[December 28, 2015] The ability to absorb lessons on leadership begins at an early age. Most people start to discover solid leadership ideas as early teenagers and the best of them never lose that learning appetite. As a sophomore in high school I got a job pumping gas at a gasoline station in central Texas. I’ve never forgotten what I learned there.
The gas station owner Mr. “Amato” ran it like his life was depended upon it. And, in a way, it did … his livelihood stemmed from it. No surprise that he was so resolute about treating customers with the upmost care. All of us “attendants” – that was the nice name we were called – were taught by Mr. Amato that in order to do well meant hard work, preparation, and learning from our mistakes.
“Football is like life – it requires perseverance, self-denial, hard work, sacrifice, dedication and respect for authority.” – Vince Lombardi
He was trying to teach us about being part of the American Dream and he repeatedly made reference to it whenever he felt the need; which was often. From him I learned that success was the result of your own sweat (hard work), getting yourself ready (preparation), and through your smarts (learning from mistakes). Passion was at the center of it all and he referred to it as having heart in the game.
You see, Mr. Amato was an Italian immigrant from a small town outside Naples where he came to America by himself as a child sometime in the early 1920s. Living in Italy at the time meant living in hopeless poverty. He once told me the story about how he was scared when he stowed away on a merchant ship coming to America. The crew caught him and had threatened to throw him overboard but by doing all the dirty jobs on the ship they allowed him to stay.
Mr. Amato expected us to do as we were told and we did. Our pay was 25 cents an hour plus any tips we might get from customers. He said we were overpaid. While I rarely earned a tip for cleaning windshields, checking the oil level and tire pressure, or for doing a quick visual check of the vehicle, I did learn about pleasing the Mr. Amato by pleasing the customers.
I stayed focused, kept my eye out for any hint of a problem with the goings-on at the gas station. Mr. Amato seemed to like me and once said that I was disciplined at my work – pumping gas. I just did what he told me to do. Later while thinking about what Mr. Amato said to me, I slowly came to the realization that without hard work and discipline, you cannot be a successful professional.
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