Five Stick Friday

Hello Five Stickers,

I’ve taken some time off but today I’m on a 2 1/2 hour bus ride from Salamanca, Spain back to a Viking River Cruise ship, and I’m processing visiting my first European cathedral. And I have time on my hands and thoughts in my mind and heart…

So here goes. Upon arriving here, I couldn’t help but notice the beauty of the stone buildings all built in a uniform shade of gold. Evidently, the stone used starts out white and over years becomes oxidized to this unique and beautiful color.

As we were granted free time, my wife and I decided to tour the city’s main cathedral. It’s adjoining a first cathedral that the population outgrew.

As I begin to note the detail in the stonework, the meticulous appointments , the majesty of the pipe organ pipes, a first thought appeared.

“Nobody was in a rush here. They were determined for every square inch of this place to be perfect. Who could be responsible for this level of perfection and attention to detail?”

As it turns out, it was two centuries worth of “someone’s”. It took 220 years to complete.

And then a second phrase repeated. “Attention to detail”. So, taking a tangent, the finest boss I’ve had in my professional career was a man named James Jarrett. He was an “attention to detail” machine. What made James unique to anyone I’ve known are three main characteristics.

1. Incredible business acumen.
2. incredible technical acumen.
3. incredible empathy for human beings.

The perfect triangle. I know a lot of effective managers with 2 of those 3, mix and match how you want. But James was the first I’d met with a solid track record over decades in all 3.

James loved to mentor his direct reports, and did so with a genuineness that I always had my ears open and mouth shut in teachable moments.

So… what does this have to do with cathedrals?

Well…. In one of the many teachable moments I had with James, he told the story of three men building a cathedral. He didn’t create nor pretend to take credit for its existence, but his application of it is something that will live in my DNA throughout my life. The paraphrased version goes like this:

“A traveler came upon three men working. He asked the first man what he was doing and the man said he was cutting stone. He asked the second man the same question and he said he was putting up a wall. When he got to the third man and asked him what he was doing he said he was building a cathedral. 

They were all doing the same thing. The first man had a job. The second man had a career. The third man had a calling.”

Going through life without a calling seems kind of pointless. And I’m a firm believer that callings can be “seasonal” and change. I once felt called into Worship Arts Ministry, and spent 17+ years in it as both as a full time professional, a paid contractor, and at times a volunteer. My current calling with my company is to change the way the WORLD consumes music via a patented technology the company I work for has begun deploying. Anything that makes music sound better has a clear place in my calling.

What about you? Are you cutting stones? Are you building walls? Or are you erecting cathedrals?

Just some loose thoughts bouncing around my noggin on a beautiful day in Spain.

Til next time!
(And thanks again for everything James!)