Over twenty years ago: "Hi Tom. My name is Jeff Martin. Bentley just bought InRoads from Intergraph. You need an InRoads Instructor."
I didn't make a lot of cold calls, but this one seemed obvious.
I was an independent InRoads trainer and consultant. Archway Systems was a local (well, 90 miles north) Bentley Channel Partner.
I didn't know then but Tom Lazear can claim the title of Patriarch of Independent Bentley Resellers and a whole host of other superlatives.
"Jeff, I'm going to drive down and take you and your wife out to dinner." Junior Seau's Restaurant in Mission Valley is where I met Tom.
I could lead now with the work I did with/for Archway, but that's not really the important part of this story.
My dad was self-employed his whole life. Entrepreneurialism was part of our blood. It was inevitable that I would run my own business. But that doesn't mean I would be good at all aspects of it. The technical part was easy. Monetizing Relationships was weird and uncomfortable for me then - and, frankly, still is today. Connecting with people is like breathing - instinctive and vital. But structuring a relationship around transactions and money - that's a whole separate skillset and thought framework.
Tom, from the very first moment and without ever straying from that ideal, demonstrated that business isn't the cutthroat hellscape that I imagined it could be There were Good People. There were businessmen who led with integrity. Partnerships that can benefit all parties. Transparency is easy - it's welcome - when operating always with integrity.
Actually, everyone I've worked with before and since has been completely ethical. But Tom felt really safe, really comforting. He exuded trustworthiness - and never deviated from that. He was always very transparent, and I learned about business trust and partnering. "The Business Ecosystem has Lazears in it." This had a permanent calming effect.
Soon enough I met the other Lazears. Mike, Danny, Josh. Three generations then (now, four?). I was always a bit jealous. I would have loved to work for my dad, but I had had enough construction in Central Florida for my taste.
One of the "work" things I'm proudest of is that I am an alumnus of that great honor: the Archway California State Road Tour. Archway would travel around the state giving demos to high schools and colleges. Fresno, Sacramento, Berkeley (I'll have to write sometime about all the Grout quotes written on the grout between the tiles in the bathroom (which I worked into my presentation there: "All Creatures Grout and Small", "Behind every Grout man is a Grout woman...")) and all places in between. "Jeff, we appreciate that InRoads supports tracking 'Contractor Kickbacks' per drainage structure, but perhaps you use a different example at the high schools." Ahh, that fine line between memorable analogies and "more-universal" ones... Occasionally, I'll run into another Road Tour alumnus: great pride in being able to answer Tom's invite.
Receiving and Giving Compliments are great joys (I can control giving them; I try to be intentional about looking for opportunities). And the ones we cherish receiving the most come from those we hold in the highest respect.
Tom once said - he might have be just being his gracious self (I don't care, I will cling to its validating effect) - "Everything I know about InRoads, I learned from your manuals." I think there was a lot of truth to that because even today most training manuals are just process documentation defaulting to the guru's typical production sequence. My material was frontloaded with architectural/capability outlines and "consumer-level simplicity". I didn't force someone to learn superelevation before they learned how to run a report. In any case, a compliment that hits close to the heart is a timeless compliment - and I strive to craft those whenever I can.
Getting to know The Patriarch and his family has been a career and life highlight that I am forever thankful for. Knowing them is still a comfort, years later.
