Gordon, whatās the most āJeff Tracyā thing youāve ever caught yourself doing?
Oh no. Hate this question. Deeply offensive. Ten out of ten. How dare you suggest Iām anything like fifty percent of my DNA š¤Ø
Thereās lot of little thingsā¦
But saying, āWeāre not done yet,ā in a voice that made six board members and an entire portion of the finance team immediately sit up straighter, is up there.
Awful. Horrifying. I apologised so many times and bought everyone on the finance team donuts and dinner to try and make up for it, with a card that said Sorry I Became My Father. Apparently what was written on it was hilarious and they still have it pinned on the wall with the little toy squid I gave them. Anyway. Still mooching up to them for it šāāļø
We were testing a flood-response drone system for coastal communities. Great idea, sound theory. Unfortunately, as happens unless you are actually Brains, the prototype had the survival instincts of wet cardboard. It failed in the tank. Failed in the simulator. Failed in field conditions. Failed so dramatically once that it bumped into a pier and just sort ofā¦ gave up š©
And the finance board were less than enthused, and the board were throwing around the good olā corporate slang about viabilities and long term scalability and margin projections.
(I was eating red hot Cheetos out a mug at that point, Iām not sure what else was said, I donāt so well in several hours long finance meetings, especially when theyāre trying to kill my pet projects šāāļø)
(But I am also a fiscally responsible grown adult and realise a successful business needs to be financially viable and this is why we love the finance team because otherwise weād be in trouble. We being me. This is also why Iāll never be in actual management but thatās a tangent for another day)
Anyway, too long, donāt read; I got a bit annoyed.
Because there was a right answer in there, and I could see it, and once I can see it I become, apparently, deeply annoying. Coupled with that annoying moral backbone that makes you deeply inconvenient in a meeting with people in suits who have never actually done the thing youāre trying to do.
This was about something that could potentially save hundreds of lives over and over, and would have really benefited the most deprived communities who didnāt have access to tech to help already. Prime Tracy Industries ground to cover. Like the majority of the portfolio I look after, itās third sector work and itās deeply important to us, to the TI ethos, but I suspect to the board who like profits, a bit of a pain in the ass at times. CEO not included, of course š«¶š»
And it was beyond frustrating to me that we were equating lives with money, especially given that this was just the prototype. It felt like giving up at the first challenge and that really irritates me. Thatās dangerously Dad-coded.
So I licked my Cheeto-y fingers and downed my root beer in one, and got up to speak. Iām standing there like, no, actually, we are going to do the right thing and we are going to do it properly, and you arenāt killing this at the first hurdle, and one of the board members starts arguing back with me andā¦ yeah. Thatās when it came out.
The whole room went very quiet and again, too long, donāt read, itās a very successful project now that weāve got fifteen sites for šāāļø
Anywayyyyyā¦ I think thatās the most Jeff Tracy thing in me. Not arrogance, not ego. Just this bone-deep refusal to accept an obstacle as permanent until Iāve personally offended it from every possible angle. Dad doesnāt believe in things because theyāre easy; he has this maddening, immovable faith that impossible is not impossible.
And thatās the biggest thing Dad gave us, I think. Not the money. Not the machines (although I am eternally grateful to him and @brains-ir for my baby girl). He gave us this deep rooted belief that if you can help, you should. If something matters, if itās important to you, then you throw your weight behind it and prove your point and get the thing done regardless of the noise round about you. You stand there and refuse to let the world stay broken in that particular way, and you give it your all and you damn well care about it.
And itās what got him where he is and why people trust him. Itās why people believe in us, in International Rescue. Itās the Tracy magic āØ
Itās annoying at times though. It ruins your sleep. It makes you care about things that would be much easier not to care about.
