An Interesting Example of Leadership - From TED, submitted by JG

From Leadership Lessons from Dancing Guy. Don't think any of these guys could work in a paper mill.

The Digesters … First Jobs - 1954 by JF

The table was made of a poor grade of plywood with a lot of water damage and purple stain. One leg was shorter than the others. I saw a buret and some liquid in it they called “purple poison.” It turned out that I was to run “K” number tests (using purple potassium permanganate) on a sample of pulp each hour during the shift, and help out in opening the digesters. As I read the crumpled, stained, barely readable typed procedure, I could smell the aroma of pine chips and sulfur mixed together. I had smelled the sulfur most of my life at my home about three miles downwind on the river. It smelled like money everyone said…and it did. At one time in the ‘50s there were about 1500 employees and most lived and loved in my hometown - and cashed their checks there on Thursday afternoons. There are only some 200+ employees now.

There were 10 batch digesters - which are really huge pressure cookers with very large nuts and bolts sealing the top. Pine chips, steam and chemicals (sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfide) were added and the cooking lasted about an hour and a half each. Round 24-hour Foxboro charts recorded the goings on. Supervision looked at the charts each morning. A valve at the bottom of the digester was opened after each cook finished, while under pressure, and the contents were “blown” into a tank. I helped take the top off  the empty digesters with a huge wrench after the blow. This required some effort by me but the guys who regularly worked there did it effortlessly.

The “K” number test requires one gram of pulp. One gram is a mighty small amount to be used to represent many tons of pulp. Think of a needle in a haystack only much worse. The test is used to determine how much the cook is 'cooked'. There were limits, high and low, that were the targets of the test. I was instructed to tell the cook (what we called the operator) the result after each test. He would log it onto the daily report. Things went well until I got a test outside the limits. When I told the cook the result, he said, “Run it again.” When I finished the second test outside the limits, the cook said, “Run it again.” The third test was mercifully inside the limits and the cook dutifully wrote the last result on the log. Did the cook "cook" the books? You make the call.

Years later at another plant, an outside company wanted to automate part of our batch digester system but after examining our K- number data, they told us that we already had such excellent control that they could do nothing for us. The Foxboro charts that our plant also used, would sometimes disappear just like at my first job. The pulp and paper industry has amazing control when considering the tests are sampled between tons and tons of pulp, paper, liquids and even mud.

As an aside, one night in 1954, the digester room got bombed with an actual bomb. The bomb went through the roof but did minimal damage. It only weighed about twenty pounds but could have wiped out the whole crew. A Marine air station close to us used the plant to practice bombing - only they weren't supposed to actually drop anything on the mill. On this night, a "dummy bomb" was inadvertently released - I guess by a dummy pilot and others who were later called dummies. Too bad it couldn’t have destroyed the K-number table.

Rules of combat...

• If the enemy is in range, so are you.

• Incoming fire has the right of way.

• Don't look conspicuous: it draws fire.

• The easy way is always mined.

•  Try to look unimportant, they may be low on ammo.

• Professionals are predictable, it's the amateurs that are dangerous.

• The enemy invariably attacks on one of two occasions:         1. When you're ready for them.         2. When you're not ready for them.

• Teamwork is essential; it gives the enemy someone else to shoot  at.

• If you can't remember, the claymore is pointed at you.

• If your attack is going well, you have walked into an ambush.

• Don't draw fire, it irritates the people around you.

• The only thing more accurate than incoming enemy fire is incoming friendly fire.

• When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is not our friend.

• If it's stupid but works, it isn't stupid.

• When in doubt empty the magazine.

• Never share a fox hole with anyone braver than you.

• Anything you do can get you shot. Including doing nothing. 

• Make it too tough for the enemy to get in and you can't get out.

• Mines are equal opportunity weapons.

• A Purple Heart just proves that were you smart enough to think of  a plan, stupid enough to try it, and lucky enough to survive.

• Don't ever be the first, don't ever be the last and don't ever volunteer to do anything.

• The quartermaster has only two sizes: too large and too small.

• Five second fuses only last three seconds.

• It is generally inadvisable to eject directly over the area you just bombed.

A Donkey Tale

AN OLD MAN, A BOY AND A DONKEY WERE GOING TO TOWN.

THE BOY RODE ON THE DONKEY AND THE OLD MAN WALKED. 

AS THEY WENT ALONG THEY PASSED SOME PEOPLE WHO REMARKED IT WAS A SHAME THE OLD MAN WAS WALKING AND THE BOY WAS RIDING.

THE OLD MAN AND BOY THOUGHT MAYBE THE CRITICS WERE RIGHT, SO THEY CHANGED POSITIONS.

LATTER THEY PASSED SOME PEOPLE THAT REMARKED," WHAT A SHAME, HE MAKES THAT LITTLE BOY WALK."

THEY DECIDED THEY BOTH WOULD WALK!

SOON THEY PASSED SOME MORE PEOPLE WHO THOUGHT THEY WERE STUPID TO WALK WHEN THEY HAD A DECENT DONKEY TO RIDE. 

SO, THEY BOTH RODE THE DONKEY!

NOW THEY PASSED SOME PEOPLE THAT SHAMED THEM BY SAYING HOW AWFUL IT WAS TO PUT SUCH A LOAD ON A POOR DONKEY. 

THE BOY AND MAN SAID THEY  WERE PROBABLY RIGHT SO THEY DECIDED TO CARRY THE DONKEY. 

AS THEY CROSSED A BRIDGE, THEY LOST THEIR GRIP ON THE ANIMAL AND HE FELL INTO THE RIVER AND DROWNED.

THE MORAL OF THE STORY?

........IF YOU TRY TO PLEASE EVERYONE, YOU WILL EVENTUALLY LOSE YOUR ASS.

"I started out with nothing and I still have most of it left."

SAY IT OUT LOUD

Some things you can really get off your chest on the work front (...with a little imagination).

"I can see your point, but I still think you're full of shxx."

"I don't know what your problem is, but I'll bet it's hard to  pronounce."

"How about never? Is never good for you?"

"I see you've set aside this special time to humiliate yourself in  public."

"I'm really easy to get along with once you people learn to see it my way."

"I'll try being nicer if you'll try being smarter."

"I'm out of my mind, but feel free to leave a message."

"I don't work here. I'm a consultant."

"It sounds like English, but I can't understand a damn word you're saying."

"Ahhh...I see the screw-up fairy has visited us again."

"I like you. You remind me of myself when I was young and stupid."

 "You are validating my inherent mistrust of strangers."   

 "I'm already visualizing the duct tape over your mouth."   

"I will always cherish the initial misconceptions I had about you."   

"Thank you. We're all refreshed and challenged by your unique point of  view."   

"The fact that no one understands you doesn't mean you're an artist."   

"Any connection between your reality and mine is purely coincidental."   

"I'm not being rude. You're just insignificant."   

"Yes, I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial."  

 "And your crybaby  opinion would be...?"   

"Do I look like a people person?"   

"This isn't an office. It's Hell with fluorescent lighting."  

 "I started out with nothing and I still have most of it left."   

"Sarcasm is just one more service we offer."  

 "If I throw a stick, will you leave?"   

"Errors have been made. Others will be blamed."   

"Whatever kind of look you were going for, you missed."  

 "A cubicle is just a padded cell without a door."   

"Can I trade this job for what's behind door #1?"  

 "Too many freaks, not enough circuses."   

"Nice perfume. Must you marinate in it?" 

 "Chaos, panic, and disorder - my work here is done."  

 "How do I set a laser printer to stun?"  

 "I thought I wanted a career. Turns out I just wanted a salary."  

"Oh I get it... like humour... but different!"

Some Jobs Are Worse Than Paper Mill Jobs

These Guys Work In A Paper Mill

An interactive Youtube video game. At the end of each clip, click on a response and watch the results.