Rolodex

Yesterday was a good day. It was a good day for a lot of reasons, but for the purpose of this post, I'm going to try to corral my thoughts around one issue.

I don't respond well to "cold calls." I know everyone has to do them, and I've had people I'm responsible for make a great many of them, but I generally don't have time to talk to people when they show up without prior planning.

A couple of weeks ago, a vendor show up in out of the blue, and I wasn't actually in the office. He left information, and honestly, I was never going to do a thing with it. Then he did something smart. He sent an email telling me he was going to be in Des Moines this week and asked if I had any time to meet with him. Now, although I can ignore a "cold call" with the best of them, if someone appropriately asks for time, I can't tell that person no.  So, I scheduled the meeting.

The time came for the meeting and Ryan from Kraft Tank in Kansas City did the next smart thing. He arrived exactly on time. Not a great deal early, and not a minute late. He had now cleared the next hurdle with me. He respected my time. I invited him into my office and rather than attempt to engage in a great deal of meaningless small talk, he introduced himself and went about the purpose of his meeting. He started telling me about the company he works for and what they may be able to do for me. Okay, really? He just hit the trifecta of making a call on me, and honestly I think on a great deal of other people.

Since we'd reached the point where I actually cared about this person and what he had to say, the whole tenor of the meeting changed. I stopped the meeting and asked my fuel manager, Seth, and to join us so we could talk about some of the trailers we use in our over-the-road operation. We also had the chance to talk about a piece of equipment that we might want to sell. All of a sudden, there is the possibility now of  entering into a  transaction with Kraft for that trailer.

Then the most interesting part of the conversation happened. I started talking with him about who he knew in Kansas City and almost immediately discovered he'd worked with a couple of people in the MHC/Kenworth organization I'd really enjoyed when I worked in that market - Todd and Larry. I could almost feel Seth rolling his eyes as this conversation took off.

Seth is just beginning to truly embrace the power of a network. I have always cultivated a strong network, clear back to the days of using a Rolodex. Whenever I left a company, the one thing they most often wanted from me was my Rolodex - all of the contacts and information therein. I guess they cared about me, but they really cared about all of that info.

Anyway, after Ryan from Kraft Tank left, I felt the need to go one step further. I picked up the phone and called Todd just to catch up. It had probably been the better part of a decade since we talked, but as so often happens, the conversation took off just as though we had spoken yesterday. He even laughingly told me he'd told a "Jim Martin" story in just the last couple of weeks. Todd has done well in his career - now a Vice President with MHC/Kenworth. It was really nice to talk with him again.

I know we all realize the power in the contacts we have - the network that we've fostered, but the manner the world is interconnected is sometimes even beyond our ability to really understand. I have friends who believe I'm more connected than they are. I don't for a minute think this is true.  But maybe I've been more willing, deliberate, successful at identifying the many ways I'm connected to others.

Like I told Seth the other day as he was trying to decide if he should go to a networking event, "Get in there and figure out how you know these people."  It will do you good, and honestly, it is just fascinating to find out how connected you are.

You should try it too.  Have a great week.

Bravery

Let's talk about the most important things first today. My scraper is found. I knew it would be. I knew it was just misplaced and not lost. Of course, it was in a place where I had looked ten times before - between the pages of the plans for my roll top desk. Even though I'd picked the sheets up and rattled them, the scraper had not fallen out.  But it did, and now all is good.

Except. Now my favorite tape measure is missing. What is going on here?

I'm not sure if you are in the right age group to either remember yourself, or to have children or grandchildren that watched an animated movie called "The Borrowers." The premise of the movie was that there was a race of small people who lived in the walls of our houses and offices. They borrowed things from us to be able to make their lives work. Hmm, maybe I have "Borrowers" living at the Toybox?  No, there has to be a more logical explanation, like I dropped the tape measure and knocked it under something and haven't found it yet.  Yes, that has to be it.

I titled today's thoughts "Bravery," but this isn't the type of bravery we hear about in the press or we see in extraordinary situations. The bravery that I am thinking about today is the type that allows a person to stand up and be the person they want to be.

When I think of this, I think of my Grandma Jo. I know I've told you this before, but the story bears retelling.  In 1992, we went to Sigourney to see Grandma. She was solidly in her eighties at the time. While we were there she announced that she had come to a time when she was no longer going to pull any punches.  he was going to tell people exactly what she thought, all of the time. This was a women that had been an over-the-road trucker in the 1940s - she was one of a very few women on the road. She worked in the Keokuk County Engineer's Office for a number of years and when you talked to the engineers that worked there, they would all tell you that although she didn't have a degree, she could understand and work on everything that they did.  She and Grandpa ran multiple businesses in Sigourney, often times with Grandma running the business and Grandpa on the road. In short, she was a walking, talking example of bravery every single day.

Last weekend all of this came back to me in a very real way. Friends of ours invited us to ride the Boone and Scenic Valley Railroad for their dinner train on Saturday. In the event that you ever have a chance to do this, take the opportunity. It is really a great way to spend the evening. Good food and company, riding through the Iowa countryside on a train. To some, this may not be as much fun, but if you know anything about me, I am a train nut. I am the person that sees a train coming and slows down to get caught at the crossing so I can watch it pass.

On at least two different occasions I have filled out paperwork to volunteer at the B&SV railroad. In both cases I did the work and took time to explain that I really wanted to help in the shop - rebuilding and improving cars and locomotives.  Also, in both cases, the only information that I ever got back was an invitation to help with the crowds during the Christmas season and when Thomas the Tank Engine was there. This is not what I wanted at all. So as I was standing there the other night, I thought that maybe I should fill out the form one more time, even knowing that the outcome would probably be an invitation to help take care of crowds of people. No thank you.

But wait, I thought. The people who could get me to the right place were probably right here in this building, right now. Rather than just fussing about what happened in the past, I walked into the office and introduced myself. I told them that I was a woodworker and was in search of a way I could use my skills to help the railroad. I told them that that I had tried to volunteer before, unsuccessfully. And then a gentleman stepped forward and introduced himself as the President of the B&SVRR. He told me that he knew exactly who I needed to be introduced to and that he would make sure my information got to that person. He explained the way that they deal with people volunteering and why I had the past experience that I did. It was nice to talk with him and in giving him my business card, I felt that I really will be contacted this time. Maybe I have finally reached the point that my Grandma reached - deciding that I have nothing to lose and that I should just charge ahead. We will have to see if this is a change in my demeanor, or just what I needed to do at this moment in time.

A couple of things worth noting as well this week.

The desk I'm working on at the Toybox is beginning to look like a desk.

And I can hardly wait for my daughter to come home from working at Camp Foster.

The Iowa State Fair is about to begin.  Even though my family and friends aren't coming into town for the fair this year, I will be there, you can certainly count on that.