I returned to work for Ford in a capacity similar to what I
did before I retired, and really, it's been the best:
I work four days each week, about six hours each day. I get
paid for what I work - no paid sick days, no holidays; if I take a week's
vacation, I don't get paid.
I love my job. I have the best boss.
I work with bright, ambitious, intelligent people. They're
different than I am - I don't have excess aptitude in high math, but these guys
are automotive engineers.
I can be analytical, and the journalism training and
experience has helped me to develop spreadsheets that try to combine data with
simplicity, to convey ideas and suggest recommendations. You never, ever
achieve the ideal, but it’s out there.
Imagine designing an automobile - thousands of moving parts,
which have to operate in all kinds of environments - blazing hot, stultifyingly
cold, 10,000 feet above sea level, ascending impossibly steep hills, mountains
even.
I think there are more than 300 separate components in an
automatic transmission, more than an engine. Imagine designing them to work
together through all kinds of environmental conditions.
I admire these engineers - it makes me want to serve them
better in my role as reporting how they're doing versus their budget. Sounds
banal, I know, but they do care about it, and it's great being able to help
them navigate how to get something through the system, or to explain why their
travel expense was $10,000 in January, compared with a monthly budget of
$5,000.
But hey, you pay attention to this this now, and we'll fix
it - together.
I sat in an executive staff meeting on Monday morning, and
I'd be willing to bet that the average IQ in the room was 150. They are
brilliant.
Today, I got a note from my boss' boss' boss’ boss
congratulating me on helping to deliver a key part of the budget, with levels
consensed by a dozen different department managers, none of them a bit shy.
In the note, my boss’ boss’ boss’ boss said I was organized
and methodical. And I sure try to be.
It feels great to try to get it right. Evanescent goal, I
know, but worthy nonetheless. And they pay me for this.
