.  Father of 6 children and 2 sons-in-law.  Roger has a B.S. in Technology Management from Utah Valley University.

Be a Dam Leader!

I’ve recently been fascinated to learn about some of the world’s largest Dams.  I’ve been particularly enthralled with China’s “3 Gorges Dam” (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Gorges_Dam ).  As you’ll read, “The Three Gorges Dam is the world's largest power station in terms of installed capacity (22,500 MW). In 2014 the dam generated 98.8 TWh of electricity.”  We could power the entire metro Los Angeles area for over a year with this output.

Although the Dam’s original purpose was to produce energy, there were many other reasons for building this mega-structure.  “The dam is intended to increase the Yangtze River's shipping capacity and reduce the potential for floods downstream by providing flood storage space.”  Not unlike many other dams’ around the world, the 3 Gorges Dam serves many purposes.  For my script, I’ll break the many purposes into two categories; Production and Protection. 

 

So, what does a Dam have to do with your leadership?

Picture for a moment, yourself as the Dam.  You have 2 purposes; produce something and protect and manage the impact you have downstream (and upstream).  

If you recognize that you, as a leader, have the ability to do both effectively and you learn how to manage the flow of information to enhance both production and protection, you’re a Dam Leader!  Sadly, however, most managers cannot effectively produce and manage downstream.  Let me give a few examples.

Example 1:  A micro manager tends to hold back too much water behind the dam and only produce the amount of product that she has direct control over.  She causes damage downstream, because she doesn’t supply enough water to “feed” her staff and therefore starves their autonomy and creativity.  She essentially fails to achieve either of her 2 objectives.  She neither produces at a high rate nor does she protect what is downstream from her.  She starves both.

Example 2: Your company is “stressed” by a series of poor performing quarters and as a result the microscope is placed on you as a leader.  Your production is low and you need to improve it rapidly.  (Again, remember, you’re the Dam in this scenario).  You might have a gut reaction to open the “flood gates” as it were, so as to produce more… At all costs…  As a result of this decision, you’re going to flood everything downstream.  You’ll ask too much of your staff and vendors, you’ll pass the “stress” downstream and heavily damage everything all in the name of more production.  This may produce near term results but will damage the environment downstream.  You are getting production, but you’ve lost the ability to protect.  Again, you’ve failed to accomplish both objectives

Example 3: You work with good friends and associates and you allow for the staff to be casual about their work in order to create a good work environment.  This leads to lower than optimum results, but does generate a very happy workforce.  You’ve let a lot of water escape from the side drains of the dam, but you’re not generating sufficing product.  In this example, your leniency is having the opposite effect of example two.  Downstream is happy and fed, but production cannot support this model for very long.  You’ve failed to be a Dam Leader.

In order to be a Dam Leader you must determine the right balance of production and protection.  You have to be hyper-aware of both at all times.  They are forces that can work very effectively together, but if you get out of balance, you’ll damage one or the other… Or both.

Here are a couple of tips to help you measure how effective you are at being a Dam Leader:

1-      How much autonomy is my leadership allowing downstream?  In other words, are the people that work for me able to work comfortably and efficiently with the amount of water and resources that I am letting through the Dam?

2-      How much product can my Dam produce?  Do you know your capacity right now?  If not, you better figure it out.  For example, can my development team produce 1000 lines of code per day?  Can my cook produce 40 plates per hour?  You must dial in your capacity per generator or you’ll quickly find your Production-Protection out of balance?

3-      How happy is your upstream vs. downstream? 

Question 3 is the winning question.  If your bosses and employees are equally happy – you’re probably a Dam Leader.  You see, Bosses are worried more about production, whereas downstream are worried more about protection.  Question 1 will help you manage downstream and Question 2 will help you manage production.  

Be a Dam Leader!

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DuVall J Laws is the Sr. Director of Information Technology at Partners In Leadership. DuVall has managed in the Insurance, Banking, Healthcare and Leadership Training Industries.  DuVall holds a B.S. in Information Systems from Utah Valley University and an M.B.A from the University of  Redlands.

Improving Your Level of Influence

by Rick A. Laws

 

I have worked for the same company for the past 15 years and as expected, have developed many diverse relationships.  I have gone to parties to celebrate holidays, birthdays and other joyous occasions.  I’ve spent time with some on a personal level and created some long lasting friendships. In recent years I’ve worked out of my home office and gained friendships with many, simply by our frequent conference calls and personal phone calls.  Fifteen years brings with it many uplifting experiences and on occasion some awful events (I recall a time where a disgruntled worker walked into one of our offices and killed some of our coworkers). 

 

Each time I heard of these unfortunate situations, I was saddened for those that died, concerned for their loved ones and I even prayed for peace for all who were involved and impacted.  I knew some of them personally and others I had met once or twice at company functions.  Still others were known only by name and perhaps an occasional chat on the phone.  But there is one man whose impact and influence affected me beyond the average work-day interaction; above and beyond that of a daily “water cooler” chat; and even beyond the influence of those that I have known for a long time. 

 

You see, I have pondered the lives of many people including family, relatives, friends, acquaintances and even strangers.  Who are they?  What have they done in their lives, both personally and professionally?  Did their influence and work matter to anyone but them?  Who have they impacted or who will they impact?  Was their impact and influence positive or negative?  Were they generally loved or not?   In short; what was their legacy and will they be missed?

 

Let me qualify my story by saying this: I really like people in general and when they are gone, I feel like they will be missed. For a short time, I think about them and maybe some of the things we did or talked about.  Of course there may be occasions that remind me of them and so I may smile or feel sad based on the memory.   But that too is short lived.

 

That leads me to Rob.  I have worked with Rob most of my time with this company.  Rob was one of the few people that I would call on when the solution to a problem has eluded me, or when I didn’t have the tools to troubleshoot or test to the fullest.  Rob (and some others) was a developer in our company and he KNEW stuff.  Not only did he know stuff, but he was soft spoken, patient, helpful, kind, courteous and some other attributes that can be found in the boy scout law.   Although it seems odd to say in a business setting, he seemed to be a very loving individual.  I never met Rob.  I simply worked with him over the phone while sometimes remotely sharing the screen of a computer.  I don’t even think I know what he looks like.  I don’t know if he had a family or what his hobbies were.  But when Rob died a few months back and I received the notice by email, I sat back in my chair, and I CRIED!!  I work out of my home office, so there was no one that could ask what was wrong.  There was no reason to feel ashamed for my tears and therefore no reason to hold back.

 

Rob quietly had an impact on my life and neither he nor I knew it until his passing.  In fact, I asked him for some help just one week prior to his passing.  He told me that he would look in to the problem and get back to me.  He did, and once again, with his help, the issue was resolved.  I later found out from one of his teammates that Rob was in the hospital getting treatment and holding on to hope while providing the assistance I needed.  Rob had been fighting cancer for quite some time and other than those closest to him, nobody knew it.  He wasn’t looking for pity or an excuse to stop working.  In his suffering, he never said “Leave me alone”.

 

There are those that have an impact on you because you know them well and love them.  Others may have an impact on you because they are your leader, boss or coworker with which you interact frequently.  You may have an impact on others for those and other reasons.  But what impact are you making on those that hardly know you? On those who have simply spoken to you in a social setting, or may have helped you in a business setting?  What is said about you around the water cooler or in the conference room?  What will people feel or say about you when you are out of the room or gone forever?  Only your family will worry about the money you are leaving behind, but who you are, like Rob, may touch the lives of people you don’t even know are paying attention.  

 

So how does one go about leaving such an influence on others?  It doesn’t seem to be the type of thing you can plan for or map out.  I don’t even think it can be forced or manipulated.  It seems that we just need to be more genuine and kind each day in all aspects of our lives.

 

I did tell Rob thank you, many times, but I wish I could tell him how his life quietly influenced mine.

 

So how can you and I be more like Rob?  While taking a flight a few years back, the flight attendant who was making the announcement gave some good advice as we prepared to leave the plane.  I think it’s a good start:  “Be kind on purpose!”

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Update ... after this article was written and circulated, friends of Rob shared this picture of him.

  

 

 

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