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| Lunch at Potbelly Sandwich Shop |
Chad was recently presented with an exciting opportunity to
come to Portland as a part of a team of seven Vigor employees, who will spend
two days developing strategies for Vigor’s future—specifically Vigor’s vision,
values, and purpose. And I was invited
to come along. This morning we said
goodbye to our sleepy children, apologized to Jessie as she pranced around the
house thinking she was going to be included in our early morning adventure, and
set out for Oregon.
As we pulled out of our driveway, The Band’s “The Weight”
started playing and we sank into our seats, eager for our mini road trip. I picked up my book called, Through Painted
Deserts which is about two men’s 3-month, cross country journey in a VW
van. I had just read the following
quote: “Music is the soundtrack of
life. The absence of it is unforgivable
on a road trip,” when Chad suddenly stopped the music, and began playing an
audio book called, The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything
Else in Business. It’s required reading
for his upcoming workshop. “Sorry, I’ve
got to listen to this.” We drove through
the grey misty morning learning about “performance management,” “reinforcing
clarity,” and “upward and lateral communication.” As stimulating as that book was, I would’ve
preferred listening to James Taylor sing to me about the sunny days he thought
would never end.
We stopped for coffee at Starbucks in Centralia, which meant
that an hour later we had to stop at a rest stop. There were 5 or 6 vehicles parked at this
particular rest stop that had signs taped to windshields, doors, and
trunks. Each sign was worded
differently, but they all said the same thing:
“Out of gas, anything helps.” I
found it peculiar that so many people just happened to run out of gas, managed
to make it to the exact same rest stop, had a stock pile of poster board,
colorful markers, and tape to make signs, and were all in need of money at the same time. I had $2 in my pocket, and I was about to
approach one of the cars and make them prove that they were out of gas before I
gave them my money, when I decided that perhaps that wasn’t the best idea. Some of those characters looked a bit shady. I'm sure I was "profiling" and have now been red-flagged by the government. Oh darn. Because I didn't give them money, I felt guilty and asked Chad, “What do
you think Jesus would’ve done if he’d walked by and saw this?” Chad said (in his best Jesus voice): “Hey,
Larry – stop lying to these people.” So
we got back in our car, clutching tightly to both our $2 and our ever present self-righteousness.
We arrived in Portland and went straight to Swan Island,
where Vigor's enormous shipyard takes up over 60 acres—it’s
like its own little town. Chad’s boss,
Mike met us and took us up to the administrative offices where we met some of the
executives. I just sat back and watched
19 years of Chad’s hard work pay off as I tried not appear too proud. Frank Foti, the owner of Vigor, came into the
office we were in, pointed at Chad and said, “They let YOU in here?!” A great conversation ensued that I cannot
tell you about because I signed a confidentiality waiver and will be fined
$10,000 for revealing anything we said.
No I didn’t.
Once we left the shipyard, we drove to Lake Oswego where we
are staying at the Crown Plaza . We walked across the street to Potbelly
Sandwich Shop for lunch. We ate our
lunch outside and watched as business man after business man walked by us
wearing variations of the same blue checkered button up shirt. It was unbelievable—by 1:00 PM we had seen at
least 8 blue checkered shirts.
Mike and his girlfriend, Nicole, met us back at the hotel and we checked in. They are staying here as well, but they hadn’t eaten lunch, so we walked over to
Stanford’s Restaurant and Bar, and Chad and I drank coffee while they ate. It was a long, leisurely lunch, and I really
enjoyed listening to two very smart men discuss some very smart business. I tried to interject with some funny jokes
and anecdotes, but I was way out of my element.
So I colored on my kid’s menu and tried not to pee in my diaper.
We had about 3 hours of free time before dinner, so Chad and
I drove downtown and wandered the streets of Portland. Where, shockingly enough, we saw about 19 more blue checkered dress shirts on various business men. What gives? Will someone who knows about fashion please explain this phenomenon? We walked from Director Park, where Chad
silently judged two men while they played a game of giant chess, to Pioneer
Place, to Powell’s Books—a bookstore that covers and entire city block, and
holds over 1,000,000 volumes on their shelves.
I was in heaven, and we didn’t even scratch the surface before it was time to leave.
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| "I could totally beat these imbeciles." |
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| Hey, Chad? |
It was time to meet our group at the Ringside Fish House at Fox Tower. Reservations had been made for eight people,
and let me try to give you an idea of how nervous I was to spend the evening
with six complete strangers: I was so nervous that I consciously bit my
tongue to keep from blurting out something stupid. I squeezed two of my fingers together until I
thought I had broken them, to keep me from saying something I’d later regret. Only to find out that the six people we had
dinner with were some of the most authentic, laid back, welcoming folks I’ve
ever met in the ship repair industry. Dinner
consisted of calamari, onion rings, Dungeness crab mac-n-cheese, wild salmon,
ling cod, filet mignon, lobster, chicken, salads, mashed potatoes, grilled
asparagus. And to top it off: crème brulee
and coffee. What began as a total nerve
wracking experience, ended as one of the coolest dinners that I can
recall. We drove back to the hotel with
Tom and Lydia, who are leadership coaches hired by Vigor, and are helping
establish core values for the company. Lydia is so insightful that she’s like a female (way more
likeable) version of Dr. Phil and I want to bring her home and have her coach
my life. I adore her. Tom looks like an older version of Ryan
Reynolds, and when I told him so, he laughed and said, “Yup, I know.” And they both think Chad is a rock star, just like I do.
Sometimes it’s good to get out there and be uncomfortable around people. But while Chad is off in his think tank tomorrow, I think I’ll spend
the day at Powell’s Books, getting lost in 68,000 square feet of pure literary joy,
hiding behind the books and second guessing every word I spoke today… I hope Chad still has a job tomorrow.- The Niemeyers
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