Third Time Around

I spent last week in Florida at various meetings for the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC). 

I serve on both the board of directors and the executive committee of the national organization and they each met last week.  ABC also hosted its annual Bizcon meeting last week.  Bizcon is a conference to brings in several authors, speakers and other experts that help a business person like myself understand upcoming trends within the contraction industry and also provides education on best practices within the industry.  It is an excellent conference and well worth my time. 

I had the chance to have long personal conversations with people such as Karl Rove and Patrick Lencioni.  Both of whom are famous and well respected within their fields of expertise.  I also got to meet and talk with high level construction industry people like Carl Crowe, Wal*Mart VP of Construction, and Greg Stein, Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) VP of Construction,  just to name a few. 

I mention all of this not to give you some huge name drop but rather as an introduction to the topic of why does Dave Chapin spend so much time at ABC meetings.  It takes a lot of time away for both my home and Willmar Electric.  That means a sacrifice for both the people I live with and the people I work with.

(I understand that some of you that know me well are questioning whether or not having me be gone is a sacrifice for the people in my life.  I have been told that having a break from me can be more of a reward for others then a sacrifice but for the purposes of this blog we are going to assume that my family misses me when I am gone and that my co-worker are forced to do more work because I am not at the office.)

At least that is how I would like to think that it is.

The more time I spend with ABC the more people come to think that like my father before me I might become ABC's national Chairman.  That would make Dad and I the first father/son combination to serve is such a role for the association. 

I would guess that during my week in Florida last week I was introduced to a stranger with the opening line that went something like "if Dave becomes the National Chair the Chapins will be the first father/son combination to serve as Chairs."  It is a nice sentiment and compliment.  I know my Dad joins me in thinking it is an honor.  As of today I told the others on the executive committee I would like to serve as the 2016 Chair. 

Many people suggest that I am a second generation ABCer.  That simply isn't the case. 

Justin and I (plus the entire organization) are third generation ABCers.  Our Dad's uncle Frank was the Treasurer for the Minnesota Chapter of ABC in it's very first years.   Willmar Electric was a founding member of the chapter.  Willmar Electric's first ABC leader was in fact uncle Frank!

And if you truly know Frank it should come as no surprise.  ABC's core philosophy is the Merit Shop and the Merit Shop philosophy does a perfect job of describing Frank and explaining why I spend so much time with ABC.

The official definition ABC give for the phrase Merit Shop is:

Merit Shop is a way of doing business in which contractors reward

employees based on performance and encourage them to reach their

highest level of achievement, and in which contractors are awarded

business based on quality, safety, and cost effectiveness regardless

of labor affiliation.

That phrase sums up how Frank thought business should be done and how Willmar Electric should be run.  Frank wasn't in the room when that statement was written up but for those of us that know him we know that is how Frank operates.  Allow people that freedom to work and reward high achievement regardless of labor affiliation sums it up.

It explain why Willmar Electric joined ABC and why Frank was willing to serve as it Treasurer in its early days.

It is what I spend my time working and fighting for when I am away from home at ABC meetings.  It is what Willmar Electric has been based on for 93 years. 

The Merit Shop.  It is still one of our core values today. 

Willmar Electric's core values are;

• Treating others the way you want to be treated
• Merit Shop
• Thrifty
• Meet Customer Needs.

Going Green

My brother Justin has 4 young children.  His youngest son, Max, is 2 1/2 years old and like most kids that age not everything he says comes out perfectly clear.  He is a very bright young yet but from time to time what he says makes very little sense to people besides his mother.

While to be exact I think that at time his mother, Dianna, can understand Max's words but not the meaning while at other times she can understand the meaning but not the words.   If you have ever lived with a 2 1/2 year old this makes perfect sense.  If you have never lived with a 2 1/2 year old your missing out on a lot of fun (and frustration)!

And trust me talking to Max can be both (mostly fun).

At Christmas time the entire Chapin clan got together to celebrate.  Although we aren't a huge number of the people, the 20 of us can't all sit at one table.  This year found Max as the only kid at a table full of my siblings and our spouses.  In fact Max, my sister Nancy, Dianna and I all sat at the same end of the table. 

It was at the table that my 2 1/2 year old nephew decided to model a great life lesson.

As we sat eating Max noticed that Nancy had taken a green Marciano cherry off of her dinner roll and decided not to eat it.  A wise health choice because I am fairly sure that although edible a green Marciano cherries aren't really food.

After minutes of making noises and sounds that I am sure at times were intended to be words Max clear as Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg, Max decides to speak up and say "are you going to eat that."  As he point to Nancy's unwanted cherry.  Nancy responded by quickly giving this young man a chance at pure sugar before his parents even realized what was going on.  (Hey, she is the aunt.  She wants to be loved by her nephew and Max is going home with Justin and Dianna.)

Max chewed the cherry for awhile.  Actually he chewed it for quite sometime.  But in the end he found out why Nancy didn't want the cherry for herself.

That was brunch.

At dinner a few hours later we found ourselves all sitting in the same spots and again Max noticed that Nancy wasn't polishing off everything on her plate.  So again as clear as Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg, Max decides to speak up and say "are you going to eat that."  This time referring to the lime jello on Nancy's plate.  Again as the aunt Nancy gave the sugar to the 2 1/2.  (Well done, sis.)

Max's second food request had us wondering if he was fixated with green foods, although it should be pointed out that Max didn't ask about anybody's uneaten salads.

When something was just outside of Max's reach that he wanted he went for it in the only way he could.  He ask for the item.  Over the next few week I notice several times that things people requested for gifts weren't measuring up exactly how they thought they would.  Nobody was ungrateful but the delivery was less then the desire.

I often hear people say that a tool they thought would be super slick to a particular job wasn't quite as handy as they imagined that would be and our house has many dusty items that didn't hit reach the expectations of the recipient. I am sure that you have had similar experiences.

Isn't that how life often goes for us. 

Just like Max's food requests, the grass isn't always greener on the other side. Sometimes even if the grass is greener we find out that greener grass isn't what we really wanted after all.

Brings me back to concept of being thrifty.  Getting more things doesn't typically bring us the satisfaction we seek but at the same time hoarding doesn't either.  Wisely using or spending our resources on things that are tested and proven over time often does leave us satisfied.