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When I was in my teens, I got my first "real" job. It was working at a service station. The station was a part of a chain of dozens. The owner was a well-known
by DanielBMarkham 6y ago
When I was in my teens, I got my first "real" job. It was working at a service station.
The station was a part of a chain of dozens. The owner was a well-known local multimillionaire. For whatever reason, he happened to be at my station on my first day at work.
He and I spent over an hour pumping gas, checking oil, doing an oil change, patching tires, and so forth.
I learned a lot more than simply how to work at a service station that day. I continued working at that station for over a year. Never saw the guy again. As I recall, when I started he had stores over half-a-dozen states.
- musingsole 6y agoI love this story and the owner is exemplifying the moral behavior I'd want to if I were in that place... However, > Never saw the guy again. It doesn't scale. If you have the knack to build a company like that, eventually you won't be able to touch the front lines of what your company is doing. Hopefully, having that type of leadership at the top creates emulation all the way down, but still, it rings of "die a hero or live long enough to become the villain"
- Layke1123 6y agoI disagree. If you are a leader in a field, and you have forgotten or no longer can do the work at the very lowest levels (for example, even something simply like mopping), you have lost an expertise that made you valuable in the first place.
- hashkb 6y agoThe legend scales infinitely. You don't have to pump every gallon of gas, or write every line of code. But if everyone knows that you can, will, and often do...
- musingsole 6y ago> The legend scales infinitely. I think that's truer than you mean. The legend can scale, but the reality doesn't. Unfortunately I'm more interested in the latter.
- hashkb 6y agoI know what I mean (-: At a certain point, you've got to stop pumping the gas. You want the company to outlive you. Gas needs to get pumped after you're gone. You fade into the background and replace yourself; others carry on your legacy. You cash out and ski six days a week or whatever. Edit: some legends are bullshit. Scale that up and it's called "toxic culture".
- musingsole 6y agoYeah...you meant what you meant. I mean your words apply to things like Jesus.
- hashkb 6y agoThat's a different kind of legend. Point taken, but I don't think that many companies I worked at we're cults. Half, tops.
- Aeolun 6y agoI’m not quite sure that is true. If I believe that he’s pumping gas every day I’ll be happy. Whether he actually does so is irrelevant (as long as I don’t know, right).