The Adventurous Stationmaster and the Watches

The Stationmaster of Redwood Falls had a problem. The shipment of watches that showed up at his small train station was refused by the local jeweler. The stationmaster, Richard Sears, decided to buy the watches himself. He started a side mail-order business. Later looking to expand his thriving jewelry catalog he advertised for a watchmaker and made Alva Roebuck his partner. Sears Roebuck and Co. was born. Like the jeweler from Redwood Falls, Roebuck had little need for adventure and left the company after just a few years.

Is life an adventure or do you have a plan? Most people believe that having and sticking to a plan is best. Both the jeweler of Redwood Falls and Roebuck the watchmaker had a plan. The jeweler didn’t order any watches. Roebuck was a watchmaker and he wanted to fix watches not run a mail order business. Richard Sears was a lowly stationmaster who had no plan for watches, no plan for a direct mail company. His only plan was to look for opportunities where others saw only problems.

My wife and I once organized for a Smithsonian exhibit on African American Inventors to be displayed in the basement of a boys’ prison. We invited an African American scientist who worked for DuPont to speak to the boys to help bring the story alive. The speaker faced a hostile audience but he won them over by comparing the styles of the different inventors to that of basketball stars they all knew. He spoke about the value of people and the importance of forming partnerships especially with women. He spoke about Madame CJ Walker, the first African American self-made woman millionaire. He asked, “How many guys rolled over this woman without understanding the power of being her partner?”

I believe we are all stationmasters. Our friends and our relationships are our network and our understanding of the intrinsic value in the people in our life and our willingness to feed our network and support our friends is what determines our prosperity. It is the small things we do every day which helps support our network.

Partnering with the best people and helping them on their journey is the best plan of all.