This column is about a co-worker who taught me lessons that helped my career. Have you been so lucky?  

In 1969, I graduated from Burncoat High School in Worcester, Mass., and went right into a full-time job working on internal combustion vehicles. They were all air-cooled, foreign-made and the road tests were sometimes the best part. I didn’t have to do wheel alignments or air conditioning work. It was a dream job that I still treasure all these years later.  

I worked with a man my own age who was taking college courses in mechanical engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. His name was John Dunbar. What we had in common was motorcycling. At that time John drove a BSA and I drove a Honda. We became friends. Joe Bolger was the shop owner and sold Honda motorcycles before Honda cars came to America. A couple years later, John and I rode street legal off-road Hondas, me a 125 and John a 250. We became friends. 

John knew I was keeping a secret from Joe: I am color blind. True color blindness is rare. Those people only see black, white and shades of grey. My condition causes me to mix up red and green, plus a few other colors. I needed that job and I was afraid I would get fired if Joe knew.  

If you are a Honda buff from the 1960s, you might remember there were no plastic connecters with multiple-colored wires attached at that time.  If each connector was slightly different, no mistakes were made — 40 wires, six connectors and the Honda was ready to ride. Unfortunately for me, back then each wire was plugged into one more, hopefully the same color. Red was positive and green was negative. Other colors were used, too, and some had a color down the side of the rubber insulator that we called the “tracer”. 

New Honda motorcycles were shipped from Japan, partially assembled in a wooden crate. The handlebars were strapped to the side of the frame (pre-wired), the front wheel and seat were in a cardboard box and the headlight, taillight and directionals were in another. Two hours later, a new Honda was ready for a ride. John helped me match up the green to green and red to red. I was too afraid to ask for help, but John saw me struggling and offered to educate me.   

Lesson one: Don’t be afraid to ask for help. A thoughtful owner will be understanding and will work on accommodating you. 

John was also getting his degree in mechanical engineering and was excited to explain to me some of the teachings he had recently learned where they applied to motorcycles. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was starting to think like an engineer. Can that mental process be taught or is it in DNA?  Our office manager, Krista, has the same degree from the same college as John. She has young children, so a part-time job makes sense. Her husband is a software engineer. We talked about this subject and Krista explained it this way: Software engineering is totally different than mechanical engineering. Her mind processes mechanical technology easily, but doesn’t understand what her husband is doing — two different brains.  

Lesson two: Work with people who are more educated than you — and smarter, too! 

Back to John Dunbar. After graduation, he worked for a while as an engineer, but left and came back to the Honda shop as a mechanic and did service manager work, as well. Then he was off to a Subaru dealership on the coast of Maine, eventually owning an old wooden boat restoration shop further up the Maine coast. I started an independent Honda shop in Worcester in my mid-20s.

We met up recently. He and I are still learning — in our mid-70s. Fixing things is what we do. We still ride Honda motorcycles.    

What are the takeaways for your dealership? Hiring young employees with a college degree is a good indicator that they understand the value of learning. We all know that lifelong learning is not optional in this business. Lessons are learned from co-workers, so encourage the relationships that exist in your shop and you can move to a more inclusive mix of people. Think about what you do now to foster the growth of ideas and lifelong learning. And don’t be afraid to look outside this industry for talent. More about Human Capital in the next edition of MTD.