Mentors

Mentors ~ All

Contribution # 1 December, 2000

Thanks John

I first met John on the recommendation of a respected colleague when I was the lead scientist on the Mineral Resource Assessment of the Bolivian Alto Plano; a joint United State Geological Survey / Geological Survey of Bolivia mineral evaluation program in desperate need of funding. While the Bolivian officials accepted the technical program, remaining actions induced convincing the various government funding institutions that the program would result in a product useful to Bolivia and the private sector. In addition to the USGS, several independent contractors submitted 'proposals' to complete all or part of the work. Our task was to find people willing to honestly review and comment on the proposal and offer their candid comments. John Lawrence flew to Denver to meet with more than 35 people, taking a full day from his busy schedule to present an industry user perspective. Behind the quite appearance in a room filled with full-time bureaucrats, John asked deeply probing questions that rocked the foundations of the funding institutions and scientists alike. “Will this study generate new data and be presented so the user can interpret the results?” “Can you get this done and published in two years when the government in general takes up to 10 years to publish their public reports?” “What are the mining and commercial laws that will attract outside investors to Bolivia even if you identify something of interest?” Many more sound questions from John pierced the bureaucratic fog. Thanks John for asking tough questions.

With some of the meeting held in private with the USGS people out of the room, we will never really know what was said, however, the USGS received the principle role in the project and we were challenged to complete a project in record time with a much clearer mandate to provide useful data to the industry. John clearly set the tone and obligation for us to produce a useful document. Thanks John for unifying the polar skeptics and helping them to identify the true objective and audience.

My next encounter with John Lawrence came near the end of this Bolivia program when I was being considered for a potential position in Latin America with Phelps Dodge, first in Mexico and later Chile. I joined Phelps Dodge leaving the USGS to return to the mineral discovery business. Among the duties in my new position in Mexico, John would suggest that our team visit the Santa Gertrudis operations to check on various issues and actions. While not immediately evident why, John listened carefully around the office and made sure exploration was not being discredited by the actions of others on this quickly developed gold mine in Sonora. We 'knew' well in advance of issues and problems and tried our best to provide the assistance necessary to help the mine and maintain our all so precious credibility. John taught us the value of careful listening, preemptive actions, and the value of credibility within Phelps Dodge. Thanks John for teaching us how to maintain our credibility and support the best interests of the company at the same time.

Later following a mistake I made giving a Dallas News reporter an interview in our Hermisillo office, John found a way to turn the lesson into a positive one for the company and real one for me. Learning the Phelps Dodge way was and is a constant challenge. John found ways to help us at every opportunity.

When my first chance to finally work in Chile was thwarted by our Mexican secretary's theft of cash and assets from the company, John found a way to focus my energies on discovery and make an unfortunate situation in to a positive one. Thanks John for supporting us during the bad times.

Early in my tenure with Phelps Dodge, I discovered that someone had hand writing as bad or worse than mine. John proved to be typing challenged as well. As an excellent reader, John would study in great detail in great detail the documents, reports, and memos sent in via pouch, e-mail, and facsimile. With typing not a real option for him to respond, and given that John thinks orders of magnitudes faster than he can write, often the responses from John were written on all the available white space on any page, including on the feather edge of the margins. With most words nearly illegible to begin with, and only decipherable in the context of the rest of the sentence, when we would receive a fax offering comments and insight, it was a puzzle to be sure just what it was. Compounding the problem is the fax process which cuts off up to 10 % of margin on the paper. If I were not in the office, Sara would fax yet again these communications. Now lacking the beginning of sentences on the left margins of the page, and the ends on the right margins, the interpretation of John's wisdoms were left to chance. As a preventative measure, we even tried sending in double spaced documents (as much to signal to read between the lines as to provide space for the scrawl) and even wider margins, all to no avail - the handwriting and lack of words in the non-transmitted margins forced us to call John more often for confirmation. While perhaps not his initial intension, thanks John for more voice and productive communications in the new e-dominate world.

We traveled together, mostly to our own prospects, reviewing and talking about what it takes to make a real discovery. Candelaria, Liberdade, Sossego, Bambas, Chapi, Calatos, Moro do Oro, Ciceria, Santos, San Vicente, San Ramon, Cerro Lindo, Mendez, Florida, Gertrudis, Fririnia, Pintadas, Espanola, Melendez, Agua Boa, Cristilino, Serra Durada, Sapacuia, Serra Pelada, Biahia, and many more. Thanks John for spending time with us in the field where the ideas, ground truth, and decisions come together.

John, the constant teacher, offered the sum of his experience and deep thinking to all he came in contact with, even if they proved to be as experienced as he. The mentoring he offers is without boundaries. Some came in the form of advise on how to get along within the corporate structure while others from his wide and well read geologic experience and thinking. It is a rare moment that John is not able to offer good ideas to the willing listener. He too is a good listener and can take the ideas of others to new heights. Behind this exceptional professional level is a wonderful sense of humor sometimes directed in the form of advise. Some of the favorite phrases that remain with me include: Hoist the telescope to your blind eye and proceed, Aim to the left (a slant offered in writing a report to allow the reader that the real idea was something that he would think of without knowing he was being guided there). Thanks John for making these lessons fun and embracing the lighter slide of our serious business.

John knows how to play on our enthusiasm to both stimulate our thinking and plow new ground for the company. The Fatal Flaws compilation / short course is a good example of his idea worked through our efforts We could count on the unexpected urgent requests passed to us from someone in “need” of some information. Try as we might to anticipate these and not let them disrupt our discovery efforts proved only rarely to be effective. While we dealt with these requests locally, there are many more handled by John. Thanks John for keeping these distractions to a minimum and encouraging us to spend more time in the field.

During our time with Phelps Dodge, we have faced several important family challenges, enough to potentially distract us from our work. Illness and death meant time to greave and recover. John has a deep respect and caring for family and loved ones. Without his support, we would not have been able to deal with these trying times in our lives. Thanks John for caring for people.

The greatest lesson from John Lawrence is how to be an effective mentor = just do it and remember always be one. Thanks John; family man, sound leader, exceptional geologist and our friend.

John Lawrence was my boss, friend and mentor for nearly 10 years. He passed away from aggressive cancer early in 2001 and leaves us all with vivid memories and the strength to move forward with conviction and to have fun doing it.