Date: Thu, 20 Nov 1997 19:13:33 GMT Server: NCSA/1.5.2 Last-modified: Mon, 24 Feb 1997 22:16:21 GMT Content-type: text/html Content-length: 15401
Doug Blackburn to
October 13, 1995
Good evening ...
Before I go further, I should warn you that, although this is a group
dominated by engineers, and I'm a speaker with an engineering background, this
is not going to be an engineering talk in its traditional sense.
In fact, I need to warn you that this is not a normal dinner talk at
all. It's a homily. And while it's not Sunday and I'm no preacher, I also
offer no apologies.
The year is 1968, and an 18-year-old engineering student at VPI sits
awestruck as he views a film that many of us here also likely saw at some point
in our engineering past.
That student was me, and the video was startling. It showed the
Seattle-Tacoma bridge gyrating and twisting before it finally, and
spectacularly, fell to the water below.
As many of you may already know, the Seattle-Tacoma bridge disaster came
about after the bridge was caught in a windstorm, and the wind set up a
sympathetic vibration. Those vibrations in the bridge just kept feeding on
themselves until the harmonics got so out of kilter that the undulating bridge
collapsed.
That film left a real impression on me about the role engineers play in
our lives. It also convinced me not to be a bridge builder ... that the
variables that civil engineers have to contemplate were beyond my engineering
skills and abilities. I didn't sign up for that, I was convinced.
And so I turned to coal mining. Only later did I learn that coal mines
are the largest engineering structures in the world... and had all the variables
of bridge building plus a few extra. But that's a different story, for a
different time.
It didn't take me long, once I had left the friendly nest of the
academic world, to realize that we build other types of bridges.
You see, as engineers, our job is to take the goals and objectives of
the corporation and build the systems -- bridges, if you will -- that allow our
employees to function safely, effectively, efficiently.
Those systems in mining are roof control and ventilation ... haulage ...
information systems ... and materials handling.
And as mining engineers we tend to get involved in a number of different
areas because of the general background of our engineering training.
But even later, as a manager, I came to a realization that was for me
profound. For there was at least one more critical bridge that I realized that
we build ... and that is the bridge between the vision of the corporation and
the hearts and minds of our employees.
At Zeigler, our vision is to be the best in all aspects of our business.
We realize that we owe our allegiance to three stakeholders--customers,
shareholders and employees--and that no decision is a truly good one unless it
advances the causes of each of these.
Today, I work with President and Chief Executive Officer Chand Vyas, a
visionary who has helped mold the modern-day Zeigler by turning that vision into
reality.
But these points are easy to make in the abstract. And so I'd like to
recount to you bridges that have been built in my own past, so that they may
better illustrate the theme of my talk.
Over the quarter century since I saw that dramatic footage, I've been
able to observe a number of master bridge builders. And that's what I want to
focus on tonight.
In looking back at these people, these master bridge builders, it
becomes clear to me that they have all shared one common quality, one theme that
seems to run through their relationships with all their colleagues and
employees. I call that quality the ability to show kindness in excess of
expectations.
These acts of unexpected kindness have been the cement for the
structure of the foundations upon which those bridges have been built. And I
think we can all learn a great deal from observing such men.
We normally think about the role our parents play in guiding the way we
direct our affairs and live our lives, and you might at this time think that I
feel compelled to mention that my dad was a master bridge builder. But as you
all know, our expectations for our parents are so high that their kindness can
never exceed those expectations. Still, although my dad may not be eligible on
those grounds for a bridge building certificate, I do want to mention that by
all accounts he really was a master bridge builder, as are most parents.
In my first job after coming out of school, I worked for a manager of
engineering named Neil Pleasants. In 1973, Neil asked me to bring his slide
presentation to the Greenbrier for the AIME meeting. And I thought that was
just great. I thought, 'Hey, I get to come to the Greenbriar and the only thing
I have to do is to handle the projection duties.'
But of course, when I got here I found men in green coats and white
gloves who took the slide tray from me and who handled all that.
And I found out that what Neil had actually done was to bring me to an
AIME meeting to introduce me to this fine group of people and this terrific
organization. That was only one of many things Neil did to help me during the
three years that I worked for him ... one of the many acts of unexpected
kindness that he consistently showed me.
In my mind and my heart, Neil Pleasants is a master bridge builder.
About that same time I met two of the folks in the audience tonight:
Judge McWhorter and Tim Salvati, who I came to realize over the years are also
master bridge builders.
Judge McWhorter brought a sense of professionalism to the marketing and
sales of mine machinery that I don't think the industry had seen before.
At the time I met Judge, sales in this industry were characterized by
the three Bs, if you'll pardon my candor... booze, broads, and bribes. Judge
McWhorter brought professional marketing skills and a sense of integrity and a
willingness to take a young engineer under his wing that to this day has
cemented our friendship.
Tim Salvati has also constructed/erected a number of bridges throughout
his career. One he built for me was when he explained the role of union-free
managers ... to rebuild a sense of community in his company that was lost with
the coming of the roads and the bridges like the tremendous one that crosses the
New River Gorge here in Fayette County.
He taught me that when the coal camps broke up and our fellow coal
miners became commuters, we lost a real sense of community -- and what we must
really do as managers is to take every opportunity to rebuild that community.
As president of the West Virginia Coal Mining Institute, Tim got me
involved in 1973. Over the years, Tim saw to it that I was introduced to people
and to opportunities that have greatly enriched my career. And it's that
kindness in excess of expectations that truly makes Tim Salvati a master bridge
builder.
Then, in the mid-seventies, I had an opportunity to work for a fellow
named Buck Harvey, a giant of a man and a Baptist minister who might appreciate
my sermon here this evening. In three years, every time I went to him with a
problem, he asked me one of three questions: he said ...
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