Musing -
I received a phone call from a man I didn’t know well, but I admired. He had my style of persona. He was a tough old bird that I wanted to get close to, but I hadn’t been able. When he called, of all the things he could have said or asked, he wanted to talk with me about how to modernize his tool room. Wow, what an opportunity! Not just that I was able to share the products that could help his business, but that I was finally spending time with a tough, surprisingly modern thinker that I had admired for some time. After much time and thought about what their first step should be, we decided on a small personal sized CNC tool room mill that wouldn’t be too offensive to his aged tool makers. The time between ordering and delivery was spent selling the idea of this new machine to his tool makers. Things went pretty well until the machine was delivered and set in place. Everyone had an opinion, of course, and they were mostly good other than that of one old timer. His comment was, “You guys go ahead. I’ll just stay on the 5 standard mills over there.” The boss made the most profound comment to him, “Do you have a current resume? Accept our move to the future, or you are going to need it! The five standard mills have been traded and are gone” The look on the man’s face was indescribable, but to his credit, he accepted the move that day and it paid off. Today, he is a very strong proponent of CNC capabilities and is a very accomplished operator. For me, making the sale was great, but to dwell on that would keep me in the past. The future, I am pleased to say, included that tough old bird of a boss as my close personal and business friend.