Back to the Basics

Featured in Muncie Power Quarterly, Issue 1, 2018

I once worked for a man that upon my first visit to his office, he opened up an old, hardback briefcase holding only four, simple items. Inside this briefcase was a pencil, notepad, calculator and a bottle of Rolaids.

At the time, I thought he was so old that surely, he was near death; he was 49 years old. (By the way, my view has since changed on his age.) He had been around a while and had worked at some pretty impressive places. This was a man who had grown up in the shadows of the smokestacks of the steel mills in Pittsburgh and had seen businesses come and go.

During my tenure with him, I truly learned a lot. With those four items that he used every day, he worked through most every problem that came across his desk. He understood that people skills and the willingness to see a problem or opportunity through to completion were a recipe for success.

So, as we are planning to implement our strategic initiatives for 2018, we are going to take care of our people. Customers are king and nothing substitutes consistent, good quality products and services. Work through each problem to identify the root cause and address it immediately and quickly so it won’t happen again. The more I think about it – I really like this going back to the basics idea. I never did like Rolaids much, but the idea of a pencil, notepad, calculator and face-to-face communication with people sure does resonate with me.