MARCH5, 2021 – On August 5, 2019, I met Idris, a 27-year old Somali immigrant who made an immediate positive impression. The next day, I wrote about him in a blog post (I’d misspelled his name, adding an extra “s.”).
Yesterday, Idris called out of the blue. I was delighted to hear from him, and we wound up talking for 45 minutes. This guy and his business partner had been through hell and high water since my original encounter with them, but they’ve managed to turn the corner—quite literally—with their tractor-trailer driving training school. They’ve landed lucrative contracts with nationwide carriers and are off to the races.
As I heard Idris describe his experiences—and lessons learned—with intelligence, polished English, and an excellent sense of humor, I marveled at what an asset he is to our community. I told him so and suggested that he has developed another calling atop his business success: teaching in B-school. “You’d have the students spell-bound,” I said. “After grinding their way through law, finance, and technology courses, they’d find out from you how the real world operates, and they’d hang on every word.”
Idris laughed, but I persisted. I think my suggestion sank in.
He told me more—about the many East African immigrants that his company trains and some of their remarkable stories. We then discussed the sorry state of the nation and all that’s transpired since we’d last talked. Idris was discouraged by none of it.
Idris then made a request. “Can I get you out to our facility,” he asked, “to give a talk to our staff and students? You could give encouragement, build their confidence, bolster their commitment to improving their lives.”
Huh, I thought. Me, a white, geezer-pessimist, as a motivational speaker in front of a crowd of young, immigrants from East Africa?! Time to be bullish on America!
“Sure, Idris,” I said. “I’d love to.” The wheels (so to speak) started turning. “Do you have projection equipment and space where people could gather for a PowerPoint display?”
“Yes, we do,” came the answer.
“Great! I love assembling PowerPoint slide shows,” I said, “and my hook will be old photos of early 20th century trucks that my great-grandfather used in his moving and storage business. I’ll include more photos of later trucks from the 1930s through the 1960s, and the one I rode in as a six-year-old kid from Minnesota to New Jersey [see 7/6/19 post]. It’s the story of old-fashioned entrepreneurship.
“I’ll talk about what I think America can be, Idris, and the critical role that your staff and students can play.”
“That would be fantastic!” said Idris. “It will mean a lot to everyone.”
We discussed logistics, scheduling, then concluded our conversation.
I returned to my work—drafting an agreement—but didn’t get far. The phone call had made quite an impact. I gazed out the window at the blue sky, bright sun, and melting ice and snow. Spring was winning, as it always does, and so was human resilience.
(Remember to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.)
© 2021 by Eric Nilsson
