Photo Credit: © Can Stock Photo Inc. / aaronamat
Bobby mowed grass for the park system throughout high school. And after just one semester of community college, he stopped by the field office on the way home and asked if he could be hired full-time. He loved his summers on the mower, loved working outside, and didn’t really feel he was college material anyway. After a few months and a polished resume, Bobby got his wish. At age 19 he was a full-time employee of the park system.
But Bob wasn’t content just mowing. He put together a comprehensive maintenance plan and check-off system to ensure everyone who rode a park-owned machine took proper care of it. His keen eye for maintenance caught management’s attention, and Bob began to advance. As a working technician, he grew more and more familiar with the machines and the people who ran them. The park system decided to issue him his own truck, complete with repair tools and spare parts. Before long, Bob was running all over the park system as staff radioed in their problems, and he showed up as a one-man repair crew. Over the next decade, he was a hero to the blue-collar set, a rare find to the white-collar set, and a friend to all. Good old Bobby—he was a hard-working son-of-a-gun. He was accomplished and barely 30!
Administrators then decided to put Bobby in charge of 10 people at one of the biggest parks in the system. His skill sets, unfortunately, did not include managing, motivating, or evaluating people. In looking over the yearly planner, he thought it didn’t seem too difficult. He decided he would just be fair and his employees would be fair in return.