A change of view
Michael P. Duncan | TLT President's Report October 2019
STLE taught me the cold, hard truth about my competitors—they’re just like me!
I realized STLE educators put aside their competitive differences in the common goal of teaching less-experienced members, regardless of their corporate affiliation.
It is funny how one’s perception changes with age and experiences.
When I began my career as a young tribologist and lubrication Engineer in 1988 at the age of 27, I viewed my competitors as unscrupulous (terrible, dodgy and untrustworthy) people. Boy, was I wrong.
My perception changed quickly as I attended my first STLE annual meeting and began interacting with customers, suppliers and, yes, the dreaded evil competitors. Taking the Basic Lubrication course at the annual meeting, I soon realized that STLE educators put away their corporate hats at the door and represented themselves as STLE members in the common goal of educating younger and less-experienced members, regardless of their corporate affiliation. I also soon realized that these course instructors were not compensated for their time and materials, which was very hard for me to comprehend.
I then became an active member of the Chicago Section of STLE in the 1990s for a variety of reasons: education and networking initially but later for the social events. I quickly began developing and sharing my own skills with the membership, arranging education courses, science fairs, monthly meetings, golf outings and other Chicago Section activities. I found myself interacting with a broad network of suppliers and customers and also gained the mutual respect of my competitors during this time.
Joining the STLE board of directors in 2005 was an eye-opening and awe-inspiring experience at the same time. The STLE board is comprised of 24 remarkable people from around the world and holding a variety of positions within our community. The board is made of a diverse group of leaders. They are researchers, technical managers, sales and marketing managers, professors, consultants and owners of companies. Twenty-four sounds like a lot of members on the board (and it is), but it is amazing how respectful, passionate, knowledgeable and common-goal oriented this collection of individuals is, especially considering the diversity in their jobs, cultures, ages and gender. I guess it is called professionalism (and Bill Murray was wrong in the 1984 Ghostbusters movie: “Dogs and cats living together—mass hysteria!”).
What I have learned along the way—get to know your fellow members. Our members, regardless of their affiliation, are people just like you and me—most of them better than me! They put their pants, shirts, socks and shoes on every day just like I do. They go to work, have issues and opportunities at their jobs, too (with suppliers, customers, coworkers and subordinates), are typically a spouse or partner, raising children, paying for college, have bills to pay, health and medical issues and aging parents and grandparents. Sometimes they are looking for employment and sometimes looking for employees. They also do some incredible things outside of their jobs (i.e., have hobbies, enjoy sports, read books, watch movies, do home projects, take cool or hot vacations, volunteer at STLE or other associations, volunteer at the Habitat for Humanity, volunteer at homeless shelters, foster children or pets, clean the environment on weekends, etc.).
Thank you fellow STLE members for continuing to make the world great by conquering one tribological or lubricant engineering problem at a time. Thank you for changing my perception of a competitor!
For those members wanting to get more involved in the society, please contact a local section committee member, reach out to a fellow board member or drop me a line. We need additional volunteers to serve on future boards; for the Tribology Frontiers Conference, Oct. 20-23 in Chicago; the annual meeting, May 3-7 in Chicago where we’ll celebrate STLE’s 75th anniversary; the College-Corporate Member Internship Program and the Scholarship Committee.
Mike Duncan is executive vice president of technology of Daubert Chemical Co. in Chicago. You can reach him at mduncan@daubert.com.