Let Me Tell You About My Boss

Have you ever been around greatness in the form of a human being but didn't fully realize it until much, much later? Too bad for you. My ex-boss is brilliant and I knew it from the get go. Retreating to 1988, as most of you know, I was a high school teacher and coach. Then, an epiphany overcame me and I decided to seek out a real job. I was hired by a small privately owned company that dealt with industrial rotating equipment. We're talking pumps, motors, gearboxes; anything with a shaft coming out of a protective housing. The idea of the product I sold, the one invented by my boss, was to protect the internal bearings from an attack by any outside contaminant. His device also kept all lubrication inside that housing. Here's the beauty of the product. Unlike the accepted product of the day, something called a rubber lip seal that had a finite life of around six months, the product invented by my own personal Einstein had an infinite life to it. It was a one-time installation.
The interesting part of this story is I had absolutely no aptitude for this type of work. I can't start a lawn mower but here I'd be, hanging around steel and paper mills, working on all varieties of rotating equipment. My boss is a Vince Lombardi clone. He loved the man and he loved his philosophy. When I was hired my boss taught me the Lombardi method as if I was a clueless dolt.(I was). Lombardi, from day one, treated his players as equals. Regardless of a man's seniority he would begin the first practice the same way, year after year, by saying, "Gentlemen, this is a football and we'll go from here". When I said 'yes' that I'd go to work for him my boss called another salesman and said, "Guess what, I hired someone dumber than you". He hired all of his workers in the same way, for the most part mechanically ignorant. He hired an ex-PGA player, an ex-NFL football player and a man who escaped from Hungary under a barbed wire fence in 1956 during the revolution. I think his hiring practices had something to do with being able to work under pressure and reacting to it. Is there more pressure than having bullets zinging over your head? I think he figured since I was a teacher/coach I'd been around my share of slugs and had seen my share of combat duty.
My boss is low key. I asked him if I could do a small piece on him for this blog knowing full well the answer." It's okay. Just don't use my name", he said. Last week I told him I was glad I worked for him instead of Donald Trump. Trump isn't low key.
It'd be difficult to not blow your horn if you were my boss. He has at least 38 patents to his name. I first became enamored with him when I found out he invented the first titanium golf club. "Wow, this is my kind of guy", I thought. Luckily for me I was hired not to sell golf clubs.
Early on in my career I made a huge mistake on a large paper roll shaft. It cost our company $50,000 in loss. Well, being the uber sensitive turd I am I figured my career was in the toilet. I called the boss on the phone and told him what had happened and that it was my fault and I was so, so sorry. Know what he said?, "MJ, just don't let it happen again". That was it. He didn't raise his voice, or threaten or ask for one of my children to barter. Later on I asked him about this and why we he didn't go bonkers. And his response, "what good would it do me to take away your enthusiam for the job"?
I used to keep a notebook of things my boss said, pithy little sayings and words of wisdom to learn by. I still have it and every once in awhile look at it for inspiration.
I could go on and on about my boss. Whenever people ask what I did for a living I've a stock answer. "I worked for the best man ever, the best company ever, with the best people ever. I cannot say one negative thing about anyone associated with the operation". Difficult to believe, isn't it? And some of you naysayers will still not believe me. Too bad. You should be so lucky.
A few months ago I wrote a piece on three or four individuals who had the greatest influence on my life. My boss, obviously, was one of them.
When I retired in 2008 our original five salesmen had grown to twenty-five and you'll find this almost unbelievable; we did it without any government help or regulation. It is a world-wide operation covering every location. To my knowledge there was only one way to get fired and that was disloyalty to the firm. Lastly, for a company that began in the early 70's with an operation that had five pieces of product on a cardboard table waiting for someone to make a purchase, the firm now has fourteen competitors but owns 70% of the world market. That is one kick ass company. When we had sales meetings we'd laugh out loud at what are loser competitors were trying to make. It's always good to be #1 or, as my boss always said, "when you're not the lead dog the view never changes".
I made a comment awhile back and it's valid. I even think my boss was pleased. It was right after Steve Jobs passed away. I called my boss and we talked for a few minutes when Jobs name came up. I matter of factly said, "Boss, what Steve Jobs was to the technological world you are to the industrial world". I think he liked that and it's true. Think about it. My boss invented a product that allows rotating equipment to run three, four, maybe five times longer than the accepted minimal standards that had been going on in world factories since the the inception of the wheel. When bearings wear out equipment doesn't run and product doesn't get made. It's that simple. My boss invented a product that has literally saved business billions and billions of dollars and will continue to do so for years to come.
Last week my boss emailed me some info about Der Bamster and how he was a communist. No surprise for me. I've been writing this for two years. I also told him I could prove it. I sent him the blog piece written by me a couple of months ago. It didn't contain specific information. No one from Obama's inner circle, Valerie Jarrett, for instance, called me and said, "Hey, guess what, The Loser's a commie"? No, I mentioned Obama's background. How his dad was a communist and atheist. Dittos for mom. She left for Indonesia and married another of the same ilk after she was dumped. Then, as all good mothers do, she got tired of the lad and unloaded him off onto her parents; also atheists and communists. After awhile they shoved him on to another atheist/communist, Frank Marshall Davis, and so it went. Now, me being raised Catholic and he being raised as a radical revolutionary my theory is common sense.
My boss wrote me back and his analysis was so simple. Whereas I tend to be redundant and verbose my boss used the KISS method. His proof of Obama being a commmunist is quite exquisite in it's simplicity and I quote:
"If anyone is curious about what is happening to our government in Washington, he or she should read the Communist Manifesto. In the Karl Marx handbook are discolsures about class warfare, attacks on religion, social unrest of the proletariat, government intervention into industry, healthcare and schools, to name just a few.
Socialism/Communism does not work in practice, and the fact should be obvious to even the casual observer of history. Four more years of the Obama administration would most certainly jeopardize the attainments of the greatest nation on earth".

And the beauty of this entire scenario about my boss is----------------he still wants to maintain a very low profile. If our political leaders could be as comfortable in their own skin as My Boss we'd have far fewer problems.