“I Want To Go Home.” Sitting under an apple tree on the campus of a Metro-Detroit guide dog school located nearly 1,000 miles from his hometown, Richard “Buss” Brauer confessed through tears to his trainer that a guide dog was not for him.
At the age of 32 and for the first time in his adult life, Buss was away from home without accompaniment from a family member or close friend. He had come to change his life but had decided doing so was simply not worth the effort because to change was impossible.
When most people think “travel,” they envision the beauty of Yellowstone, the smell of the ocean air, or the relaxation a book next to a pool can bring. “Travel” is often synonymous with “vacation,” but for those who do not have the freedom to move about their communities independently, the idea of traveling is a far more personal and microeconomic issue than it is for the general population.
The Clash
“Should I Stay or Should I Go?” was asked by “The Clash” and became the question Buss pondered while sitting under the apple tree, struggling to make tangible the abstract concept of traveling independently without holding the elbow of his wife.
When asked to provide a ride back to the airport, the trainer, Dan, replied, “That is fine. I am happy to take you back to the airport so you can go home. But please remember: It takes just as much courage to fail as it does to succeed.”
Courage is often viewed as being in opposition to cowardice. Society acknowledges the courage it takes to try something (regardless of the outcome), but attributes abstention from a challenge as fearfulness or laziness; We fail to recognize that even a step backward in retreat still takes courage.
Buss left his home alone for the first time in his adult life so he could gain the travel skills necessary to live a productive and independent life. After talking with this trainer under the apple tree, Buss elected to stay for training, and was issued his first guide dog only two days later.
Ironically, the decision to stay allowed Buss to go; He went back home four weeks later with new confidence, ability, and willingness to travel his local community, rejuvenate his professional career, and direct his life into a permanent state of forward motion.
What Happened Next
“How would you like to be the plant’s safety manager?” The chief operating officer for the global manufacturer of custom plastic extrusion products for which Buss worked asked what was by all accounts a rather odd question.
Afterall, who would want a blind safety manager? Buss himself acknowledged the lunacy of the idea and questioned whether he would be capable of success if placed in such a position.
“Because every step you take is about safety. You have never been hurt while working here, despite our overall safety record being below industry standards. I need you and your dog to teach our workforce to think like you do.”
Merriam-Webster defines “disability” as being “diminished in function or ability by a physical, mental, cognitive, or developmental condition.” For the first time in his life, the personal and professional physical disability brought on by his blindness had suddenly become a valuable asset for Buss; Webster’s “disability” had instantly become an ability that possessed great value.
By this time, Buss had spent nearly a decade traveling with this guide dog at his side. He learned how to communicate effectively with people he could not see, quickly but cautiously position his hands and body safely whether on the plant floor or within his own home, and how to organize his activities to ensure maximum result was generated from his hyper-productive actions.
Good Habits Travel
It is often said in the sports world that “defense travels.” Whether on the road, in the rain, or when playing a superior opponent, the team can always count on their defensive abilities remaining consistent, essentially remaining what they already are.
For Buss Brauer, traveling is the game, and the techniques he used in partnership with his first guide dog 25 years ago served as the defense he needed to launch his professional career.
As a safety manager, Buss taught his manufacturing team safety techniques used by people who are blind, which included “Spatial Orientation” and “Cognitive Observation.” It was here employees learned to collect data, remain objective, and harness sensory indicators that resulted in decades of a top-rated OSHA safety program.
Buss transitioned to a workforce development role, where he used his travel skills to transform the company culture into a machine of hyper-productivity where employee retention and longevity statistics were unable to be replicated by competitors and others in the manufacturing sector.
A Guide for All Journeys
Cars, trucks, mass transit, and other vehicles deliver a person to her destination faster than a guide dog ever could. Though, as the saying goes, “life is about the journey, not the destination.”
For Buss Brauer, the journey changed his course, enhanced his destination, and provided him the ability to help others journey towards a target of their choosing.
He taught concepts normally reserved for blind travelers relating to “Perceptive Anticipation” and “Destination Mapping” when teaching hiring managers how to recruit, screen, interview, train, onboard, and culturally integrate new team members.
Buss coached new and emerging leaders how to create “Executive Trust” and use “Introspective Vision” to quickly develop skills, identify needs from people and positions, and fill those needs in a manner that ensures success.
The tools and techniques Buss used every day with his guide served as a unique and premier training ground to launch his own career and the careers of hundreds of others.
Hoisting the Super Bowl Trophy
By his own account, Buss comes from a midwestern family of farmers and was born betrothed to a life as a farmer that would be rewarding, stable, and financially lucrative. Blindness, however, took away his ability to drive a combine and grow old in a manner similar to his parents, grandparents, and extended family.
Negativity often arrives with change, making management of an evolving culture difficult to maneuver (personal or professional). Buss Brauer’s change was inarguably challenging but was made easier and more successful by virtue of the tools he acquired along the way as a blind executive who travels with a guide dog.
“It takes just as much courage to fail as it does to succeed.”
“When I was contracted by the Philadelphia Eagles to teach leadership, change and culture management skills, I one day found myself in the home team locker room. Being unable to see, the team president took the Lombardi Trophy from its protective case and asked me to hold it. I could feel its weight, touch the inscriptions, and celebrate what it represents. I wished, and still wish, I could have fulfilled my family’s plan for me by working the farm. But I couldn’t help but think of the alternative path my life took. I thought, ‘Everyone said I would forever be reliant on the government for sustenance. I’d never have a meaningful job. I’d resign myself to my living room, listening to a television I can’t see, and hearing people act out normal lives that I will never lead. But look at me now! I am holding the Super Bowl Trophy!’
“I thought of the irony of someone who is disabled and expected to do nothing in life now hoisting the Lombardi Trophy above his head. I thought about that decision I made under the apple tree nearly 30 years ago.
“‘It takes just as much courage to fail as it does to succeed.’ That’s what Dan told me when I was ready to quit. When I stayed, I thought he would teach me how to travel safely with a guide dog. I had no idea it would be so much more than that. I didn’t know the tools he taught me would give me a career, a real career. He gave me the skills to travel and provided me the guidance I needed to journey to any destination I wanted.”
In the beginning, Buss was a child. Then a blind child. He became a blind man. Buss then learned to work with a partner so the two of them could travel together. He became a blind safety manager. Blindness quickly became an afterthought throughout his work as a safety manager. He evolved into the director of workforce development, guide dog still at his side.
He retired as an executive who had changed the company’s fortunes and the lives of the people working in it. Using skills obtained throughout a lifetime of blind travel, Buss recruited new employees, coached existing managers, developed and executed training programs, ran executive retreats, and founded Blue Skies USA to bring the skills he adopted as part of his life to professionals working throughout the United States.
The need to develop travel skills alongside a guide dog evolved into an unending journey that has become his life’s mission. It is an adventure on which Buss feels blessed to have been joined by countless others who have chosen to benefit from the skills a guide dog can share as they too grow their lives to heights that were never before thought to be attainable.
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- Developing Leaders
- Recruiting, Interviewing, Hiring, and Onboarding
- Building a Talent Pool
- Capturing Tribal Knowledge
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