I am an independent consultant teaching leadership to companies with the ultimate goal that when an employee is improved, the company is improved.
My last assignment was with Certified Fire Protection and Security. As you might imagine, the employees were a combination of pipe fitters, alarm installers, inspectors and a few accountants. This group was tattered not just by their clothing but by their life styles that had become their pattern. I was aware that many previous employees had been fired for persistent drug abuse while on the job… this was a rough crowd that looked even worse. To be fair, I must also confess that my world consisted of teaching at the university or managing programs for the State Office of Education. I love academia. My position is also complicated by the fact that I am now retired (being that I am 75 years old). All this is exacerbated by the fact that I carry certain prejudices of what a leader should look like. In short, I didn’t expect much– the error was mine.
I want to write about Dustin. He didn’t say much in class and could have gone unnoticed except for the fact that he had multiple tattoos on his arms. His hair and beard were long and appeared to be sculptured into some kind of a shape I didn’t recognize but it was his earrings that caught my attention, they looked like pipes extending in a U shape. I had never seen anything like it before. He had the persona of someone you wouldn’t want to see in the dark. I didn’t engage with him and that was my mistake.
I noticed that he always looked attentive when I taught and in time began to participate in the discussion and problem solving activities I gave the class. Although he had economy of verbiage I noticed his responses were well thought out and demonstrated insight. He was a manager over the service department which required a soft approach to deal with frustrated customers. Certified Fire is well known in the city for its customer service and I began to realize this reputation grew in a large part from Dustin’s quiet steady approach on behalf of the customers. The employees are frequently required to work extended hours to meet deadlines and to mitigate emergencies. This leads to employee exhaustion and stress. Dustin’s stable disposition enabled his team to be more resilient and cooperative.
One day my lecture centered on the fact that good leaders don’t center their efforts on managing people but to build each employee into something better than when they were hired. I frequently asserted that if an employee was not stronger, happier, and more capable for having worked at Certified Fire then the manager was not a leader at all. Dustin expressed that this was his philosophy as well and that he implemented it by not solving his team’s problems when they asked. He made them evaluate and come up with their own solutions. He provided the encouragement as they learned to think and evaluate.
One day I taught a unit on listening and asked the class to present a situation which would require listening skills from their audience. Dustin chose to talk about his years of drug abuse and the efforts he made to remove himself from that culture. Everyone was captivated. We recognized the facts, his hard work, his design for an improved life but we also became aware of the required courage and the strength of character he demonstrated. Dustin can not only tell a story, he can make people want learn from him. He has the most desired talent for a leader, the ability to help others to change for the better and to do it in an unobtrusive way.
My previous erroneous perceptions changed. I could clearly see that he was gifted with quiet nobility. Getting to know Dustin has been an important life lesson for me.
Certified Fire is lucky to have Dustin as a valued employee but Dustin does not have the arrogance to place this in his belief system. Instead he made the personal decision to write to the owners and to thank them for providing the kinds of experiences that help employees find their strengths and use them more effectively. He expressed that he was proud to be an employee of such a fine company and he assured them of his loyalty.
I may have been the teacher but in truth I became a student learning from the greatest example of leadership I have seen in a long time.
I have been reminded to not judge people by what they look like but by how they live their lives. Understanding comes when we look for the right things. Yes, this takes more effort but we have much to learn from each other. I have been influenced and for that I have a strong respect for Dustin.
To you I say, don’t forget to look in the corners.
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