The Mechanics of Leadership: Lessons in Leadership from Dad the Mechanic & Wwii Veteran

By Donald R. Jefferies M.A.

How do you create an environment that inspires and motivates teachers and other types of employees to do their jobs? If you know the answer to that question, you may not need to read this book. If you already know the key ingredients of leading people in work environments, you may not want to read this book. If you are not interested in creating a work environment that fosters respect, collaboration, ownership, increased productivity, and quality products, do not read this book. If, on the other hand, you want a school, a district, or other work environment that does those things, and learn leadership concepts passed down from a person who survived the Great Depression and four years of service in World War II, you may want to read this book.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Sep 26, 2019
• ISBN: 9781728329093

Donald R. Jefferies M.A.

Don Jefferies is first a family man. He and his wife Linda have been married 46 years. He is the father of 4 grown children, all with professional careers. He has 5 wonderful grandchildren. His professional life has been devoted to public education for over 45 years. He has a BS in history and English from Stephen F. Austin State University and a MA in history from The University of Houston Clear Lake. He taught secondary education for 12 years and evening college classes for 3 years. He spent 3 years as an assistant principal, 10 years as a high school principal, 7 years as an assistant superintendent, and 13 years as a superintendent. He also taught Cognitive Intervention for 1 ½ years to inmates in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. His highest awards have come from appreciative students, parents, teachers, and school boards. In addition, he earned the “Texas Association of Secondary School Principals Region IV Outstanding High School Principal Award in 1990”. In 2016, he was recognized by the Texas Association of School Boards as the “ESC 8 Regional Superintendent of the Year”. He was also recognized by Discovery Education with the “2016 Lifetime Innovative Educator” award.

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© 2019 Donald R. Jefferies, M.A.. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 09/26/2019

ISBN: 978-1-7283-2910-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-7283-2908-6 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-7283-2909-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019915053

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

CONTENTS

Personal Mission Statement of Donald R. Jefferies

Acknowledgements

Part 1:Introduction

Part 2:Mechanical Lessons

Learn to Follow

Develop A Work Ethic

Anticipation

If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It

Diagnose Before You Fix It

Use the Right Tools

Don’t Force It!

Take Care of Your Tools

Pry Bars Give You Leverage

Organize the Parts as You Disassemble and Reassemble as Planned

It Must Run, i.e. Accountability

Keep Your Engine Tuned

Part 3:Driving Lessons

Plan Your Trip

Look Down the Road

Use Your Mirrors

Signs and Guideposts

Part 4:Farm & Life Lessons

Honest Day’s Work

It Doesn’t Hurt to Want

Don’t Buy Without Negotiating the Price

Be Kind and Patient with Animals

It Is Tougher Where There Is None

Books I Recommend

PERSONAL MISSION STATEMENT OF DONALD R. JEFFERIES

It is my mission in life to make Waves in the sea of existence…

Waves that will help my wife and children reach the crest of success and self-fulfillment.

Waves that will raise the tides of success and happiness for family members, friends, and all who are influenced by my actions.

Waves that will crash through the walls of ignorance, denial, and deprivation and leave a wake of enlightenment, awareness, and abundance.

Waves that will raise the level of educational accomplishment for everyone.

Waves that will create estuaries of democratic practices leading people to economic and personal freedom through responsible behavior.

Waves that will bathe the communities in which I live with a sense of optimism and hope.

Waves that will test the body’s ability to stay fit and enjoy the pulsating adventures in life.

Waves that create pools of time for reflective thought and prayer, and provide a basis for spiritual action.

Waves that in their dying day will ripple out into a sea of calm satisfaction.

Waves that when they have washed away will reveal new treasures for others to explore.

Donald R. Jefferies, M.A.

October, 1996 © 1998

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I want to thank my spouse, Linda, for her patience with me and her editing skills. She is the love of my life. She is a retired English teacher who enriched the lives of her students. She also did an outstanding job correcting many of my grammatical mistakes. Any mistakes that remain are mine alone.

I am very appreciative to all the teachers who have enriched my life and helped me grow in knowledge and understanding. While they are many in number, I do want to name a few. In elementary school Mrs. Parks, Mrs. Wilson, and Mrs. McKenzie were the best. They demonstrated patience and understanding with a young boy who needed both. In middle school Mr. Jeter, Mrs. Orrell, Mr. Meloy, and Mrs. Hunt, all challenged me to improve. In high school Mr. Kennedy, Coach Watson, Coach Horner, Mrs. Collins, Mrs. Myles, Mrs. Robinson, Mr. Parker, and Ms. Condra all had significant influences on my life. In college and graduate school Mr. Longshore, Mr. Meadows, Mrs. Wyllie, Ms. Payte, Mr. Phillips, Mr. Holst, Dr. Hines, Dr. Abernathy, Mr. Hufty, Dr. Roberts, Dr. Rodewall, Dr. Grigsby, Dr. Hill, Dr. Dean, Dr. Brown, Dr. Brophy, Dr. Gibson, Dr. Greco, and Dr. Bilstein all raised my consciousness and challenged me to explore new ways of thinking and understanding an increasingly complex world.

I am indebted to many people in my life, but my teachers and professors increased my knowledge and understanding of the world in which I live; taught me to think critically and question the status quo; helped me appreciate the fact that each person has a responsibility for his or her own learning; increased my understanding of why it is important for all of us to appreciate the culture and background of others; made me aware of the fact that we all stand on the shoulders of those that came before us; left me with a warning that if we do not learn from the past, we will repeat the mistakes of the past; and finally helped me realize if we are to enjoy a peaceful existence on this planet, we must understand that the world is actually a small place that is very interdependent and requires appreciation and tolerance of others.

Donald R. Jefferies, M.A.

PART 1

Introduction

If you want to know about the nuts and bolts of leadership, there is no better place to start than with the advice of a mechanic. Dad was a mechanic who worked for Phillips Petroleum Company for over thirty years. He worked on everything from bulldozers and diesel trains to large industrial engines that ran on natural gas. He could rebuild any engine from the ground up.

Like many men of his generation, he began his career as a mechanic when he was a young man working on cars, trucks, and motorcycles in the 1920’s and 1930’s. He also drove ice and ice cream delivery trucks. Keep in mind that many homes in the 20’s and 30’s still had ice boxes and needed ice a couple times a week to protect their food and perishables from spoilage. Dad would deliver large blocks of ice and place them in customer’s ice boxes. His experiences as a young man working on vehicles, driving a truck, and serving customers would prove very valuable to him throughout his life.

His work experience shifted from the world of private enterprise to the military in 1941 when he was drafted into the US Army. In some ways, he was lucky that he was drafted prior to Pearl Harbor, because his Army training was probably less rushed than those who entered the military in early 1942. He served in the 63rd Signal Battalion in the 5th Army for the duration of the US involvement in World War II. He was assigned to headquarters as a telegraph operator who received regular, high speed, and secretly coded messages. Dad carried a .45 caliber M1911 pistol, a M1 Carbine, and, at times, a Thompson Sub-machine Gun. He remained overseas in North Africa and the European Theater for the entire war. He earned six battle stars during the war, each representing six months in active combat. He was first stationed in Carrickfergus, Ireland for training prior to Operation Torch, and then he made his way across North Africa and up through Italy. He was in the Poe Valley in Northern Italy when the war ended. He earned the rank of Tech Sergeant during the war. I will never fully know or understand how WWII shaped Dad and his views on leadership; however, he was always firm and decisive. You can probably be sure that his wartime experiences impacted his understanding and implementation of leadership skills.

Dad grew up in a large family with four step-brothers and sisters, two other brothers, and a sister. In age, he fell near the middle of all the children. However, he was the first child of his mother. Rest assured, growing up within the dynamics of a step-family in the 1920’s and 1930’s also had an impact on how he viewed leadership responsibilities. With older step-brothers, he had to learn how to take care of himself.

Family member unemployment issues and the Great Depression left an indelible impression on Dad. He grew up experiencing severe shortages of many of the basic necessities and things that most people take for granted. Once he told me that he and his friends would fry grasshoppers and eat them. Like many of his generation, he had a tremendous work ethic which was shaped partly by the need to work creatively and hard in order to get and keep jobs. There was no shortage of laborers during the Great Depression. Jobs had to be earned and continuously won on a daily basis. Dad was very good at that.

As for education, he apparently did well in school, while he was there. For example, he was a Student Council officer in junior high school. However, somewhere around his sophomore year in high school he was expelled. He only told me about this after I graduated from college and became a teacher. He said one day in class, his social studies teacher grabbed him by the hair. Dad turned around and hit his teacher knocking him down. Dad was taken to the office and expelled from school. That was his last day in school. Dad was not proud of what he did, but he still seemed to think he was justified because the teacher grabbed him first. I do not know exactly what Dad did to prompt the teacher, but I got the impression he was talking in class. My guess is there is more to this story, but I will never know since he passed away in 1999, and I never followed up on the details.

One thing I have definitely learned in the process of writing this book, I did not ask Dad enough questions about his life and experiences. So, if you are thinking about cataloging your parents’ experiences and life history, start now, make recordings and ask plenty of clarifying questions.

What I do know about Dad has a lot to do with what I learned from his actions, not just what he said. I know that Dad had a tremendous work ethic. He drove 45 miles to and from work every day. When he came home, he continued to work on various projects. When we lived in Houston, he added a brick and concrete fish pond in our back yard. He raised Guppies and sold them. He worked on cars for family and friends in our single car garage. Our house was a very small two-bedroom abode. My step-sister is eight years older than me. When I was around nine or ten, Dad enclosed and converted the small front porch making it into my bedroom. My sister’s privacy was more important than my need for space. I could get in and out of bed and dress without a problem. Once that was done, I had to leave the room to do anything else.

One event that may have prompted Dad to move me to the porch was a prank I pulled on my sister. She may have been eight years older than me, but I could occasionally get the best of her. One night, she announced she was going to take a bath and went into the bedroom to get her pj’s and stuff. I took advantage of the situation and slipped into the bathroom. I crawled into the dirty clothes hamper that was built into the area below the cabinet. I sat quietly waiting for my prey. When I heard her come into the bathroom, I waited until she passed the hamper before jumping out, making a loud noise, and ran out of the bathroom. She screamed at the top of her voice. While I got chastised by my parents, I think they got a laugh out of it when I was not looking. My sister on the other hand, did not think it was funny. I think she still checks the clothes hamper when she goes into the bathroom.

Actually, Dad’s construction of my porch bedroom was a big success. I actually enjoyed my cubby hole, and my sister felt a sigh of relief. The top half of the outer porch bedroom wall had roll-out jalousie windows. Since we did not have air conditioning, that made for cooler nights. However, one night while I was asleep, a loud explosion rattled the windows and woke me up. The house across the street and two houses down blew-up. The previous occupants had moved out a couple of days before so the house was vacant. Apparently, someone left a gas vent slightly open and the house filled with natural gas. When the gas seeped into the garage where the hot water heater was located, the pilot light set off the gas and it blew the walls off the back and side of the house. So much for my quiet private space!

In addition to home projects, Dad was always working on our cars or trucks. It seemed he could fix anything. We never took anything to someone else’s shop to be fixed. From lawn mowers to vehicles, Dad always fixed them. I learned from an early age, work was a necessary condition of life.

Dad’s interaction with people always modeled honesty and fairness. While Dad always sought the best deal for his family in buying or selling anything, he was honest in his dealings. When he agreed on a price, he honored that price. He was always proud of the fact that he never purchased a new car, truck, or tractor. He told me that he was