Leader Dad
Today 18th of June 2023 in Argentina, we celebrate the Fathers Day, and I though to celebrate it sharing an abstract of the book I’m writing, as a profound appreciation of a Great Leader from which I learned the foundations of how and who I’m Today!! Thanks Dad and Happy Father’s Day!!
By now we have seen and probably even looked back into our own lives to notice how every little turn led us to a better tomorrow. It’s almost as if the variety of experiences we undergo come together like building blocks to create a proud and towering skyscraper. Whether big or small, every stone plays its own necessary role in keeping the structure of our life strong against all seasons.
In my life today, I observe there’s a massive building block which is part of my foundation and that was created with the help of my father. We may be born with a specific purpose already instilled in us, but our surroundings and background surely act as catalysts in pushing us towards that purpose. I hail from a family of engineers and business leaders. My paternal grandfather, Strechko, was a civil engineer and my father was a mechanical engineer. My maternal grandfather, Miro Kovacic, was a mechanical technician in the military. But apart from being a technician and a businessman, he was a courageous man first.
After the Second World War made Croatia too devastated to live in, Miro along with his wife Nada, and daughter (my mother) Mia, decided to make the big move to Argentina. When they landed in Buenos Aires, they had not a single penny in their pockets, so to imagine a future for his family, let alone himself, was a humongous task. But it had to be done. Argentina at the time was welcoming refugees with open arms which made it possible for my grandfather to secure a job as a mechanic at a local garage. He started with repairing cars and over time became the founder of Inargind SA Instalaciones Industriales – a mechanical installations company that worked with various brands in the soft drinks, beer, petrochemical, refinery and paper mill sectors. Under him worked hundreds of employees and he was certainly renowned in the field.
My father had the good fortune of managing the company for twenty-one long years and my grandfather always supported and appreciated him. Dad learnt a great deal from Grandpa and from his pool of knowledge, I, too, was able to get a taste. Dad was not just a manager by profession but also by nature. So, when I turned 10 and grew more energetic, he decided to do some optimum utilization of available resources. And that’s how one fine summer, I started working with my father at grandpa’s company.
This so-called internship would last two-three weeks, sometimes even extend for a month every summer. I was happy to be involved because the tasks given to me were enjoyable for my curious self. I would spend my days at the shop floor cleaning tools for the workers and organising them in the right order. Since I would work at the warehouse only during summers, my promotion also happened annually. Every year, the difficulty of my tasks would increase a little. By the time I turned 13, I was not just cleaning and organising the tools, but also learning to use some of them and had even started looking after the inventory. One summer, I learnt how to weld metal sheets, and two tubes together, and the next summer I got to work in the office where I made photocopies of important documents, distributed faxes and letters, and even went to the library to get necessary things for the office.
While the lessons we learn during the calm are valuable, the lessons that the storm teaches us are forever branded in our memory. The majority of the time I spent in my father’s company was peaceful but one day, the union at the oil refinery broke into a major strike. They dropped all their tools, shut down all the machines and took to the streets, sitting there and protesting against the management, only agreeing to work once their demands were fulfilled. So far into my small career at the factory, I hadn’t thought of myself as the manager’s son because I was never dished out any special treatment; not that I expected any. But that day, the slogans that were being thrown around, the anger in their voices towards the management (which was run by my father) and all the yelling turned my feet cold. I didn’t know who was right and whose side I was meant to stand on; it was all too much for me to understand. That’s when Dad did the unexpected.
He put a gentle hand on my shoulder and led me to the group of workers sitting in protest in front of the factory. He motioned me to sit down in the frontline and smiled reassuringly. Though I was yet to understand the reason for the protest, I quickly understood that my father wasn’t one to treat me specially. I had worked on the shop floor for years and I was part of the blue-collar bunch. I was part of the union. I saw my father negotiate with them kindly and patiently about their demands. I saw true mediation happening before my eyes and though the intricacies of the matter were a mystery to me, it was evident how important mediation itself was – to dissolve the tension by hearing the person out and arriving at a favourable ground for both parties eventually through a transparent discussion. The workers returned to work happily after being heard and I realised that what my father had done was not possible if he wasn’t gifted with this beautiful quality of leadership.
By the time I turned 16, I was promoted out of the shop floor as well as the office and sent straight to the driver’s seat. That summer, I spent three whole months as the driver of a project manager in Patagonia who was looking after the project of a geothermal plant. Alongside driving, I was also sourcing and purchasing materials for the project as required. That year, I saw how there are so many jobs that require us to stay away from our comfort zones and work through the adverse seasons if we wish to build something bigger than ourselves.
At 18, when I was in a dilemma about continuing with my father’s business or starting something of my own, my father allotted me the toughest of all jobs he had given me thus far. I was made the project manager of the installation of a machine meant for piping out hot chocolate in a chocolate factory. Here, I had to manage a group of five and also deal with the client directly. While the excitement of the new responsibility was encouraging, it didn’t last long. The pipes were so poorly connected that hot chocolate would ooze from the hinges, and the entire project had turned into a disaster. All the confidence from the initial days disappeared instantly as I succumbed to dreadful stress. After several sleepless nights and constant dedication, however, we managed to resolve the issue and the client was eventually satisfied with our services.
Now that I am 54, I continue to learn the new patterns of the new age, but I always carry my trustee bag filled with all the lessons I’ve gathered from working with my father. And I would like to highlight some of the most essential ones here.
Whether it’s for us or our children, the first thing we must encourage is openness to experience. When we have preconceived notions, prejudices or preferences about the kind of work we want to do, especially when we have no clue about what we want to do, we only end up limiting ourselves. But when we approach any opportunity with energy and curiosity, we end up experiencing something new, something that will provide us with an evergreen lesson and surely become a milestone in our journey.
Education from universities and books will make us theoretically genius, they will help us greatly in describing what water is made of what it looks, smells, feels and tastes like. But only when we dip our hands in true water, we will understand its true beauty in all its possibilities. Only when we gain hands-on experience, we will reveal to ourselves our true path. And with my father’s guidance, I was able to not just tackle various challenges but also gain clarity about what I want in life at a very young age.
A true leader considers every task equally important, thus making every worker equally essential in the structure of an organisation. This I learnt first-hand from my father whenever he hosted his annual barbecue named Asado. No matter where he was, he invited all his employees to join him for a good time. This included people from all levels of management and not a single staff member was left out of the invitation. There was good food for everyone with enough bottles of some Red Malvec wine making rounds. Everyone enjoyed this time of the year and Dad made sure I, too, was part of the celebration even before I had started working at the factory. He told me how the blue-collared ones on the shop floor were the toughest of the lot and the foundation of the company. They were the ones sweating their shirts as they welded, adjusted, and mounted pipes and columns incessantly. By interacting with them, I saw just how full of life they were despite taking care of such strenuous jobs. As an ode to this tradition, every year, I host a lunch and invite all our blue collars employees of the company as a way to celebrate them. Having worked at so many levels, I no longer see one level as superior to the other.
A good manager need not be a good leader, but a good leader will always make a good manager. When you’re a leader at heart, you will see life in all its light and shadows. Failure won’t be something you fear, rather something that will refine you into a better version of yourself.
Managing and leading, therefore, is not just an acquired skill – it’s an art.