A couple of weeks ago, I had an opportunity to meet with and talk to a gentleman I've known for a couple of years now. The relationship we've always had was a work relationship. He works for me, well, some of the time. And some of the time I work for him. Actually, I have no issue with working for him as I actually believe my responsibility is to support my people. Some call this the inverted management pyramid. Anyway, because of some circumstances, we decided we shouldn't talk in our place of business, but instead we'd meet at his home. This was a little unusual, but as I said, under the circumstances it made sense. When I arrived, the first thing I noticed was the new garage/shop he'd built. As all of you would completely expect of me, I asked for a tour. Let no shop go unexplored.Then an amazing thing happened that really caused me to reach back into the recesses of my memory. The next few minutes of conversation were the most open and the most honest we had ever had. In a few minutes I knew more about him than I learned in the years I've known him. I think the reverse may also be true as I found myself very much at ease, talking about things truly important to me with an openness we'd never shared before. It cause me to think back to the days with Payless Cashways when my closest group of friends managed stores and tried to put up better numbers than mine. I remembered all of the merchants who helped us to be more than we should have been, and I remembered "bar talk."
Bar talk was a concept my Regional Vice President first suggested to me. I'm not sure if it was original or something he learned somewhere else, but it really didn't matter. The concept was that if you were in a meeting and asked a question, you were careful with your answer, thinking about all of the people in the room and how they would interpret your words. On the other hand, when the meeting ended and you all went out to dinner together, had a couple of adult libations, and the same question was asked, the answer was completely different. In this environment the same person who over-analyzed their response in the meeting would just tell you what they really thought. Bar talk. Open, honest communication at its finest. And now, I discovered another place this happens is in the shop. Who knew ...
Throughout my life, there have been places I've always been more comfortable, and when I came to the end of this conversation, I figured out why. They were the places where there was a lot less posturing and people had a greater tendency to be open and honest. The first of these was Sigourney Lumber on Saturday mornings when I went up with dad to see what had happened around town during the week. That was an incredibly honest venue, maybe a little too much for a boy my age. But I never had to wonder what someone was thinking, they just put it out there. The next was my mom's kitchen table. Although the players changed over time, the conversations were always the same: open, honest, and direct. This is where I learned to argue, with Jerry Miletich taking a position just to start an argument and then seeing how I did. It was a place to learn about truth and opinion, all in the same time and space.
The last place like this I think of is Midwest Top Shop in Fort Dodge, Iowa. When I arrived there, they were a vendor of mine, but soon, this place became a shelter from the world, and the people there became some of my closest friends. Again, look at that, it was in a shop I felt the most comfortable and at ease, and was probably the most honest. Now, here I am again, in a different shop, in a different part of the world and the conversation is once again one to remember forever.
I guess I am a "shop guy" at heart, and will probably always be one.
One interesting note is that my company has bought several businesses in small towns in Iowa this last year. I find myself very comfortable in those locations. Maybe I need to modify my thoughts to say shops, or small towns in Iowa.
I don't know where you are the most comfortable, but I hope you can identify where it is so you can spend as much time as possible there. Have a great week.
