The Good Kind of Pride

Usually when I think of the word "pride" it has bad connotations. The opposite of humility obviously. Today I felt a different sense of pride, "the good kind of pride." 

Today was the culmination of a lot of hard work for my company. To give you a short background, my company works to bring new businesses and economic growth to our community by creating and retaining jobs. I know, it's something I'm still figuring out too. My boss has been with our company for over 20 years so he really knows what's up and that's great for our community. I've learned a lot from him. We also have an excellent relationship with the state of Indiana economic development people and our local elected officials which allows us to offer a lot of incentives to attract new companies we might not otherwise be able to offer. 

So back to today. A few months ago we brought a company to town to look at an empty building, a symbolic building in our community that closed in 2004 ending nearly 1,000 good paying jobs. Since then there has been a lot of bitterness in our community because of those lost jobs and the fact that they never came back. Some people made the best of it and went back to school or started their own companies. Some people didn't and have held onto their bitterness. 

Anyways, this company, a plastics manufacturer who makes containers for everything from automotive to food packaging, came from Wisconsin because this specific building had high ceilings, big enough for their equipment. Go figure that something like high ceilings would come into play here. They aren't just for mansions anymore apparently. The company also liked our low cost of utilities since it takes a lot of heat for them to melt and mold the plastics they use. 

Finally, after weeks of pins and needles working on the lease and waiting for the company president to make his decision, the final call to move their entire operation from Wisconsin to our community was made yesterday which set off a flurry of activity around our office and the city today. We needed a podium and a stage and a big banner. We needed to send out announcements to the media and public to attend the event. We needed to arrange for Indiana's Governor Mitch Daniels to fly his helicopter in. (Incidentally I was named the state trooper liaison which really only meant showing the guy around the building to make sure it was safe for the governor, but everyone joked that I should get my own badge). Luckily the old adage "many hands make light work" proved true and we pulled off a great event today. 

Over 500 people showed up which made the representative from the company get a little choked up when he made his remarks. He honestly was so overcome by the outpouring of support and gratitude the community gave him. It made me really proud of the people who showed up and supported him and his company. The governor was there of course, being his usual down to earth self stopping to hear people's stories and meet them. He is so genuine. I also finally got to meet him for the first time and upon finding out I was a Taylor grad he expressed high praise for Taylor students, some of whom he has hired. 

But aside from all the hype and the tv cameras and the governor, here's the thing that really got me about today. First, this company will most likely bring close to 400 jobs to our community. I can't even begin to explain to you how important that is. They will be spread out over several years, but even so, the fact that they picked us to create those jobs in the first place is outstanding. And these are good paying jobs with a starting wage around $16/hour. Heck, that's more than I make! 

The other personally fulfilling thing for me was that I finally saw a bigger picture of what I work for day in and day out. I saw real people this company will help. I got to feel the energy in the room as people celebrated this company breathing new life into an old, "dinosaur" building. I saw the hope of fulfilling work for someone else. I am able to help them get there. 

Throughout the time we've been bringing this company here I've gotten to know four guys who basically oversee the empty building, clean it, run security, that sort of thing. Paul, Larry, Jim, and Dave are not the cleanest, most well kept sorts of guys you've ever met. They're rough and have missing teeth and smoke inside the building, but they're funny and friendly and I genuinely like them. As I've talked with them they've all shared how they each worked at the former company, some upwards of 40 years. Imagine being in your 50s and losing the only job you've probably ever known since high school. Larry shared with me how his wife went through lung cancer while he was laid off and it made him crazy and brought them closer. Jim warned me to wear my long underwear when I came to the plant today because it was so cold in there. These four guys represent a hard working spirit that doesn't want to give up. Interacting with them put a face to the people we try to help when we recruit companies to come here. I want to remember them when my days are long and my tasks are tedious. There's a bigger goal out there than just me and it was good to be reminded of that today. 

I genuinely swelled with good pride today to see my community come together and celebrate the rebirth of this symbolic building. I hope it's a pride that spreads across our community and even beyond Indiana.