The Grinders!

Man never made any material as resilient as the human spirit. -Sir Bernard Williams (1929-2003) English moral philosopher, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge.

Tampa Bay PMI

This past week I had the pleasure of giving a keynote speech to the Project Managers Tampa Bay chapter. I would first say that any time you have an opportunity to share your own personal challenges with any group of people, it’s a humbling thought to think that you might be able to help even one of them turn the corner. The night before my talk I had the chance to visit with some of them in a more casual environment and it was a great learning opportunity.

They are really no different from any of the people I get to meet in the real estate industry. They were funny, smart and just simply nice people. They made me feel like one of them, which I began to realize I was. Preparing for the speech, I wondered what it was like to be a project manager. After all it seems to me that in some way we are all in charge of some type of project, business and personal.

Who Are They

When visiting with them I was curious. What is it that they really do? What does a deadline mean to them? Are they employees? Are they on contract? How much money is allocated to help them achieve their goal? How many people are they in charge of? Where are these people located? How do they communicate? Do they travel a lot?

The answers were really eye opening. For most of us in life we never get to see behind the curtains. Did you ever wonder what it takes in a major city to run the tax assessor’s department? What type of computer stores all that information? How much does it cost to run every month? What happens when the software and hardware needs updating? How about all your personal financial information; your 401K, your pension fund, your payroll taxes? Where is all the digital information going?

Well there are projects managers out there that have the pressures of making sure this all happens seemlessly each day. What if the cost to run a mainframe was $600,000 per month? What if you did not meet a deadline to upgrade the system and were over by a week or two? What if you collected and coordinated all the data for a TV ratings juggernaut and you could not deliver it to the production companies that make major make or break decisions on that info?

Behind The Scenes

I’m sure you’re beginning to get the picture. Project managers are the people behind the scenes that make all this happen, but what happens to them when the economy goes backwards. Do they get their contracts renewed? Are they under-appreciated and seen as an expendable line item? These are just some of the challenges facing this great group of people.

But there was something I noticed that got me fired up! They were grinders! It was brought to my attention that many of these people attending this conference were unemployed! So there organizationrallied and organized a job fair. They invited schools that offered advanced programs and employers that came from as far away as England to network.

Guided Missile

The scene made me think of the great teachings of Maxwell Maltz who brought to light the fact that we move towards our goals much like a guided missile. What’s most interesting about the true path of a guided missile is that it’s not direct at all. Certainly to even be viable it must be given a clearly defined goal. Well with project managers they live and breath clear goals and deadlines, but how do they really get there?

When a missile takes off it begins its journey towards the goal, but there are many factors which can blow it off course. The wind, the rain, humidity and any other tempest. Yet the guided missile doesn’t simply drop into the ocean. It accepts the negative feedback, calculates the distraction and figures the necessary corrective actions.

So what makes us any different? Many of us get the importance of clear goals and input them into the onboard computer, but what do we do when the wind blows? Do we turn tail and run back to the starting point never to venture out again? Do we give up completely and crash into the ocean? Do we say the “auto-success” mechanism in our brain is faulty? Or do we act like a bunch of disenfranchised project managers and take drastic corrective action?

The Grinders

The lesson from these people, especially those unemployed at the time, is to grind on! We are always looking for celebrities and sports figures to be our examples and lead, but what about the grinders. Those people that are all around us everyday moving forward regardless of what type of tempest is blowing. The best time to notice them is when times get really tough.

We’ve evolved into such a soft and entitled work force that we want to just roll over and play dead until somebody comes to save us! Again, NOBODY is coming! So look for new heroes. After meeting these project managers, I’ll make an argument that they are right in front of you. They are out creating the next opportunity for themselves. Grinding and thinking their way through it!

Lay Down My Coat

I felt moved by them and felt an urge to lay my suit coat in a puddle for them to walk on. Their resilence not only humbled me in the moment, but it compelled me to tell their story. They are us and that day they represented the best of us! The part of us that needs to rally against the storm no matter what it might be. What would we really be without the storm? What would life be like if we were never tested? To the grinders go the spoils of victory only found in trial and tribulation. The feeling of overcoming is power! So the next time you meet the storm, face it head on! Don’t let it push you down and crash! Simply take its feedback and course correct and win those tiny battles in the margin of life! Remember the grinders!

Tags: Inspiration, Motivation, Project Managers, Self Help, Self Improvement, Sir Bernard Williams