'Zen of Ben' at least taught me some problem solving skills

Ben – not his real name -- was fresh out of rehab when he hired me to come work for him at a radio station in Arizona.

I know Ben was fresh out of rehab when I came to work for him because he told me when he interviewed me. “I’m fresh out of rehab,” he said.

I don’t remember why he was in rehab. Booze? Gambling? Sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll?

By Ben’s own admission, he had returned with a new way to look at problems.

“With western European mercantile-based society, if something goes wrong we look for someone to blame and when we find someone to blame we want to call them on the carpet, blame them, shame then and exact a ‘pound of flesh’ so to speak,” Ben said.

Ben said while he was in rehab he learned a Japanese way of dealing with problems, mistakes, etc. and how the lesson brought the ex-Marine and long time manager a measure of peace.

“We find a mistake has been made, a major error. We have a meeting, we learn of what happened then we talk about what we can do to prevent it from happening again. I call it the Zen of Ben,” he said.

I’d worked for a number of bosses over the years, most of whom, when I erred found it very important to yell at me.

I think “the Zen of Ben” lasted for about three months.

One morning there was a loud verbal eruption from Ben’s office. He had left the door open while he yelled at the sales manager for not making the previous month’s sales goal. I was sure glad I wasn’t on the other end of Ben’s verbal barrage.

It wasn’t long before I was, though.

Back then the country singer Shania Twain had a hit song titled, “Any Man of Mine.”

That song inspired a comedy “answer song” titled “Any Gal of Mine” and our morning DJ Randy – also not his real name -- was playing it on his show. It wasn’t on the chart but it was kind of funny to me.

Ben was not amused.

“MCGEE! GET IN HERE,” Ben yelled from his office one morning.

I was soon in his office.

“Did you authorize the morning guy to play this stupid parody song, ‘Any Gal of Mine?’” he said, thumping his desk with his index finger.

“No, but…”

“THEN WHY IS IT PLAYING ON MY RADIO STATION?” Ben yelled.

“Randy found it and I think it’s pretty good so I didn’t see the harm…”

“OH, YOU DON’T SEE THE HARM. I SUPPOSE YOU KNOW MORE THAN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS IN NASHVILLE,” Ben yelled.

Then a simple question popped into my head.

“Ben, what are you REALLY angry about?” I asked.

Ben went silent.

He just stared at me.

I’m sure he didn’t say anything for about 30 seconds, but it seemed a lot longer.

“Get out of here,” Ben said, making a motion toward the door with his hand. “And tell Randy not to play that damn song every day.”

About a year later Ben left radio and went on to open an appliance store in Flagstaff.

And while Ben only practiced his Japanese method of problem solving for about three months, that initial experience taught me about a good way of dealing with problems in the workplace.

Thanks for the Zen, Ben.

Grant McGee writes for The Eastern New Mexico News. Contact him:

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