A Conversation I Never Had – Maurice II

I eventually left Maurice for a better position. As the years passed I’d see Maurice from time-to-time on industry committee’s or at industry functions, but we never really had an in-depth conversation; though that was pretty much the way it was when I worked for him – we dealt with facts more than anything, the facts of the business; the only exception was sports, he was good for a sports conversation now and then.

When I later found myself back in operations (rather than finance) and training people I realized something that had escaped me during my time with Maurice; Maurice was a great trainer. Now I need to qualify that by saying that Maurice was a great trainer when it came to me, and perhaps even to a few others who could withstand his personality, but that with most people the good elements of his training were defeated by his “hardness” and lack of encouragement. But I don’t want the foregoing to obscure the fact that he was, for me, a great trainer for I found myself using the training techniques that he taught me with others. In fact, I carried those techniques into some of my pastoral duties and they were quite helpful.

I consider training “great” when it becomes natural, intentionally natural you might say. It is natural in that it is a part of you, but it also is intentional in that you remember how to thoughtfully execute that which has become natural.

The best training in the world is the US Military; or at least it used to be, I can’t speak for it today. It’s been 40 years since I was in the Army and I still know how to deploy as part of a squad as well as a number of other things – and the other old guys I talk to are pretty much the same way; that’s good training, it’s natural, it’s instinctive.

I’ve had a couple of other training experiences like that, including some of my seminary training as it relates to submitting myself to the Scriptures; rather than forcing the Scriptures to submit to me. Maurice’s training was of that caliber, I found myself instinctively using it in appropriate situations.

Have you had great training experiences? If so, have you expressed your appreciation to the people who trained and influenced you?

To be continued….