Lessons from My Fathers

I don't have a relationship with my biological father, but the good news is that I've had four incredible men that served as mentors to me since I was a kid.  My maternal grandfather (the B17 pilot that I've previously posted about), my paternal grandfather, the first business owner who taught me how to think strategically (Curt Sippel) and a guy named Mel Gehrs who was a NASA consultant and literal rocket scientist.  

This is about the impact they had on my life:

Pop

Pop (maternal grandfather) taught me to value my family and work hard, but to start a business. That way I could make my money make me even more money than I could make by working.

I know that is a mind-bender, so read it again slowly and think about it. 

I remember him saying that Magic Johnson (NBA basketball legend) was 'rich'...but the guy writing Magic Johnson's paychecks was 'wealthy' - there is a huge difference.  Pop also told me that a real leader isn't bulletproof.  Leaders will make mistakes, sometimes with bad results, but the top leaders dust themselves off, assess what happened, then make changes to create a different result.  Quitting IS an option, but only after you've exhausted every angle.

Lastly, he taught me that family is everything.  You can make a ton of money, but without family, the fun is fleeting and empty.

Grandpa Barry

Grandpa Barry (paternal grandfather) was a simple man.  He immigrated to America, grew up poor and ended up working the at CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) for most of his life.  He taught me to love my life like he loved his and that a good woman MAKES a man's life wonderful.

He had a saying: "What's right is right and what's wrong is nuthin."  It addresses the concept that we often are at a crossroads in life.  Sometimes one path is easier, but causes us to compromise our ethics or character.  The other path may be scary and difficult, but if we are brave and navigate through, we will be stronger, smarter and happier once we make it through.  

He constantly chose the latter because he was a firm believer in never compromising your ethics or character.  The love of his life (my grandma) died about 20 years before he did, and he loved her until the day he died.  I admire him for that commitment to her. 

Curt Sippel

Curt Sippel hired me right out of college as a bookkeeper.  He started a tech company in Lake Forest, Illinois and saw a fire in me.  His mind was like a Rubik's Cube, and he had the ability to take a complex scenario, break it into little pieces, make infinite calculations and build a cohesive, brilliant strategy to exponentially expand the idea into a profitable business.  

I worked like a dog for him for almost no money, but he spent hundreds of hours with me as I dug into his brain to learn HOW to think and build strategic business plans for myself.  He literally changed the trajectory of my career. Today, I am a successful business owner because of the skills he taught me.

Mel Gehrs

Mel Gehrs was the most brilliant thinker I've ever known.  A degreed engineer, he was a NASA rocket scientist and ran a hyper successful consulting business.  We met when I was in my late 20's at a tiny Methodist Church, and he opened my eyes that it is intellectually accurate to believe in God and submit to Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.  

I spend countless hours quizzing and questioning him about what he scientifically knows about the cosmos, the galaxy and how God's Hand plays in all of it.  Until him, I always placed God in a "box" where He was some eternal, benevolent, invisible, unprovable God somewhere in the heavens.  Gehrs showed me that God is everywhere in every part of our lives, just that we must open our eyes to see it.

With all four of these amazing, powerful and influential men, I was blessed with the most important gift of all: TIME.  They were patient with me as I asked too many questions to count.  No doubt many of the questions I asked were ridiculous and frivolous, but not at any point did they make fun of me, shun me, scold me or mock me.  These men literally taught me the Critical Thinking Skills that I used to become the man I am today.  They are why I am humble and live a life dedicated to learning and challenging the status quo.  For me, the minute I stop evolving and growing in intellect and my heart, is when I wither and die.

Lest you think that you need a rocket scientist to learn how to think, I'll point out that my two grandfathers didn't even graduate high school. Both of them grew up during the Great Depression and had to work as kids to put food on the table.  Neither of them could talk about the complexities of how to navigate the tax code or how write the business plan that sent the Rover to Mars. They died complete men with families that loved them and left a legacy worth repeating.  These were substantial leaders in my life. You don't need advanced degrees to be that to those around you.

Native American culture places incredible value on their elderly because those people have lived, experienced, loved, survived and grown for decades in an ever-changing world.  Younger Native Americans honor their elders who pass their wisdom down so subsequent generations can prosper and avoid the mistakes they made.  

Americans, by contrast, are in love with 'youth' and devalue the experienced around them.  We send our elders off to the nursing home and avoid connecting with them to learn about their lives and experiences.  The oddest part of that is the old saying, "history repeats itself" and we find ourselves falling into the same problems our elders had to fight for their survival against.    

The lesson here is to connect with your elders.  Seek their counsel and learn from them.