Playing at Work to Invent

WEBVTT

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There are some people that make their
work just another thing they have to do,

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and there are those that make their
work something that they want to do.

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Welcome to Working on Purpose with your
host Elise Cortez. In our program,

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we provide guidance and inspiration from those
people who have found deeper meaning and

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personal connection to their work life.
It's beyond nine to five. It's working

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on purpose. Now Here is your
host, Elise Cortez. I'm your host,

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Elise Cortez, joining you live from
the road this week in Portland,

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Oregon. When I'm here visiting dear
friends and family. This program is all

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about helping people more meaningfully and productively
connect with their work and equipping leaders to

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cultivate meaning in their particular organizations and
among their teams. As a management consultant

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social scientist, I drawn the meaning
work research I've been doing over the last

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fifteen years, as well as my
own experience consulting speaking in developing workforces across

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the globe. I'll get to my
programming just a moment. Let me think

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Last week, if you miss the
live show, you can always catch a

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b recorded podcast. We were on
the air with Kimberly Davis, who is

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the founder of On Stage Leadership and
recently published the book called Brave Leadership.

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We talked about her book and how
the courage to be truly authentically ourselves can

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make all the difference in the results
we get as a leader. Huge fan

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of or work with us this week
is Roland Hardel. He has a lifetime

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entrepreneur and founder of Abida, working
on various patents and products. Today we're

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here to talk about its most recent
invention, which is called the Interlude Folding

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Travel Chair. Roland, Welcome to
Working on Purpose. Glad to be on

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This is so amazing to get to
share your story with listeners around the globe.

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I want to start this conversation out
rolland by sharing something that a few

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of my listeners have heard me heard
me narrate, and that's the story of

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a certain thing that happened I guess
about thirty five years ago, and that's

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when you fired me. Okay,
So I want to start with that first.

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Let me just share the story really
quick, and then I want to

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hear what that experience was like for
you and share what it meant to me.

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So here's how it went down.
I was I'd been working for you

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for I think eighteen months, having
a great time as your administrative assistant in

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your commercial real estate development company.
Enjoyed every moment working with you. And

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one day, on the way out
to lunch, you threw the door open

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and over your shoulder, you said, you have to get out of here.

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You have to go see the world, do something yourself, getting an

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education. But before you go,
hire your replacement. And the door shut.

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And I sat there the whole time
you were gone, and I wondered,

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did he just fire me? So
when you came back, and you

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merrily came back in and said,
hey, Elsey, went back towards your

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office. I said, before you
go, before you go, I have

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just a point question for you.
Did you just fire me? And you

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said absolutely, You'll get a crime
to keep you here. That's pretty close.

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Okay, so pretty close. But
that's background to that story. Okay,

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so tell the background, and I
want to tell you what that was

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for me. The background is that
I first ran into you three or four

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years before when you were working at
your parents' restaurant and you did a great

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job, and you were fifteen or
sixteen at the time, and I said

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that if you ever come to Portland
for a job, see me. And

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you showed up one day and that
put you to work, and I noticed

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that you were competent, you were
a hard work and the only thing you

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were lacking with two things, one
was a high level education and the little

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wider range of horizon. So that's
why I said, you've got to get

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out of here. Well, first, you know that I always call you

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my life savior. You're the one
who saved my life because one I needed

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to get out of that small town
that I was in and you were my

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ticket out. And I totally knew
that and took you up on it.

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But you have to understand role in
that. Before you told me those things,

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it never occurred to me that I
could go to college. It never

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occurred to me that I could go
and visit other countries until you presence that

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for me. Well, that's good. It is good. And the reason

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I wanted to open this episode with
that story is the import the impact that

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leaders and managers can have on your
employees' lives. You made such a profound

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difference in my life. You saved
my life. And I've told you that

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many times. So let's start with
that, shall we. And I've told

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the story a few times was I'm
so glad success, and I'm so glad.

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Well, another reason that we're here, I mean, obviously I created

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this particular visit around having you on
the program here and then visiting other family

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and friends. But part of the
reason I wanted to showcase you as my

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guest rolling is that you are going
strong. You are You're a lifetime entrepreneur.

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You've done many many deals and adventures
over the years, and you're supposed

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to be in retirement theoretically, and
you should be pushing around a golf card

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and maybe some clubs and having a
good time, But what do you do

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when you're out inventing new things?
So what I think is fun about that

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is you have a way of going
through life that includes some strange angle on

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work. So why are you still
out here slugging at it? I'm not

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slugging. I've never worked. You've
played. You've only played, haven't you.

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I want to tell a story.
I was in a birthday luncheon meeting

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and everybody was talking about the year, and somebody was saying how great he

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was and found in this large company
and he's been there and took it from

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a stock value of thirty three down
to three because if the last two years

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were lousy. And they asked me
what my career was, and I said,

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well, I quit my job,
my last job in nineteen sixty six,

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and I've been unemployed ever since.
Unemployable probably too well. And that's

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isn't that great? Though? So
listeners for a little a little bit of

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background for him. The man is
eighty two years old. I'm sitting here

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with him. He's always been this
way, spry and running through life and

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enjoying the world and the planet,
causing all kinds of mischief and making people

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happy along the way. That's how
I describe you and think of you.

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Thank you, and that's how you. I think, that's how you live

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and do this thing called work too. Well. I think I'm, at

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least my wife says, I'm the
eternal optimist. Part eternal optimist. I've

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never met anyone more optimistic venue this
is true. So anyway, I mean,

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you can always find something good at
something positive about anything, and there

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if it's bad, then there's an
opportunity for something to change it. So

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anyway, that's my attitude. And
the only problem I have is I'm running

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out of time. I got that
well, and to that end, you

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and I have known each other for
thirty five years, if you can possibly

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believe that, And I know that
you and your wife spent a lot of

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time traveling the globe, and I'm
wondering if that's if any of those experiences

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contributed to where this idea of the
internet folding travel chair came from. Well,

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that was clearly definable. We're walking
the streets in Barcelona three years ago

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and all of a sudden, my
right leg went none and I had to

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sit down. Every fifty forty fifty
yards. So with that, I decided

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I needed to find a tool to
let me sustain traveling and moving. So

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looking at was one on the market
didn't quite meet my image of what I

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would like to have and which was
had to be light, it had to

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be easily carrible manageable, and I
wanted it to fit into a carry on

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airline bag or a backpack. And
I actually had one mistake in in my

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perception, which means I wanted it
to be a chair and a cane foldable

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cane but at the same time,
which turned out was a mistake, and

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we lost about two years of design
on that because we just couldn't implement it.

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But with that or their first versions, we're okay, but they were

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too heavy, and we now cut
it down to fit into an airline bag.

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Weigh two and a half pounds,
carry an excess of two hundred and

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fifty pounds capacity, and I have
two seating heights adjustable, and that's where

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we are at this point. We
have two patterns. So what do you

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what do you want this product to
be for people? What's your vision for

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what this product could be for people? Well, the the initial thought was

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to basically regain a certain strength when
people get tired walking. That was the

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intent, and it also turned out
that while you then regain that strength,

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you sit down and you look around
and enjoy what's around you. And there

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were all kinds of inputs from people. For example, when I took it

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to my insurance agent to say,
I'm going to need liability insurance coverage for

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the product, and he said,
you know, I'm a hiker. I

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would buy this thing because when I'm
out in the woods or in the mountains,

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I typically don't find the right rock
that fits me to sit down.

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So that was one market I hadn't
even thought of. One of my designers

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came to me the other day and
said, I went to these antiqued card

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shows and all these old timers and
they were even younger than you were walking

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around, and not one of them
had a way to sit down. So

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it's a it's a very flexible thing. Another one of the designers took it

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to the beach and he said,
I used to a chair and I used

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to other as a table and they're
sand But anyway, the markers wide,

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it's just a matter of what do
you want to do birdwatchers, but the

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original emphasis was basically extend the range
of motion and mobility for people like me,

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and that's still, in my opinion, the main one. So when

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you first told me about this product
and I thought about you and how I

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know you to walk through life,
I got that. I get well.

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I could have imagined I should say
I shouldn't say I got it, because

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I didn't know, but I surmised
the part of it was you saying to

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the universe, You're not going to
stop me. I'm still going to travel,

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I'm gonna do my thing. I'm
a little a little thing called my

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leg going numb or my leg's getting
tired to stop me. And you have

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this this irrepressible spirit about you,
and it seems to me that part of

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what you're doing is you're helping to
enable other people to live life more fully

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and completely with this product. Absolutely, I hope that's not a bad way

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to contribute to the planet Royland,
oh well, or to myself or to

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yourself. Right. So one of
the things that people ask me is because

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they know that I work around purpose
and meaning, there are people are desperate

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to find meaning for themselves, to
discover their purpose. And one of the

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things that I say is if you
start to look for the things in your

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life you need to solve for yourself
that you need to learn and know for

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yourself, oftentimes that can be a
great place. So if you've created this

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chair for yourself, now you're going
to share it with the world, That's

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that's a pretty good purpose to work
from. That's one of them. What's

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the others? Well, the other
one's just having fun? Of course,

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absolutely right it should be. I
always say work should be a playground.

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That's exactly what it should be.
And that is what I stand for a

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role, and that's I want more
people across the planet to have fun working

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like you do. Good enough?
Do you know? Are you aware of

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these stats that the Gallup Organization says
that only fifteen one five percent of the

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global workforce is fully engaged in their
work. And then you consider that we

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spend about forty percent of our lives
at work in some capacity. So if

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we're dragging ourselves through Monday through Friday, I think that's pretty pathetic and at

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crime and a way to waste a
precious life. So what I'm up to

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is trying to help more people play
at work like you do. Absolutely as

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you shouldn't, you know. And
the only problem is the only seven days

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in the week. You get that
entirely and tirely get that. I know

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if I can invent more days in
the week and a few more hours of

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the day, I'd be at you
too. So back on your product.

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Here a couple more questions about that. I wanted to paint it for the

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for our listeners as they get the
idea of what this could be. And

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one of the other things I love
about the fact is that you've started from

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a place of just raw possibility,
right, and you're just taking it from

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there. I was thinking of other
people that could use your product. And

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I know all the years when my
daughter Gabby was younger and we would go

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to her soccer games or anything else
and there was no place to sit.

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Correct, So all those parents that
have the need to be mobile following their

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children to some event, I see
that as another place for your it is

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it is who else? Uh?
One of the obviously the reasons for it

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was for me to rest. But
when you stand in airline check in lines,

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when do you go to museums?
And that's a really good one of

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the stories. How we arrived at
the size of the scene is kind of

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funny. Tell me tell Us went
to one of the prototypes of to the

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Art Museum and there was a grandmother, daughter, granddaughter team and they said,

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what's this And I said, well, it's the prototype and if I

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don't try it. The daughter sat
on the chair, the grand daughters on

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the chair and said, that's good, that will work. The mother,

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the middle range of the three,
said she just said, I'd like it

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a little larder. And the grandmother
said, said the seat is way too

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small. Perfect input goes a long
way. Yeah, exactly. Oh my

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gosh. Well, let's talk a
little bit about the process that you've been

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involved in to get this this idea
into a product into the market. So

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you said the idea started three years
ago, okay, so yes, laid

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out for us, Well, started
three years ago, and I looked at

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products on the market, bought probably
nine ten different products that are out there.

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Some of them lost it three days
and some of them lasted two or

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three months. But they didn't quite
fit my requirements of convenience. And for

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example, when you travel, you
typically carry one bag airline bag or whatever,

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and a backpack or purse and a
camera and then you have only you

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only have two hands the three articles
or maybe now I needed a chair at

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four. So the first version which
failed was the one that had a keen

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handle so I could hang it on
my arm. So when we started with

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that, the first one of the
first criteria was what shape is they handle?

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Whose hands? Should it fit or
should it fit a forearm with a

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muscle so they can hang on it? Does it distance? Can it hang

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off a hotel checkout desk that you
just hang it off there and it doesn't

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fall and clatter clattered to the floor
when you put it in an overhead bin

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in an airplane, does it in
prohibit other bags to go in or not?

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So with that we did a prototype
and we basically machined it out of

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some nylon and some tubing and wanted
to provide different height for different people.

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So that was the first prototype.
Then I hold on hold your thought you

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would please roll it. I want
to get this story full and pin it

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for our listeners, but I want
to take a quick break and then we'll

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cover the real details of that after
the break. I'm only Cortez, your

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host. We've been on the air
with Rowland Hartle of Heartle Development Company and

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Abida. He's the inventor of their
Interlude Folding travel chair. We're having this

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conversation from his office in Portland,
organ We're in visiting Treasured family and friends

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present company included. Join us for
more conversation about how we actually developed more

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prototypes of this chair. We'll be
right back after the break. Alise Cortez

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is a speaker and engagement and development
catalyst. She designs and delivers professional development,

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leadership and engagement workshops and can bring
her expertise to your organization. She

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00:18:32.160 --> 00:18:37.720
will help ignite meaningful development within your
workforce that will increase employee engagement, performance

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00:18:37.799 --> 00:18:41.319
and retention. To learn more or
to invite a lease to speak to your

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00:18:41.440 --> 00:18:45.920
organization, please visit her at www
dot Elise Cortez dot com. She would

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00:18:45.920 --> 00:18:57.279
welcome the opportunity to help get your
employees working on purpose. This is working

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00:18:57.319 --> 00:19:02.799
on purpose with a Lease Cortet.
To reach our program today, send an

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00:19:02.799 --> 00:19:08.960
email to Elise ali Se at Elise
Cortez dot com. Now back to working

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on purpose. If you're just joining
us. My guest is Roland Hartel.

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He is the inventor of the Interlude
Folding travel Chair and we've been talking a

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little bit about where the idea came
from. Now next we want to showcase

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more of the overall process it has
taken for him to get where he is

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today. And I especially want to
showcase this for the listeners who are perhaps

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contemplating creating something of their own and
bringing it into the real world. So

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pay attention. Okay, So that
first prototype and then what Well? Then

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I looked around for the expertise that
I would need to get involved with me

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to implement the ideas, and luckily
I found first one what I call jack

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of all trades, who was recommended
to me, who has an incredibly wide

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range of skills, both practical and
theoretical and mathematical and the mechanical engineer.

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And the second one was I contacted
an acquaintance, a patent of Journey,

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and I said, I really need
an industrial and design firm, and he

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recommended one to me, one of
the top launch ones. And when I

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met with the one of the partners, he said, you cannot afford me

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or us, but I have three
of our designers that just left us and

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you should contact them. So I
became acquainted with the Evolve collaborative three relatively

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young, certainly from my viewpoint.
Design partners and I think I was there

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first, if not their first client, and we started the conceptual thinking of

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what would this projects want to achieve
and they came up with some basic ideas

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themes, potential images and markets for
different image building traditional, sporty, really

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modern contemporary, which we then used
to focus on the final BROADCT type.

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That took us about a year,
and then we went out to price it

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and could not find rising level.
This product is a combination of of infused

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nylon and aluminum tubing and some rubber
pieces and could not find it here.

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And then I I was looking for
overseas clients and I had an old friend

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who as a supplier to some of
the larger importers of miscellaneous wears out of

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China, and I called him and
he and I go back about thirty five

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years, and he said, interesting, call me in ten minutes, I'll

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be I'll be back in my office
and I did, and he said I'm

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leaving again for Asian tomorrow, but
call this guy at this number, which

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I did, and I got connected
with a firm called EBI, which is

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an international design and supply firm George
Wang was the principal, absolutely wonderful,

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big market, big firm, and
I said, so and SO says I

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should meet with whom we did,
and I took along my one of my

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other third designer. So I have
three design groups. One is the handsome

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original evolved group and the strict mechanical
other engineer that is more quality control.

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And I took him along to the
meeting, walked in there and they showed

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us. I said, we would
want to show you what we haven't brought

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uct and he looked looked into the
show which had all kinds of things,

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of shots, and he went to
one piece and said, huh is this

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soul and source and they said yeah. He said, I designed this bingo

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eyes broken. Well, it was
just incredible. So from there on we

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we basically evolved the product they designed, We designed, we tested, and

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we are now to the point,
as a matter of fact, we have

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one more meeting this week where we
view the last fine tuning of certain parts,

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and then we are ready to roll
out in August with the final first

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large order. Oh my gosh,
ladies and gentlemen, this is how it's

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done. Okay. So I heard
a couple of things there rolland I heard

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that one you don't do this alone. You used because you have a great

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idea doesn't mean you can pull it
up by yourself. You had to go

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out there and source people who could
help you bring this great idea to full

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fruition. Correct. Okay, that's
important for listeners because a lot of us

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present company, myself included, tend
to go about things the hard way and

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try to go things alone. So
that's the first lesson I heard out of

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that. The other thing that I
heard you say is that you leverage other

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past relationships and connections to be able
to absolutely okay, beautiful and more than

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one. I mean, it's three
four different relationships, and there's one element

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that's missing. How do you fund
it? Yes, what's well, that

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was one of the Yeah, I
was gonna ask you about some of the

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vaccine challenges that you've navigated through,
So let's talk about that's got to be

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one of them. Funding. Talk
about that. Well, there's two three

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ways you confunded. Number one,
you confunded through a Kickstarter campaigns or equivalent.

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Number two you can funded with other
OPM other people's money, okay,

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And the third one as you funded
yourself. So I decided to fund it

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myself because I didn't know where it
was going to go. And it,

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uh, it eats up a lot, or it can, especially when you

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go or to find product and you
know you have you have patent attorneys.

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You have to call the saxe that
you hit with some fact manufacturers that can't

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perform or say they can and that
they can't and that. But so we're

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still probably gonna do a kickstarter campaign
as a market test. But that's a

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decision we make in three weeks.
Okay, it's an interesting time to talk

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with you. Then. Okay,
so what other vaccine challenges have you had

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to deal with? The navigate through
patent application and trademark process okay, customs

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and import issues okay, Trump terrorists
okay, which you're coming up, not

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implement it yet, and just time. Yeah, it's amazing how much time

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it takes to jet to actually birth
a product, isn't it. Well,

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it is multi faceted. It takes
a team, and unless you are the

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perfect genius in the aspects of design, management, implementation, and money,

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I can't do it myself. Yeah, I totally get that, really get

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that. Well, what have you
most enjoyed along the way creating this idea

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and engineering this product or just having
fun with it. I mean seriously,

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and I mean I do other things
at the same time, because I have

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one or two other clients on other
of my old activities goals and engineering and

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real estate and construction consulting from time
to time, but plus all the new

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ideas that pop up when you're out
in the trade, so to speak.

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Endless. I think it's fun too, I think, but that to me

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is what makes you you. That's
how you dance through life as long as

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I've known you, and I think
dancing through life is the exact term I

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do too. I do too.
That so describes you and is the epitome

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of you. Thank you, And
wouldn't it be fun if more people across

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the planet did that? And they
get too uptight? Yeah? Is that

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what it is? I think?
So what is it? Because if you

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think about it, you know,
you know that I stand for helping more

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people live like you do and play
like you do, certainly in the workspace.

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So when you think it's in the
way of that for them, I

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really think what gets in the way
they are thinking too? Narrowly? Yes,

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and they do not have developed their
skill levels that are wide enough to

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see the whole spectrum of what's out
there. That makes a lot of sense.

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So that's actionable. And I look
back on my career and I regret,

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for example, that I didn't get
a law degree or venturing. I

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always did it by acquiring myself even
after my degrees. But it takes time,

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especially while you had to make so
to speak, stay alive right while

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having fun. Yeah, I keep
that in mind. I mean I did

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go under you know, right,
I understand that. Yeah. So,

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and that's so that's an important thing
to showcase. Right when you play large

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like you played, there are risks
in that absolutely, and you are a

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person who is willing to accept those
risks reluctantly. Right right, Well,

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I want to showcase a bit more
about your background. But let's take our

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last break here. I'm Elias Cortez, your host. We've been on the

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air with Roland Hartle of Hartle Development
Company and also Abida. He is the

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inventor of the Interlude folding travel chair. We've been talking a bit about the

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various processes that he's gone through to
get the product to where it is today.

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After the break, we're going to
hear a bit more about his earlier

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career in his entrepreneurial adventures. Stay
with us, we'll be right back.

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A least courte as As a speaker
and engagement and development catalyst, she designs

352
00:30:03.880 --> 00:30:08.359
and delivers professional development, leadership and
engagement workshops and can bring her expertise to

353
00:30:08.400 --> 00:30:14.440
your organization. She will help ignite
meaningful development within your workforce that will increase

354
00:30:14.480 --> 00:30:18.200
employee engagement, performance and retention.
To learn more or to invite Elise to

355
00:30:18.240 --> 00:30:23.839
speak to your organization, please visit
her at www dot Elise Cortez dot com.

356
00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:29.440
She would welcome the opportunity to help
get your employees working on purpose.

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00:30:34.599 --> 00:30:40.640
This is working on Purpose with Elise
Cortez. To reach our program today,

358
00:30:40.880 --> 00:30:47.720
send an email to Elise ali Se
at Elise Cortez dot com. Now back

359
00:30:47.759 --> 00:30:52.680
to working on purpose. If you're
just tuning in my guest as Rolinhartl,

360
00:30:52.000 --> 00:30:56.559
he is the inventor of the Interlude
folding travel chair. We've been talking about

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00:30:56.599 --> 00:30:59.920
how much fun he's had developing that
chair and bringing it to market, Taking

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an idea and making it into something
tangible and bringing it to people to enjoy.

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It's been amazing to get to hear
about that. Next, what I

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want to do wrong and if we
can, is I want to take us

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back a little bit of time and
talk a bit about your earlier career before

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you did this, because you have
had so much fun as an entrepreneur.

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You and I were talking earlier and
you said, part of the reason that

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you are an entrepreneur is because you
get bored every five years. So when

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I think about how life began for
you, I mean you were born in

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Czechoslovakia before World War Two, and
you escaped ethnic cleansing of the German minority

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00:31:33.000 --> 00:31:36.799
and deportation to a concentration camp,
which is extraordinary in and of itself.

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You came to the United States on
a Fulbright scholarship at age twenty, educated

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as a civil engineer. And I
met you when you were running your commercial

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real estate development company, which is
where I worked for you. So of

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00:31:47.200 --> 00:31:51.039
all the adventures you've had professionally,
which ones are you most proud of?

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00:31:52.279 --> 00:32:00.119
One is the design of the Fremont
Bridge. Oh yes, please tell that

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00:32:00.200 --> 00:32:01.960
story. So we're important and are
going to Fremont bridges? Is there a

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00:32:01.960 --> 00:32:07.160
big deal? There are four or
five bridges? A few more. But

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00:32:07.359 --> 00:32:15.920
in nineteen sixty three I put on
a bridge exhibit of European bridges, because

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00:32:15.839 --> 00:32:20.440
one of the bridges at that time
that the Highway Department put up was just

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00:32:21.519 --> 00:32:24.920
nineteen twenty state of the art instead
of nineteen sixties. And I put on

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00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:32.279
a bridge European bridge exhibit at Reed
College. And when the Fremont Bridge came

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00:32:32.359 --> 00:32:40.160
up for design, two members of
the Arts Commissioner remembered the bridge exhibit and

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00:32:40.400 --> 00:32:45.319
called me and said, we'd like
you to look at the designs that have

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00:32:45.640 --> 00:32:51.519
been submitted so far. They were
six and why don't you come in and

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00:32:51.559 --> 00:32:54.640
pick up schemes? And they asked
my opinion, and I said, well,

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00:32:54.839 --> 00:33:00.440
if you wanted to have a bridge
designed to the technology the nineteen twenties,

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00:33:01.160 --> 00:33:08.440
big any you'll be fine. Yeah. And they said, well what

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00:33:08.480 --> 00:33:10.880
could you do? When I said, well, I could take the data

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00:33:12.000 --> 00:33:21.680
and the criteria and come up with
a schematic design you might like. I

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00:33:21.720 --> 00:33:25.359
was working for an engineering firm at
the time with a very despotic owner and

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00:33:25.519 --> 00:33:30.400
pass and I said, this is
all I want to do, and he

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00:33:30.480 --> 00:33:38.400
said okay. So I did some
calculations for about a week and then through

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00:33:38.400 --> 00:33:49.160
a sketch and headed drawn up by
one of our firms architectural members and present

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00:33:49.240 --> 00:33:52.839
it to the Arts Commission. And
there were two other designs submitted after that,

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and they decided to pick my schematic, which was as a matter of

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00:33:59.720 --> 00:34:08.079
fact, became then implemented exactly to
the proportions done by another engineering from because

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00:34:08.079 --> 00:34:15.039
the engineering from which I worked was
too small plush. However, he's he's

399
00:34:15.079 --> 00:34:21.199
claimed to quote whatever fame them me
and quote since then. But that's all

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00:34:21.280 --> 00:34:24.360
right, no problem. So anyway, that's I counted it in the major

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00:34:24.360 --> 00:34:29.039
achievement. Just to say before you
go to the next one, what I

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00:34:29.159 --> 00:34:31.840
love about that one? If the
Fremont Bridges is a big deal in Portland,

403
00:34:31.920 --> 00:34:36.559
and certainly when you think about what
can we do in a life,

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00:34:36.599 --> 00:34:39.199
what what what makes for our life? To be able to give that as

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00:34:39.239 --> 00:34:44.880
a legacy is incredible. It's become
a symbol of the city. Yes,

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00:34:44.920 --> 00:34:49.199
it has which is which is very
nice. I mean, it's it's worth

407
00:34:49.519 --> 00:34:54.039
stood those challenges. They wanted two
newer and better designs. The of the

408
00:34:54.079 --> 00:34:59.119
newer bridges at least one of them, and and that's great, you know,

409
00:34:59.440 --> 00:35:04.079
but this one it stands out.
Yeah, it's gorgeous. So okay,

410
00:35:04.079 --> 00:35:07.360
so that's one that you're proud of. What else are you proud of?

411
00:35:07.360 --> 00:35:10.400
When you think about that long history
of things you've spent toiling out and

412
00:35:10.519 --> 00:35:20.639
enjoying. Well, we started a
construction company in nineteen seventy one after I

413
00:35:20.760 --> 00:35:29.800
sold the engineering firm. And in
nineteen seventy five, one of my employees

414
00:35:29.840 --> 00:35:35.280
said, you know, Jay,
are simplest company is going to build a

415
00:35:35.320 --> 00:35:38.920
French fry plant in Oregon. And
they've never done a project in Oregon.

416
00:35:39.320 --> 00:35:43.679
They don't know what they're getting into. I want to go over and sell

417
00:35:43.760 --> 00:35:51.320
us to them. I said,
okay. So they invited us to submittal

418
00:35:51.559 --> 00:35:55.280
based on one sheet of drawing for
one of the early receiving buildings. We

419
00:35:55.400 --> 00:36:00.280
submitted it and they called it and
said, to you, the low proposer,

420
00:36:00.199 --> 00:36:06.880
come on over, we want to
sign contract. Long story short.

421
00:36:07.159 --> 00:36:09.960
They handed us the contract and I
looked at the contract and I said,

422
00:36:12.039 --> 00:36:15.840
I'm ready to sign the contract.
But if I were you, I wouldn't

423
00:36:15.840 --> 00:36:22.079
sign that contract. Why not?
And they said what do you mean?

424
00:36:22.719 --> 00:36:24.960
I said, well, I know
how you do work. I said to

425
00:36:24.960 --> 00:36:29.639
your contract is a license to steal
for me, and I don't think you

426
00:36:29.639 --> 00:36:34.079
should do that. Oh, what
a great way to say it. And

427
00:36:34.199 --> 00:36:37.840
I said, I've looked at how
you do work, and do you do

428
00:36:37.880 --> 00:36:40.880
a based contract which is a half
a million dollars was close to it,

429
00:36:42.920 --> 00:36:45.360
and then you change order it and
this is a thirty five million dollar project,

430
00:36:46.320 --> 00:36:51.679
no control. What do you propose? Well, long story short,

431
00:36:51.719 --> 00:36:53.920
we made a proposal to them which
outlined how we would do it, how

432
00:36:53.920 --> 00:37:00.400
we would competitively bit the subsections and
sub pieces, and then we had a

433
00:37:00.440 --> 00:37:08.880
deadline of growing season and the key
was to design and build first McDonald's French

434
00:37:08.880 --> 00:37:19.960
five plan in fourteen months. Wow, and which when two competitors of simple

435
00:37:19.960 --> 00:37:22.400
and try that and then following two
years it took them three years to do

436
00:37:22.480 --> 00:37:30.239
the same. But it was a
weekly stand up design meeting with everybody flying

437
00:37:30.280 --> 00:37:37.119
into the site, stand up sessions
for four to five hours, lunchster,

438
00:37:37.360 --> 00:37:40.719
standing up and then everybody dispersed.
I mean, it was incredible achievement to

439
00:37:40.760 --> 00:37:45.440
do it, and different engineers,
different engineering firms, not a single one

440
00:37:46.280 --> 00:37:52.480
mechanic, collectible, structural fights with
the unions and firs, unions, etc.

441
00:37:53.039 --> 00:37:57.960
So that was an achievement absolutely,
And then we had just like one

442
00:37:57.960 --> 00:38:00.199
more thing on that one for all
those you, all those you across the

443
00:38:00.239 --> 00:38:04.679
globe who love McDonald's French fries.
You can also thank Roland Hardwell from helping

444
00:38:04.719 --> 00:38:13.400
to make that happen. And we
also did for community projects in the region.

445
00:38:13.719 --> 00:38:17.400
Well that's another funny story, but
that's another Well we have time,

446
00:38:17.440 --> 00:38:21.199
go for it. We have time
for it. Well, typically when they

447
00:38:21.239 --> 00:38:25.599
do construction project in the community large
ones, the local paper says, now

448
00:38:25.599 --> 00:38:30.599
you need to run an AD and
as a contract you're on a full bridge

449
00:38:30.599 --> 00:38:37.079
AD and your subs are on ADS
and the then vice president of simpletts AT

450
00:38:37.119 --> 00:38:40.800
are owned. We're going to do
this different. I said, what give

451
00:38:40.840 --> 00:38:45.039
me the idea? And I said, great idea. So I said,

452
00:38:45.119 --> 00:38:52.519
we identify community projects that the community
needs, childcare center, recreation equipment for

453
00:38:52.559 --> 00:38:59.320
the senior center, a parkery model, and a playground, and said,

454
00:39:00.360 --> 00:39:04.679
we're going to raise the money from
our subs. From our contractors. You're

455
00:39:04.679 --> 00:39:07.840
going to give five thousand dollars,
are going to give five thousand dollars,

456
00:39:07.360 --> 00:39:12.199
and then we're going to assess our
contractors if somebody has a two thousand dollars

457
00:39:12.400 --> 00:39:17.599
purchase order. We asked him for
a buck and we raised almost fifty thousand

458
00:39:17.639 --> 00:39:22.719
dollars by the way from our subs. And then we walked into the newspaper

459
00:39:22.800 --> 00:39:30.719
and we said, Jerry, we
want to do this like you proposed,

460
00:39:30.719 --> 00:39:37.719
but you're going to run the ads
for nothing nice because we're going to spend

461
00:39:37.719 --> 00:39:45.360
this money on these four community projects. And he set back and all he

462
00:39:45.519 --> 00:39:52.880
said with us, we use sons
of bitches. It's brilliant, it's so

463
00:39:52.960 --> 00:39:55.960
clever. It was wonderful. So
we ended up building the only child catch

464
00:39:57.039 --> 00:40:02.360
under in Harveston, and and and
and the other things, and it's it

465
00:40:02.440 --> 00:40:08.639
was wonderful, stunning Roland think about
making a difference exactly. And it was

466
00:40:08.679 --> 00:40:12.320
fun. And the other thing is, at the end of the job,

467
00:40:12.519 --> 00:40:15.920
because of the contract not negotiated,
we handed I will climb back a chair

468
00:40:16.440 --> 00:40:22.400
one hundred and fifty thousand dollars for
job under run. Wow, you know,

469
00:40:22.960 --> 00:40:29.440
because of the way we administered the
job, that was part of the

470
00:40:29.480 --> 00:40:34.199
contract. And that's amazing. Who
when does that ever happen? Today?

471
00:40:34.599 --> 00:40:37.559
It does happen? Does it?
Oh? Yes? Okay? Oh yes,

472
00:40:37.360 --> 00:40:40.960
we did similar thing with the Red
Cross building. Okay, yeah,

473
00:40:42.400 --> 00:40:45.280
all right, are there any other
things in that that background that Rolo decks

474
00:40:45.320 --> 00:40:52.159
of experiences of yours that you're particularly
proud of. I made Emmanuel Hospital sells

475
00:40:52.199 --> 00:40:57.599
three acres of land after they had
never vowed to never sell a piece of

476
00:40:57.639 --> 00:41:05.679
land to anybody. But I convinced
them with their own logic. And this

477
00:41:05.800 --> 00:41:14.280
was interesting because American Red Cross Trail
Traptor is a blood supplier for what that

478
00:41:14.400 --> 00:41:17.719
time was for seventy two hospitals in
the Northwest, and we needed a new

479
00:41:17.800 --> 00:41:25.000
site and I was on the board
and the side we picked was next to

480
00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:34.079
the Emmanual Hospital and this was it
was a large project, and a man

481
00:41:34.119 --> 00:41:37.440
who didn't want to sell, and
I said why not? And they said,

482
00:41:37.480 --> 00:41:39.679
well, because we don't know if
you're going to be around, you

483
00:41:39.800 --> 00:41:45.960
might go pro And I said,
wouldn't that be wonderful for you all of

484
00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:51.360
a sudden you would own us and
you'd control the blood supply as Emmanual Hospital

485
00:41:51.400 --> 00:41:57.960
for seventy two other hospitals. They
said, oh, we'll sell. A

486
00:41:58.039 --> 00:42:01.719
matter of giving them a different perspective, opening the horizons. You talked earlier

487
00:42:01.760 --> 00:42:05.760
about how people can be a bit
narrow, but you just that's a great

488
00:42:05.760 --> 00:42:09.000
example of completely blowing that wide open. Yeah, and it worked and it

489
00:42:09.079 --> 00:42:15.679
was it was it was fun negotiated
with them, including their attorneys and our

490
00:42:15.719 --> 00:42:25.199
attorneys, and then the labor unions
and the financing was tricky, all of

491
00:42:25.199 --> 00:42:30.079
that. And what was the net
result of that project. It's a blood

492
00:42:30.159 --> 00:42:37.119
laboratory over to Manuel Campus which has
been in operation since nineteen eighty seven and

493
00:42:37.239 --> 00:42:46.400
still is and still operating. Not
too shabby, not too shabby. Okay,

494
00:42:46.760 --> 00:42:51.360
So a couple more things, a
couple more Probably have two more questions

495
00:42:51.360 --> 00:42:52.119
for you, but before I do, don't want to make sure if there's

496
00:42:52.159 --> 00:42:55.599
anything else in there that you stands
out as something you're really proud of that

497
00:42:55.639 --> 00:42:59.320
you want to share. Oh,
all this is lies, Oh this is

498
00:42:59.360 --> 00:43:01.039
lies. Perfect Yeah, sorry,
listeners, this is all just a big

499
00:43:01.079 --> 00:43:06.239
joke, just kidding. What other
what other things? What do you mean?

500
00:43:06.320 --> 00:43:07.920
Well, so I wasn't sure if
there's any any other experiences that you

501
00:43:07.960 --> 00:43:10.440
wanted to share, because there's there's
two other questions I want to ask you

502
00:43:10.440 --> 00:43:13.800
before we would go off air in
just a few minutes. Well, you

503
00:43:13.880 --> 00:43:17.039
know, when you have sixty years
of professional life, there's a lot of

504
00:43:17.039 --> 00:43:21.159
stuff. No, and no,
it's unfortunate. This is just less than

505
00:43:21.199 --> 00:43:23.480
an hour show. No, no, it's fun. Okay. So I'm

506
00:43:23.480 --> 00:43:28.840
going to ask you this next question, and I didn't give you any chance

507
00:43:28.880 --> 00:43:31.159
to think about this, so I
want to if you could share, what

508
00:43:31.199 --> 00:43:38.880
do you think makes for living a
great life? That's a good question.

509
00:43:39.079 --> 00:43:49.239
Great life means to me that you
number one, treat people the way you'd

510
00:43:49.320 --> 00:44:00.360
like to be treated, and encourage
them to grow and to develop to their

511
00:44:00.440 --> 00:44:09.280
best abilities. If you see them, you support it, and sometimes they

512
00:44:09.320 --> 00:44:15.960
don't see it. And couple it
with education. And keep in mind that

513
00:44:16.760 --> 00:44:24.280
when you are twenty today, you're
going to be around for another most likely

514
00:44:24.400 --> 00:44:36.800
sixty to seventy years. You're going
to change occupation and at least three to

515
00:44:36.920 --> 00:44:45.920
four times over that period. So
you need to stay flexible and widen your

516
00:44:45.960 --> 00:44:53.800
capabilities and broaden and deepen your capabilities
all along, but enjoy the challenges.

517
00:44:55.920 --> 00:45:01.119
So I completely if I think for
you, where others may have been worn

518
00:45:01.239 --> 00:45:06.679
down by the challenges that you got
presented with, for you, I think

519
00:45:06.719 --> 00:45:12.360
it just heightened the fun it does. It does, So that goes back

520
00:45:12.400 --> 00:45:15.280
to mindset. So the thing about
mindset is it can be learned. You're

521
00:45:15.280 --> 00:45:16.440
not just stuck with whatever you've got, it can be learned. You can

522
00:45:16.519 --> 00:45:22.960
learn to embrace that kind of a
mindset. Absolutely, Okay, absolutely So

523
00:45:23.119 --> 00:45:29.039
if I had known sixty years ago, I know now it would be a

524
00:45:29.039 --> 00:45:32.519
lot more success. I totally understand
that. Trust me. And then just

525
00:45:32.599 --> 00:45:37.760
quickly on leadership, you clearly have
learned a lot about leading people. And

526
00:45:37.800 --> 00:45:39.119
I think it is a lot to
do with just what you said about how

527
00:45:39.159 --> 00:45:43.239
you treat people. And it was
for me working for you, you did

528
00:45:43.360 --> 00:45:45.679
grow me. You made me a
lot of who I am. Because if

529
00:45:45.719 --> 00:45:50.039
your counsel, can you say a
little bit about your perspective on your approach

530
00:45:50.039 --> 00:45:55.840
to leadership? Well, I think
I think there are various elements. Number

531
00:45:55.880 --> 00:46:01.679
one is you have to trust the
people you work with, and I'm mean

532
00:46:01.760 --> 00:46:07.199
you have to express that trust.
And one of my axioms has always been

533
00:46:09.280 --> 00:46:14.920
the people that work for me,
are with me on a team, will

534
00:46:15.000 --> 00:46:19.239
not do the things the way I
would like to do them. They'll do

535
00:46:19.320 --> 00:46:25.840
them better. That's so great,
And they do they will if you trust

536
00:46:25.880 --> 00:46:34.159
them. M that's beautiful. And
I think really that's the leadership that you

537
00:46:34.159 --> 00:46:40.079
should have. And when somebody come
on your team of your employment comes to

538
00:46:40.119 --> 00:46:44.119
you and says, yeah, I'm
not going to do this. I think

539
00:46:44.119 --> 00:46:45.159
you should say how do you want
to do it? And how can I

540
00:46:45.199 --> 00:46:51.039
help you with it? That sounds
fantastic to me at all. Okay,

541
00:46:51.119 --> 00:46:53.119
so we're getting close to it,
running out of time, so I always

542
00:46:53.159 --> 00:46:57.159
like to give my guest, if
you will, the last word. So

543
00:46:57.679 --> 00:47:00.079
you know, the show is about
helping people across the globe more meaningfully productively

544
00:47:00.119 --> 00:47:05.679
connect with their work in a way
that gives them a sense of purpose about

545
00:47:05.719 --> 00:47:08.920
their work. What would you like
to leave listeners with today? Think of

546
00:47:09.000 --> 00:47:15.440
helping other people achieve their dreams.
I don't have to be big, yeah,

547
00:47:16.239 --> 00:47:21.719
just a nudge here and encouragement there. That is beautiful. Now,

548
00:47:21.960 --> 00:47:25.360
certainly what this show is about is
standing from a place of encouraging and shouting

549
00:47:25.360 --> 00:47:29.679
from the rifftops for people to go
for their dreams. For sure. So

550
00:47:29.719 --> 00:47:31.639
I completely agree with that, and
it's a beautiful way to finish. Roland,

551
00:47:31.880 --> 00:47:35.280
thank you so much for joining me
on Working on Purpose. It's been

552
00:47:35.320 --> 00:47:37.679
amazing to have you here, my
pleasure. Thank you very much. You're

553
00:47:37.719 --> 00:47:40.639
welcome. If listeners want to find
you, how can they how can they

554
00:47:40.639 --> 00:47:47.440
reach you? Well, they can
reach me by email ROLANDE six at gmail

555
00:47:47.519 --> 00:47:54.239
dot com or at roland at interlude
chair dot com. Excellent, wonderful.

556
00:47:54.719 --> 00:47:58.719
Join us next week when we talk
with Debbie Mazerick. She will be talking

557
00:47:58.760 --> 00:48:00.320
about what makes for great sales people. And if you don't think you're in

558
00:48:00.400 --> 00:48:04.840
sales in some capacity, think again, See you're there. Remember that workers

559
00:48:04.840 --> 00:48:08.119
at least forty percent of our lives. So let's work on purpose. We

560
00:48:08.320 --> 00:48:13.320
hope you've enjoyed this week's program.
Be sure to tune in to Working on

561
00:48:13.400 --> 00:48:17.440
Purpose, featuring your host, Alice
Cortez, each week on the Voice America

562
00:48:17.480 --> 00:48:22.199
Empowerment Channel. This week, find
your life's purpose at work