When I was a youngster, one of my greatest joys was working alongside my Dad in his electronic security business during school holidays. We would joke that I was his apprentice. I had my own tools and he’d teach me how to use them properly. I’d solder circuit boards, run up and down warehouse corridors to set off security sensors, climb under floors to run cables. If I was at the factory, I’d run up to the shop nearby to order the ritual hamburger with pineapple for lunch with a can of soft drink. When Mum and Dad renovated our home, I was out there on the roof hammering nails and holding the end of pieces of timber that weighed more than me!
My parents are now in their early 80s and have just finished building their new home on the front of their land, after being in the original house for 38 years. Since the 70's Dad’s business was at the forefront of the development of the electronic security industry. His monitoring security company was renowned for lowest levels of false alarms, and the quality he gave his clients was legendary. So you can imagine the detailed project plans that were given to the builder for this new home. The standard of his work ethic and quality is evident in the planning that he put into those project plans.
Last week I turned up and there were still things not quite finished though. Mum and Dad were itching to move into their new home (well Dad was, Mum on the other hand was a little more reticent to leave their home of 38 years!). Dad's less flexible now, and was sporting a big gash on his leg from falling in a grate (12 stitches later!). So I put back on my ageing apprentice hat and crawled into the washing machine space to drill two big drain holes through the laminex. I hadn't used a big drill for many a year, let alone drill through two pieces of hard laminate. Guess who was standing there guiding me and giving me advice? He knew exactly when to get me to test out whether it was cutting evenly and how to address that, and when to leave me to it. It took me right back to being on the roof with him when I was young.
Dad's impact on my professional and personal values is profound. What he taught me in those times and across my life is a huge thread in the weave of my values. Work ethic, professionalism, service mixed in with a stubborn belief that things can be achieved with some grit, determination and a big dollop of ingenuity.
Who are your value weavers? Have you acknowledged them lately? Our values hold us steady through complex times, and impact others in ways we don't even know. It is heart work, guiding us to make better decisions. This heart work gives us a sense of 'rightness' in how we move in the world and what people experience with us.
Gratitude to all of those who impact others and help us weave our values through guidance, modelling, care and love.