T+C = RP
“It Takes Time and Context to Recognize Patterns”
The above is a quote from Pete Blaber’s book “The Mission, the Men, and Me: Lessons from a Former Delta Force Commander”.) I bought this book a couple of months ago and I’m reading it for a second time. Late last night I read this quote on page 145 and woke about 5am this morning with a realization about myself: Since I’ve been building things (landscape construction, dry stone features and roof decks) for 15 years I’ve often thought that I was naive or lacking discernment about other men’s character and behavior at the job site when they failed me, the client or the project itself. I really thought up until last week (when I had to shut down a roof deck project in Puerto Rico on the first day due to no fault of my own) - that I was lacking something or somehow faulty.
Blaber’ quote made me realize that, for the most part, there is no way for me to forecast or RECOGNIZE PATTERNS of individual human behavior at a project without TIME and CONTEXT. TIME is just that, time on the job site. CONTEXT, in my case, is the demands and pressures of maintaining a high building standard and the desired schedule of the project, no matter what.
So whether it was the charming owner of the high-end landscape firm I subcontracted in 2016 who was actually a bad dude who snorted coke and bounced his employees’ checks or the skinny, quiet apprentice I hired in 2015 who was actually super strong, very dependable and one of the best guys I’ve ever hired, I simply needed TIME on-site + CONTEXT of a tough project to RECOGNIZE their individual PATTERNS of behavior and character
It’s now 10am and I don’t feel like such a dummy anymore. Thanks Pete!
