Mitch, Fix It!

I started today’s video recognizing the loss of Kobe Bryant. I don’t see how it could have been avoided. His star burned too bright for too long and his legacy will remain a pathway to the virtue of hard work and the reward of excellence for its own sake.

But, that isn’t what I needed to talk about here. I need to talk about what my father used to call the “Mitch, Fix It!” phone calls we’d get at the shop. Someone calling me to identify a problem they felt only I would be able to solve. Something broken only I could fix.

I still get those calls. In fact, I received one this morning focused on the acute shortage of qualified and competent people entering the skilled trades. Now, “skilled trades” is an interesting expression considering every trade requires a fair amount of skill! But in today’s world of expanding technology, it takes on an entirely new meaning.

Mitch, Fix It!

You can’t ignore the shortage of entry-level people seeking a place in any of the trades either. Nor, can the bias that exists against anyone who works with their hands or showers in the evening after working all day rather than in the morning before going to work.

Despite the caller’s confidence it will take lots more than my involvement to fix this problem. It will take more than his passion as well. If fixing what is broken in automotive service was a real concern it would have been addressed and remedied a long time ago. And, it would have come from the repair community itself. Not manufacturing or distribution.

The truth is, anyone involved in a service industry is invisible… Unless or until you need them!

With the shortages becoming more and more acute, there is an increasing probability that invisible or not, there might not be anyone there when you pick up the phone to call.