This week I have been asked to pick three stories from my past that have had a formative impact on my life and how they relate to organizational leadership.
The first story is a story I tell quite often to my clients and the following are my own words from a class discussion.
Before I joined the Air Force I was a steelworker. After Sept 11th the US diverted funds from projects that contributed to infrastructure and decided to spend all of that money on a war and the newly formed Department of Homeland Security. This led to a cascade of layoffs in the private sector that built the roads and building infrastructure projects support. I was one of those laid off. At first I thought I would be able to find another job but the industry was in severe contraction. To make matters worse, reductions in funds to retraining programs meant that I was unable to learn new skills. After robbing from Peter to pay Paul for a few months I was evicted from my apartment. I had found work as a bartender but service industry jobs really don't pay a living wage. After living in a van for almost two months I began to believe that was my fate, that was all I was good for. No one wanted me, I was damaged goods. My credit was shot; my mother would occasionally help with small things but it was a constant internal struggle for me to overcome my shame and guilt. I had no addictions, just a crushing existence that began to affect my sense of self-worth in a very severe manner. When I joined the service for career training I was initially declined for poor credit. I had to scrape and find around $3,000 to pay some of my debt. My father decided to give me a loan at this point. I was very lucky.
This has helped me understand the difficulties people face in overcoming obstacles. While I was homeless I hid a great deal of my pain behind a smiling face and charming manner.
When I meet new people or in a managerial setting, I often take a moment to remind myself that the exterior of a person may not be the real person. They may be facing challenges that they are hiding. This helps to begin the listening process as I am reducing my own barriers to communication.
Another formative story occurred in my early childhood and involved Mrs. Gast, my math teacher.
Mrs. Gast was a no-nonsense-take-no-prisoners teacher. Fair and firm she tolerated no dissension in the ranks and woe to the student that failed to memorize their multiplication tables. One fine morning I was distracted by writing some poetry into my notebook when I realized that Mrs. Gast, all 5'2'' of her, was striding in my direction. I can assure you that even at that modest height she was Paul Bunyan and the ax wasn't far behind. She stopped at my desk, grabbed my notebook, read for a bit, and told me to remain after class for a discussion. Discussions with Mrs. Gast were never discussions in the traditional sense; they were the Inquisition. The bell rang, the class filed out, some casting glances at their former student, possibly wondering what their first funeral will entail. Mrs. Gast asked me to come with her to a file cabinet where she withdrew two or three composition notebooks and handed them to me. She told me, in no uncertain terms, that I was to keep practicing my writing. And that was that. No further words were spoken. I was gobsmacked to say the least. I later won a Young Author's award that year.
This has taught me that people have abilities that need nurturing. Talent, in anyone, begs to be used. It screams at the brain until the brain acquiesces and uses that talent. I'm not a rich author, but I do like to compose from time to time. I feel that everyone has talents and we need to allow them room to develop them.
Lastly, we journey to a time when I was a brand new Watch Supervisor in an Air Traffic Control facility. For those that don't know what that entails, the short version is that the Watch Supervisor is responsible for all the operations and all the personnel inside the facility. In essence the buck stops at that desk, be it a good or bad one. It was a otherwise normal afternoon when the Chief Master Sergeant in charge of the Sun and Moon (as far as I was concerned) came into the facility to ask about the status of a trainee that was on shift. I responded "I don't know". If any managers are reading this you know that this is the wrong answer. The Chief informed me in the most delicate manner that I best become informed of this trainee's status or I would be a trainee again myself. I learned really quickly about being aware of my area of control.
This Chief reminded me that as a manager I have a responsibility for the people and property I oversee. It wasn't that I didn't care about that trainee, it was that I appeared to not care about that trainee and that is almost worse. From this I have learned that we must always be aware. We must care about the people we manage and we have to demonstrate that care so that they can trust we have their needs in our minds as well.
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