Do We Live the Lives We Talk About: Wish I Could Be Like Rudy
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Send to a friend by YMAuthor: Bill Moore
Some people tell you what they believe in. Others just live in a way that demonstrates what’s really important to them. It’s OK to talk the talk, but how many of us really walk the walk?
I don’t think a person’s philosophy of life is what he says as much as it is what he does. There are some people with really great philosophies who don’t ever talk about them or write them down. They’re so busy living how they should that they probably don’t even know they have a philosophy. I think if we watch people like that we can learn about how to live instead of how to talk about how to live.
There’s a guy I’ve been working with for a long time, and when I was trying to figure out what I really believe in, I got to thinking about him. I mostly only see him at work, but I’ve got to believe that he lives his whole life the same way he does his job. The name tag on his cube says G. Nilpik. Nobody seems to know what the G stands for, but it must be kind of hard to pronounce because everybody calls him Rudy. It doesn’t matter to me what kind of name that is, because I don’t think his ethnic background has got as much to do with how he lives as the kind of person he’s decided to be.
In our business, competition is tough, and the margins are usually small. When things go right, everybody’s ready to take the credit. When they go wrong, somebody always has to take the blame. Usually it’s the person who came up with the idea in the first place. Rudy’s in product development. It’s his job to come up with new things to market. I’ve seen Rudy in meetings stay absolutely calm with a bunch of people running in circles because a project is crashing, and they’re trying to say it’s his fault. He just says, “OK. So, now we know the problem. How about we spend our time on finding the solution?” It doesn’t bother him that the people who backed him when it seemed like a good idea are the ones who are saying it’s all his fault. He just knows it’s a good idea and that he can make it work, so, that’s where he puts his energy.
Sometimes, around here, getting what you need for a project depends a lot of office politics or who you’re buddies with. Rudy doesn’t think it should be that way, so when he asks for something, he doesn’t always get it as fast as another guy might. But he doesn’t go stomping around and trying to bully people. He just says, “Well, I’ll be here when you get a chance.” Then he just waits, sometime right there. People ask him what he’s waiting for, he tells them. After a while, it makes the person look so bad that they have to get him what he needs just so it doesn’t look like they’re totally incompetent.
With us, it’s like they say about war. Truth is the first casualty. When there’s trouble, people will try to cover themselves by giving their own version of the situation. But not Rudy. I say to him that so-and-so is spreading lies about him or that somebody is trying to get him because they don’t like him. I ask him shouldn’t he do something to fight back? He says he won’t let someone else force him to be a liar, and it’s his choice who he’s mad at or who he doesn’t like, and he won’t let other people decide for him. But that doesn’t make him holier than thou. He’s got emotions like everybody else, and when he makes a mistake, he gets upset and angry same as any of us. But when things go right, he doesn’t go around talking about how smart he is. His feeling is that his way works for him, and you can be however you want.
I told him once that I didn’t see how he could be so practical and logical all the time. He said he wasn’t. He said he has dreams just like anyone, but he knows they’re dreams, and they won’t always come true. “You have to have dreams,” he said, “but you can’t let them run your life.” Same with coming up with ideas. “Good ideas are important, but you can’t spend all your time thinking or thinking will be all you’ll ever get done.” Good ideas have to lead to good results, or they’re no use to anybody. When he comes up with a great product idea, he lays it out very clearly; what it does and what it’s good for. Then Marketing takes it and twists it all around because they figure people aren’t smart enough to buy it unless it’s all hyped out of shape. Of course, if the project goes south, Rudy’s the one who has to take what’s left and put it back together so we can salvage something out of it. And he just does it. No talk. Just do.
Sometimes, a project goes wrong and it is his fault. He didn’t think it out far enough or didn’t figure in some variables he should have. When that happens, he takes a hard look at it, decides what can be saved and what can’t, sees where he went wrong and how to avoid it next time, and gets on with his work. It’s not that it doesn’t bother him. I think his idea is that sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, but you have to accept both outcomes the same because it’s how life is.
It’s funny, though. In his own way, Rudy’s one of the biggest gamblers I ever knew. Not cards or dice that I know of, but sometimes the stakes are pretty high. He’ll come up with an idea and back it right to the hilt, no matter what other people think. He puts it all on the line because he thinks it’s a winner. And sometimes it isn’t. But I’ve never heard him complain about bad luck. He just goes back and starts again because he still believes in himself. And I mean he works! I’ve seen him put in a string of twelve- or fourteen-hour days on something he’s determined to make work, and when I ask him how he keeps going, he just says, “It’s got to get done.” I’ve tried to keep up with him when I know he’s as beat as I am, but he’s got a determination that just won’t let him quit.
Out in the field, some of the guys do business a little on the iffy side. They figure that if a box of golf balls or a bottle of scotch helps things get done faster, then it’s OK. Rudy never says they shouldn’t, but he let’s them know that he doesn’t play that game himself. They can do what they want so long as they leave him out of it. And you know what? They still like him and want to work with him because they don’t get the feeling he’s judging them. He’s only judging himself. I think that’s why he can spend time with anybody at any level in the company and still be just who he is. He works with the guys out in the back or gets called into meetings with the top people, and he doesn’t get all self-important or pretend he’s something he’s not. When he’s with people—whether it’s Maintenance or the CEO—it’s not as important to him who they are as it is who he is.
Rudy’s really good to work with. He’ll ask for help when he needs it or give a hand when someone else needs it. Everybody gets treated the same. It’s OK if people don’t like him so long as they do their job and let him do his. And he doesn’t get all upset if people he thought he could depend on don’t always come through when he needs them. I get the feeling that if you let him down, he feels sorrier for you than he does for himself. I figure it’s easier for him because he’s OK with the situation, but you have to live with being a jerk. We were talking about life and work and all that one time over a beer, and I asked him if he figured he’d get everything done in life he hope to. He said he didn’t worry about that. He figured that all he could do is give it his best shot every day, and it would work out however it should. He said, “Just do what you have to when you should, and you’ve pretty much got everything you need.”
I suppose having a philosophy is all right. Maybe you can judge people by what they say they believe in, but I think it’s how you live every day that shows what kind of person you really are.
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