Good Employees are Hard to Find (Happy Boss's Day)

POINT TO PONDER: “The best kind of people (Bosses, Mentors, Friends) are those who come into your life, and make you see the sun where you once saw clouds. People who believe in you so much, that you start to believe in you too. They are once in a lifetime type of people."

STORY LINE: (Originally published on October 10, 2013).The gentleman I am going to talk about had neither a top degree or was a graduate of a top-notch university. What he had was a top-notch heart, a lot of common sense, and a deep understanding of human nature. He had graduated from the school of hard knocks. One of the things he learned was to hold back from flaunting his knowledge (which was plentiful), instead choosing to ask inquiring questions. In turn, we as employees learned through practical experience by doing, making mistakes, and correcting them. Through his approach, he motivated and inspired outstanding performance from his employees. 

It seems to me that his management philosophy was learned from sports, which he dearly loved and played through college until he unfortunately injured his knee. He was not just any ordinary Joe but an extraordinary human being who we affectionately called Joe Z.  I worked for him between 1977-1980 and again when our paths crossed in the early 90's at another company.  

Thanks to the power of LinkedIn, I recently reconnected with him after eighteen years. This time I did not miss the opportunity to thank him for all that he had done for me, so I called him. What he said at the end of the conversation reaffirmed how fortunate I was to encounter such a person in my life. Here is my last phone call with him, which I am recounting from memory:

“Joe, You have made big and significant impact on my life by not only mentoring me (even though it took me a while to grow up and grasp what you had taught) but also you helped in my personal life as well.

 You taught me that in order to be a good engineer I need to dirty my hands. Yes, I did clean diffusion tubes with  Brian, changed vacuum pumps with Hank and replaced metal targets with Bob, all of them were maintenance technicians. You asked me to do CV plots after cleaning the tubes so I understood if I had done proper cleaning job. And you know what, you were there first few times with us helping so I appreciated that you were the general who had fought the battle and willing to be with your troops.

You came to production area at least three times a day and talked to engineers, operators and technicians. ( This was years before Tom Peters wrote Management by walking around or many books on respecting every human being and their job)

Whenever there was a problem in manufacturing area, you held meeting right at that process station to do problem solving. (Now a days they call it LEAN practice)

When I wrote my first operational specifications, you asked me “What does Chu, Sharon and Jeannie think about it?” Those three were operators. From that day I never had any specifications passed on for signature until I had gotten the operators approval that they understood it. Not a single one of my spec was held up in production manager’s office, him wanting to ensure that the operators would understand what I had written. (Now a days they call it understanding User Experience)

And on personal side: You came to Immigration with me for my Green Card call and when the Immigration officer asked me to leave the country (due to company’s HR error) you went out of the way to call corporate on the east coast for help. Then when I chose to go to India instead of Mexico or Canada to get my visa, you not only paid my entire trip and a month salary, you also let me go to Philippines on the way back to India to meet my childhood penpal. That childhood penpal (since I was 16) is my wife for the last 35 years and wonderful what it has been.

Well that was not it. Later that year (December 78), when I went to Philippines to get married, you and your boss (John E) made sure that my air ticket was covered, salary was on and when I checked out of the hotel, the bill was covered. Then our paths crossed again at another company and even though you were very high up in the ranks in a different department and not my boss, you still sponsored many of my ideas. That made all the difference.”

REFLECTION

When I called him and recounted my memories and thanked him, this is what he said. "Good employees are hard to find. So I did everything possible to keep them. Looking for new ones (unknowns) is like betting in Las Vegas.” “So you don’t have to thank me for all these.”

He is long retired but if he ever called me and asked me to work for him again, you can guess what my answer is going to be.

Looking back at my work and life, I have been fortunate to have met great people (starting with parents then teachers, bosses, mentors and friends). But today is for the Bosses.

Let us all thank them and wish them, “Have a Nice Boss’s Day!"

 

Comments

[comments in the original 2013 posting]

Very nice and touching story. Hope all of us can be so fortunate.
Posted by: Jill | October 11, 2013 at 05:34 PM

Is this real?
I have heard such stories from "old timers". Where have such people gone?
Posted by: Curious | October 11, 2013 at 07:09 PM

Nice to know some more about your younger days. One really needs to be lucky have nice people around. But one has a choice to be oneself.
One question - what is a penpal? And how did you have one at that age in india? I remember a friend if mine mentioning when we were. In school.
Your attitude really disguises your age. Did not realize you have worked for 38 years.
Posted by: From Lion City (Singapore) | October 12, 2013 at 06:26 AM

1. that’s such a heartwarming story. Thanks for making a great start to my Saturday morning. And thanks for the reminder for Bosses Day.
2. I have learned so much over the years from your column.
Regards and Thank you.You have a wonderful Bosses Day!
3. That one kind of got me “teary-eyed”. It made me remember a couple great coaches, a few great teachers and even an NCO, (non-commissioned officer commonly known as a “Sergeant”), that treated me with respect and helped make me a better athlete, student and man respectively.Just wanted to say thanks for your words of wisdom and encouragement over the years.
Posted by: friends (recieved by email. Posted by FR team) | October 12, 2013 at 09:08 AM

this story remind me of two previous stories
Good teachers teach from the heart not books
and
To Sir With Love
Having good, caring boss like Mr.Joe Z make big productive improvement. also winning team of motivated employees.
Posted by: Takahashi | October 13, 2013 at 07:19 AM

Thanks for sharing!
It reminds me my old days too. And my glory and success were when I was in the line and discussed with people there to solve problems as an engineer.
My first boss taught me even very tribial things such as how to use 'To' and 'cc' list in an email, and why simple summary should come first with organized template to make it easy to see for others and management, etc.
It's a shame and regret that I didn't ask him to meet and talk even though I know where he is and we can meet...
Posted by: JM | October 13, 2013 at 05:46 PM

Thanks for sharing such a wonderful story.
Posted by: PPS | October 14, 2013 at 12:02 AM

One really has to be lucky to find such mentors. Thanks for sharing!
Posted by: SC | October 14, 2013 at 04:58 PM

Nice story. I was out all last week in PA so I missed much of my reading, although I did do much shooting.
Posted by: EastCoast | October 14, 2013 at 05:02 PM

Interesting point, I recently ran into one of those people myself, so I have a vivid example of what you are talking about.

Posted by: MAT pioneer | October 15, 2013 at 07:57 AM

A good boss, a caring leader, who can believe in his people and focus on extending their capabilities and achievements, rather than crushing them for their mistakes, is more important than a high salary. (By many orders of magnitude). I am very thankful for many bosses that have helped me in my life.
Posted by: microCEO | October 18, 2013 at 06:23 PM

[Raymond C Pineda]

Leadership pipeline!

Anand - From my perspective, seems like Joe Z "passed a baton" to you. And you, in turn, "accepted that baton" and have "passed a few batons forward" to others. In time, we will see who "accepted their baton" from you and "passed it forward" to others.

[JM]

It reminds me two bosses that I encountered who provided similar experiences and learning.

My very first manager gave most of my knowledge in this industry and how to work as engineer. And your experiences are very similar to mine in his way of doing the job.

The other manager, Philippines lady, she helped me a lot in my first days in the new company and led me quickly familiarized with new environment. Caring and warm comments, when we met through IM late night, she asked me to go to bed while she was also working.

[BR]

Wonderful! He must have been a real mentor for you. And you must have been a very productive employee. It is a great human interest story, more because you met your future wife in the process. Congratulations!

[Long time student]

Anand, You have done similar things for a lot of people including me and become a role model for being a leader. Without you pushing, I would never have shared leadership stories and in process learn to become one. I echo Ray here!

[CH]

I see sweet love story inside a good boss story. :)

[Humble Warrior]

finding a good employee is rare.... finding a good employer is rare... a perfect work marriage is when those two find eachother... a mutual, relentless, humble approach type bond that soars to new heights. I pray we all find more of there work marriages :)

[Joalica]

This is such a warm story. I really like this quote a lot "The best kind of people (Bosses, Mentors, Friends) are those who come into your life, and make you see the sun where you once saw clouds. People who believe in you so much, that you start to believe in you too. They are once in a lifetime type of people." I would fully echo with Ray that you absolutely passed on that caring and love to make an significant impact to a lot of people's work and life including myself as a fearless leader full of wisdom!! you led us to grow with empowerment and trust so we're not afraid of failure during the course of exploring new arena. Your mentor and coaching reach really far even to next gen. My son still remembers your words of wisdom as golden career advice to him when we were at your home, about People, Corp, Culture blend. He also proudly shared this with his friends all the way from the other side of the world. I am so fortunate to meet you as my Mentor, my "贵人" in Chinese! So the baton is passed on further :-)