Teachers and Bosses - Sometimes they are the same | Eastern North Carolina Now

    A while back, I had a series on Beaufort County Now about teachers that made an impact on my life. Teachers We Remember. Some bosses also had an impact.

   The general theme was that I might not have realized it at the time but they made an impression that stuck with me. I also had written an article about bosses that made a difference but I did not submit for publication. This is that article with some minor revisions.

    The same could be said for certain bosses I have had. Like teachers, they come and go but some made an impact beyond just how much my next raise would be or what they would say in my formal annual review. For many years, I kept the formal annual review as a reference. It may sound strange but I found that I could refer back to it long after the review and quite often found the review relevant. There are at least two reasons for taking the annual review seriously.

    1) Your future employment and income may be dependent on someone reading the review who does not know you or your boss. 2) You may find a kernel of truth in the blunt evaluation that will help you to improve your performance.

    After the emotion has settled down it is good to see yourself as other may see you. We rarely get a chance to do that, but the annual review is a permanent document that can document your ability to adapt or not. The most hardheaded people in life are the ones with a ready made excuse for why they failed, were fired, or passed over for promotion. Probably the best lesson I learned in my short military career was "It is what it is". I have a sign on my wall in the kitchen given to me by my brother since I used the cliché so often that him and everyone else got tired of me saying it. However, it is true. Solving a problem or making a decision with a imaginary view of the facts can be and usually will be disastrous.

    With that small basis, I will try to present some of my previous bosses with quotes that they have made to me that stuck in my subconscious mind and eventually percolated up to the surface later. Some of these are summarized from my extemporaneous notes but all have the general point they were trying to make. I have also replaced their names with initials to maintain privacy. Who knows, I may have to go back to work someday.

• PK I was 17: "You are an arrogant SOB and we will get along just fine because I am an arrogant SOB too, but I am still the boss, Got It". Yes Sir, we did get along fine.
• Lt ET I was 22: "Don't worry about what it all means, You will have the rest of your life to figure that out, and after this God Forsaken war that is just about how long it will take". It did
• SFC W I was 22: "Check your gear boys, cause where we are going there won't be no second chance, if you didn't bring it you won't get it" Thanks Sarge, I was never a boy scout.
• BG I was 26: "You may be the last guy to join field sales in this company without a college degree but if you apply yourself and succeed no one will care where you went to college except the aging frat boys". I was the last one.
• DS I was 28: "When you make a sales call, you can talk about sports, girls, politics or anything else, but before you leave you better spend at least five minutes talking about your product or service. Otherwise it is not a sales call it is a visit." It works.
• EO I was 30: "I do not want to know you opinion; I want to know your solution. Is it fact based or just fuzzy thinking." It also works.
• JS I was 35:"You are working for an engineering company, you might want to go to night school and take a few engineering courses." I did.
• MB I was 40: "The best way to answer a question is with a fast yes or a slow no. Take your time to think about the question and if the answer is no, let it rest for a day or two before answering". Slow it down.
• TL I was 45: "If you think you have all the facts in order and are ready to make a decision, the last thing you need to do is make a Gut Check. Does it feel like the right thing to do". It still works.

There were many other bosses and I am sure my memory has left a few of the lessons learned both good and bad out of this article. My point is that in every day and every circumstance there is some wisdom to be gleaned from others.

    Later when I became a boss, I found some inspiration from others.

• Robert E. Lee on picking leaders: "If you can fill positions with proper officers, not the relatives and social friends of the commander who however agreeable their company, are not always most useful, you might hope to have the finest army in the world".
• Robert E. Lee on taking responsibility: As the remnants of the brigades stumbled back to Seminary Ridge, Longstreet saw that 'Pickett's division was gone.' Nearby, Lee rode among the survivors, remarking to a general, 'All this has been my fault - it is I that have lost this fight.'
• George S. Patton on picking leaders: "I say: Men, I want a trench dug behind a warehouse. Make this trench eight feet long, thee feet wide, and six inches deep. That's all I tell them. While they are checking out the tools, I go inside the warehouse and look out a window or knothole. After resting for a few minutes, they start talking about why I want such a shallow trench. It cannot be a gun emplacement or latrine ditch. Some argue that such a trench should be dug with power equipment. Others will say it is too hot or too cold. Finally, one man will give an order to the others, "Let's get this trench dug and get the hell out of here. It doesn't make any difference what that old SOB wants to do with trench. That man gets the promotion." Take Charge. Patton on Leadership pages 35-36

   I would be remiss if I did not include a quote from my boss of forty one years. Fortunately, I don't have a sign on my wall with that saying.....Yet.
You are so full of Sh$t
    My old man was not a philosopher but he was the most educated uneducated man I ever knew. His advice was simple and direct.

    "A broken word is a broken man"!!!