He came to Lindale from Jacksonville, where he had engineered the box factory system, translating hand work into fast and accurate automated production. Allen Canning Company brought him in to rework their production line. He liked to tell how he began.
First day on the job, Earl took a folding chair and a legal pad, and moved slowly along the line. He listened to the machinery, the wheels and bearings, every part that moved a can or touched one. On day two, he went back, walking the line with the engineering drawings, listening to the way each part passed a can down the line. With a well-trained ear, he heard the pauses and the tensions, the grabs and the slips. The process was repeated until Earl knew the rhythm and timing of the machinery very well.
First you listen, THEN you modify.
Good lesson to learn early, specially if you want to succeed! There are lots of "machines" in life. Production lines, schools, churches, families, all have bumps and whistles, groans and strains, smooth spots and conflicts. Earl said, "You have to listen first." Whether you're making baskets, canning vegetables, growing a family, or shaping up a team, listen first.
We've all seen instances of a highly skilled "engineer" of one sort or another, trained, equipped, eager to work, but who never learned to listen. Frustrates everyone.
The best blessing I know? God listens! It all works better when God's children, who want to do His pleasure, learn how to listen, too.
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