On the shoulders of giants.
My post here awhile back about my BMX coach Joe got me thinking — none of us would get very far without the support of others. We all truly stand on the shoulders of giants.
One of the giants in my life is Ben Serotta. I’ve written some about how I came to work for Ben (http://kirk.massive.net/2009/03/07/history/) back in 1989 and it was a bit convoluted and messy. The short of it is that I was approached and hired by Ben’s right hand man — a guy named Rory. I’d given notice at my bike shop job and was excited to start work at Serotta in a very few weeks and called Rory to get advice on housing in the area. He told me there was going to be a slight delay in my starting but nothing was wrong and asked if I could start not in 2 weeks as was planned, but in 4. Ok…….that will work. Not ideal but it will work. And then the delay turned into 4 weeks and then 6 and 8 and I knew there was no job for me and I stopped calling. During this time I’d never had a conversation with Ben aside from the initial interview.
I move on thinking the Serotta gig is in the past and a few years later I get a call at home one night from Ben Serotta. He told me he’d just heard how I was treated a few years before and wanted me to know that Rory was long gone. He apologized and asked if I’d consider interviewing once again for a job. Frankly I think this took balls on his part. He had no idea how I’d react and thought I might tell him to step off. But he was sincere and genuine and it just felt right so I agreed to interview. This was the moment when I learned that Ben was a man of ethics and morals. He didn’t know me from Adam and no doubt could have not made that awkward call and just gone down the list to the next name – but he did make the call.
I did end up working for Ben the second time around and frankly it was a mixed bag at first. It was a tough place to work and the work was hard and fast. I didn’t see Ben much back then as he spent most of his time in the office or on the road promoting the brand. But there were times I got to see how he worked and to work along side him. We were always a bit short staffed on the production floor and if someone were out sick we would fall behind. In these cases Ben would pop into the shop and pull on some goggles and fire up the torch. I recall thinking that I doubt he knew how to do braze well after all the time at a desk but I was flat out wrong. He would fire up the torch and make it scream and get the job done. He was fast and efficient and most of all comfortable doing the work and one could see it from a distance. I liked very much that he wasn’t above getting his hands dirty to help out. His actions and demeanor taught me a lot.
Over the years I worked my way up in the company and my relationship with Ben had its ups and downs. I’ll bet there was a time where both of us would have said that we didn’t care for one another very much — we butted heads a good bit. But I was young and cocky and trying to make my mark on the world and probably didn’t see things as they really were. One thing I realized that Ben and I had in common was that we both wanted Serottas to be the best money could buy — no holds barred. Our common goals lead to our working closely together over time and I’m proud to say that out relationship shifted and morphed and we became friends.
Over time my job changed from being the custom builder to being the head of the R&D department. It was here that Ben’s shoulders got wide and I stood on them in a big way. Ben gave me a lot of room to develop products and was always there for me. He bumped me back on the proper path when I started to go in the wrong direction and yet somehow never got in my way. When I had the idea to make a road bike with a passive suspension (arguably a kooky idea at the time) he listened to my reasoning, saw the passion I had for the idea and then set me loose to work on it. This is extremely unusual in the bike biz where money is tight and each investment needs to pay for itself in very short order. The Hors Categorie took 14 months to develop, test, and produce the tooling for and he could have cut me off at any time — but he never did. His experience that told him that it was worth the time and effort and he let it all happen. I will always be grateful to him for that. He gave me the room I needed and helped me learn to think critically about design and the business of framebuilding.
I had been with Serotta for about 9 years when Karin and I visited Montana on a ski vacation and we fell in love with this place. It was very hard to walk into Ben’s office and give him notice that I’d be leaving the company but I knew it was the right thing to do. I gave about 8 months notice and worked very closely with Ben to hire and train my replacement. When I finally did leave it was with mixed feelings but Ben was very supportive through the entire thing. Since then any time I needed anything from Ben he was there for me. I feel I can say with certainty that without Ben and his support, guidance and friendship that I would never have been able to do what I wanted to do when I grew up — become a professional bicycle framebuilder.
I don’t get to see or talk with Ben as much as I would like at this point. Being busy as we both are and living 2500 miles apart has a way of cutting down on the face time. I do get to see him when I travel to NAHBS each year and we seem to pick up right where we left off the year before. In a perfect world I’d be able to work on a joint project with Ben at some point. That would be fun.
Thanks Ben for being my giant.
Dave
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6 responses to “On the shoulders of giants.”
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Very cool Dave.
Nice story, Dave, good of you to share it and to show your respect for those who went before you.
Right from the heart! Thanks for sharing Dave.
Hey Dave,
I’ve been to Montana several times. After experiencing the splendor of Montana, I totally relate to your decision. I hope I can retire there someday. Glacier National Park is the closest place to “Heaven on Earth” I have ever experienced. Red Lodge, Bozeman, and West Yellowstone are all beautiful as well. Love the Beartooth Highway. Best of luck in the future.
Dave:
Many of us have had the good fortune to have had mentors to give us a boost along the way. Your note about your mentor made me realize the act of saying out loud- thank you – some time down the road connects us to each other, regardless of the passage of time. I have people to thank, so gotta go.
Lawrence Myer
Very neat post.