Each week, the Shreveport-Bossier Journal’s Tony Taglavore takes to lunch a local person – someone who is well-known, successful, and/or influential, and asks, “What’s Your Story?”
By TONY TAGLAVORE, Journal Services
The power company had a plan.
“We had a marketing blitz to sell private lights to customers for their back yard. We could put them on existing facilities, or we could set a pole and a private light for security.”
And the company had just the man to execute that plan. One evening at 5:30, the supervisor and his team members sat down in a conference room. Pizzas were ordered, because this was going to take a while. Everyone was assigned a section of town, given phone books (remember those?), and started dialing for dollars.
“I had a lady on the phone and was talking to her about what we were doing. I was telling her we were selling lights for security reasons. ‘We looked at your account, and you don’t have (a security light). Would you be interested?’”
While holding his breath waiting for an answer, a friend of his in the room cracked a joke. The supervisor heard it, and “started laughing hilariously in the customer’s ear.”
Realizing he wasn’t being his most professional self, he “slammed the phone down and hung up on her.” People looked at me and said, ‘You can’t hang up on a customer!’ I said, ‘I know. I’ve got to do something.’”
He could have quit. Instead, he picked up the receiver (remember those?), took a breath, and called her back.
“I apologized profusely.”
But what did the customer do? She certainly couldn’t be blamed if she returned the favor and hung up on him. She didn’t. She listened. She bought.
“I ended up selling her two lights.”
61-year-old Brett Mattison, a Shreveport native now living in Bossier City and President and Chief Operating Officer of SWEPCO (Southwestern Electric Power Company), told me that story – and his story – during lunch at a place he chose, Fertitta’s Delicatessen. Brett had a muffaletta, a bag of Miss Vickie’s Sea Salt & Vinegar chips, and homemade sweet tea. I enjoyed a large Italian salad, a bag of Miss Vickie’s Jalapeno chips, and a bottled water.
“When that happened, I knew I could sell.”
Brett, who went to kindergarten twice because he was so young, spent the first half of his childhood in the Cherokee Park neighborhood. “I still remember the street and address. Periodically, I will drive by there just to check it out.”
By the time he began third grade, his family had moved to north Shreveport. Brett spent third grade at North Highlands Elementary School, then went to Trinity Height Christian Academy from fourth grade to high school graduation.
“I was a student who enjoyed being around people . . . . I was probably more outgoing and high energy. I made B’s and C’s, but didn’t crack the books and study all the time. I was probably more interested in getting up and talking to somebody than I was studying.”
Brett was also interested in music – he played trumpet in the school band until eighth grade – and sports.
“Without trying to brag, I was an all-state athlete in football. I played linebacker. I was one of the crazy ones who just liked to hit. It was fun . . . . I enjoyed the aspect of being in a position where I was always the undersized guy, so it made me try harder.”
And Brett’s father, who worked at SWEPCO and would eventually become President, was there to see it all.
“He was always present. Always. I can very vividly remember him when I was playing football. I would look up and see him leaning against his car. He never missed a game.”
While in school, Brett began working part-time for the late John Franks, a big-time oil and gas man who became an Eclipse award-winning thoroughbred horse owner.
“At 16-years-old, I would go to Shreveport Regional Airport with a Dooley and a horse trailer. All of the sudden, this big plane lands. Horses are coming off the back. (Mr. Franks) would go to Lexington, Kentucky to horse auctions and buy these horses. It was a great experience working with him.”
Brett thought about pursuing a career in oil and gas. He even worked as a roughneck on drilling rigs over water. But the cyclical industry was on a downturn. After a year at Kilgore Junior College, and a year at Louisiana Tech majoring in petroleum engineering, Brett decided to change course.
“Two years in, I was watching all these people graduate and they couldn’t get jobs.”
Brett’s goal was always to get out of school in four years. To be more specific, “graduate on a Saturday and have a job on Monday.” He decided his best chance of doing that was to get a finance degree. Sure enough, Brett got his diploma on a Saturday, and began work the following Monday at the old Pioneer Bank. He was in their training program, where he learned to do every job possible. But it was his four-and-a-half years at one of the bank’s branches where he learned his most valuable lesson.
“It taught me a lot about how to deal with people, because sitting at a desk, you never knew who was coming in. It could literally be somebody who was slinging a sledgehammer all day. It could be a physician down the street from Willis-Knighton (Health System). I learned how to deal with all facets of life. I got to really engage with people on their level because of the experiences they had. That taught me a lot about customers, about empathy, about trying to put yourself in their shoes.”
At age 27, Brett felt he had to make a decision.
“Do I want to do this long term, or while I’m still young, get into an area where limitless growth opportunity exists. I saw that with SWEPCO. There are so many factions within the company . . . . It’s such a multi-faceted business.”
Remember, I said Brett’s father not only worked at SWEPCO, but was its President. So surely all Brett had to do was tell daddy he wanted a job.
“He didn’t even know I applied until he realized I was working there . . . . I’ve always thought individuals need to stand on their own merit. I wasn’t going to pull that card.”
Brett worked his way to the top, with a big assist from his wife (Lori) of 33 years. That was especially true during a two-year period when Brett flew out of town on Sunday and returned on Friday. That left Lori home alone with four small children.
“She never bobbled. She never complained. Not at all. That was a heck of a commitment. She’s been 100 percent unequivocally supportive of anything I wanted to do.”
On the Tuesday we visited, Brett had been up since 3:45 preparing for a 6am weekly conference call. Every other day, he’s usually up by 4:30, going through his morning routine, which includes reading a devotional, a Sunday School lesson, and “putting everything in the hands of the good Lord.”
Brett also eats the same thing for breakfast.
“Non-fat Greek yogurt, blueberries, strawberries, grapes, homemade (by Lori) granola with cinnamon and a sprinkle of honey, and water to drink. Every morning. Every morning. Even when I travel, if I have to take it with me, that’s what I do.”
I was curious as to how Brett handles the stress – the stress of you, me, and more than half-a-million other customers who depend on his company for something as important as our electricity.
“There’s a lot of pressure, but when I go to bed at night, I go to bed. I’m just done. To me, when you know you’ve put your all into it, when you know you’ve done your absolute best, I just give it to the Lord and tomorrow is another day.”
Hoping Brett wasn’t about to tell me I was overdue on my electric bill, I asked my final question. As always, what is it about his life he would like to pass on to others?
“Never quit. Keep a positive attitude. Keep your heart and your head in the right spot. Don’t go park in Pity City. Before you do that, back up and think about the blessings you have. Start with you woke up this morning. You’ve got clothes on your back. You’ve got food that you’re fixing to eat. It will un-slump you. It will put you in a positive frame of mind . . . . You are only here for a short moment. Make the most of it, because you’re preaching your funeral every day by how you live.”
Now that’s advice which can light up your life.
The Journal’s weekly “What’s Your Story?” series is sponsored by Morris & Dewett Injury Lawyers.