I am not sure about any of you, but the best business talks that I have are with my own father.  He truly is an inspiration to me when it comes to good business sense.  I know there are many books out there to read (he’s already read most of them), but there is just something about sitting down over dinner and a glass of wine and listening to him sort it all out.  This past Tuesday night, I had the pleasure of having one of those “talks” with him.

He just recently started a new job 8 months ago and he is excelling very quickly.  He has been in the machining industry for over 30 years.  His new title essentially makes him responsible for “trimming the fat” in the company.  Tegra Medical is a machining company that makes medical parts.  Well, the conversation started with me asking him how things are going with the new position.  As always, he quickly immersed me in his daily day.  But, this time was different.  This time he actually broke the philosophies of Machining 101.  It was neat though.  It didn’t just apply to machining.  These philosophies could apply to any industry.  The best part about it, he scribbled most of the ideas on a random, scrap piece of paper.

talks with dad

The talk lasted for a little over an hour.  We talked about inside the box thinking and outside the box thinking.  We discussed a simple plan of attack on how to measure people, results, and customer satisfaction.  We even discussed ways on how to lean manufacture golf course operations.  This one hour talk was more valuable than some of my college classes.  This talk provided valuable stuff on which to reflect as we try to regroup during the off-season.  Thanks dad!

-Jason VanBuskirk, Superintendent