Fat Shortstop

In 1991, I headed into conditioning for the high school varsity baseball team for the first time.
Part of the training included variations of stadium steps. Running, jumping and hopping up the
football stadium steps. Over and over. Well, after one of the climbs to the top my lunch decided
to resurface. If that wasn’t bad enough, one of my coaches was standing right there and his
feet were in the worst possible spot. Right where lunch was heading.

Fast forward to later that season. I’m doing well but coach pulls me aside at some point to talk
about my future. He knew I wanted to play college ball. All I remember from the conversation
was “you are too fat to play shortstop in college. If you want to play college ball you have to
lose weight”. He was right. I had lots of talent but not much discipline. That summer, I injured
my knee (another story) and part of the rehab included jogging in place. Jogging in place led to
jogging a 1⁄2 mile. That’s as far as I could go and not because of my injury. That’s as far as I
could jog because of the rest of my out-of-shape body. But, that eventually led to jogging a
mile. Daily.

By the fall, I had lost 40 lbs and when the baseball team started conditioning I wasn’t tossing my
lunch any more. In fact, I was out front on the distance runs.

I didn’t enjoy my coach telling me I was fat. But, thankfully he was willing to speak the truth and
thankfully I listened. It didn’t just get me in shape for baseball. Turns out, girls started to notice
me. Kaylyn (a cross country runner) and I went out on our first date that November. The
following spring, Oglethorpe University asked me to come play ball there. 4 years after that, in
part because of attending OU, I decided to pursue the role of CFA Operator. In 1997 Kaylyn
and I got married. In 1998 I became a CFA operator. In 1999 we moved to Durham to open
CFAROX. In 2006 I ran a marathon. In 2007 we won Symbol of Success (F-150) the wrong
way (that’s another story). In 2008 we were selected as a test store in Recipe for Service (Core
4 and 2nd Mile Service). In 2015 we won Champions Club (Mustang) the right way. In 2016 we
launched “We Nourish Dreams”.

All because a coach was willing to tell me the truth and I was willing to hear it. Listen to the
truth-tellers around you and commit to the work you need to go after your dreams. Start where
you are and take the next step, even if it is just jogging in place.
And, are you willing to be that coach? The one that changes lives.

Coach?

I think it was my Junior year of college. Back then it wasn’t common to have video used in
baseball training. Other than still shots, I didn‘t know what my baseball swing looked like. You
can only accomplish so much in front of a mirror. Hard to watch the ball AND the mirror at the
same time...

One day our coach brings out a video camera (camcorder) to video our swings and then we set
up times to go meet with him to analyze our swing and find opportunities to get better. I was
really excited about finally getting to do this. While I was good, I wanted to get better.
My time to meet with our coach came and I got to see my swing and hear some suggestions on
how I could get better. Kind of like a performance review (360) on the job. It started off well.
Coach complimented my swing. That made me feel good. But, then he said something I’ll
never forget. “Tony, you have a textbook swing. I can’t find anything to improve.” It was true, I
had been working on my swing for 12-15 years and I had studied the “textbooks” on swings.
BUT, I was still getting out 60-70% of the time and I had zero professional scouts looking at me.
Surely I could have done something better.

A coach exists to enable a team, and the players on the team, to accomplish something they
couldn’t do on their own. He had one job. To help me get better than I could on my own. He
failed.

Remember that HS coach that told me I was fat? The one that changed my life more than just
about any other human? They both had the same position. The same title. Which would you
rather be? The coach that changes lives or the coach that just says “good job”?

In order to be a good coach, you must know what needs to be said AND be willing to say it. My
HS coach knew.

You Are My Favorite

When I got hired as a 16 year old at the Chick-fil-A in Gwinnett Place Mall, I spent the first 2
years on a register followed by the next 2 years on boards (kitchen).

One of our managers was a really tough lady. I loved working for her. You knew what to expect
and you knew everybody was going to do what was expected. Because, if they didn’t do their
job they knew they’d have to answer to her. She was tough. But fair.

Well, one night I was working boards and she comes up to me and says “Tony, you are my
favorite boards person.” Wow! You certainly didn’t take her compliments lightly. So, my head
began to expand. BUT, she solved that almost immediately. “It’s not because you are the
fastest.” This is what most of us took pride in. Who was the fastest? “It’s not because you are
the best.” Well, if I’m not the fastest and not the best, why would I be her favorite??
“Tony, I always know I can count on you AND I know you will ask for help when you need it. If
you aren’t asking for help I know you are OK.” She could trust me.

This has stuck with me for 25 years. And I completely agree with her. Some people are fast.
Some are friendly. Some are the best in their positions. But, when it comes down to it, my
favorites are the ones I can trust.

Even the best have bad days. Even the best can get overwhelmed. Even the best can crash.
The ones that know when to ask for help... those are the ones I trust. Those are my favorites.

Throwing Strikes or Winning?

One of my strengths as a pitcher was my accuracy.  I can hit just about any target any time. When it would rain and practice would go into the gym sometimes we’d throw a football to build arm strength.  Because throwing a ball back and forth can get boring quickly we’d find ways to have fun. One is that we’d see if we could throw the football through the basketball goal from the far end of the court.  No problem. Footballs, acorns, baseballs, .22 calibre ammo, you name it. I can hit the target.

In baseball, you generally want to throw strikes and not walk batters.  BUT, that’s not the most important objective for a pitcher. Ultimately, a pitcher wins when they don’t allow runs… or, allow very few runs.  Looking back on my pitching days, I realize I was too focused on the little goal of throwing strikes and not the ultimate goal of not allowing runs.  

The best pitchers don’t necessarily throw a lot of strikes.  In fact, often the best pitches aren’t strikes. They are pitches that look like strikes but end up out of the strike zone, luring the batter to swing and miss or hit the ball poorly.

Because I threw so many strikes, batters could anticipate and trust the next pitch to be worthy of swinging at.  When you eliminate that doubt, hitting becomes much easier. My senior year of college I led the team in the lowest number of walks per 9 innings.  In fact, I’m still in the top 5 of all pitchers at OU over the last 25 years with that stat. BUT, my ERA was over 4. For those that don’t follow baseball, an ERA in the 2s is solid, 3s is good and 4 is mediocre at best.

I was too focused on a measure that had some value and lost focus of the measure with the most value (earned runs allowed-ERA).  By the way, an example of a pitcher that I could most relate to regarding my pitching style is Greg Maddux. Crazy good control. Not high velocity.  One of the best pitchers of all time. More often than not his target was outside the strike zone to get batters to swing and miss or hit the ball poorly.  The biggest difference between Maddux and me wasn’t our physical ability (he looked like an accountant throwing a ball). It was our mindset. Our focus.

What measures are you focusing on?  Are they the best measures or just good measures?          

            

Just Do It

It’s March 2009.  We were in our second year as the top sales and profit in the Triangle.  We had won Symbol 2 years prior. We had been one of 9 stores chosen by Chick-fil-A to be part of the test for Recipe for Service in 2008, the beginning of Core 4 and Second Mile Service and the Hospitality push for Chick-fil-A.  

It was spring break.  We did a trip up to Charlottesville to see Monticello (Thomas Jefferson’s home) via the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Afterward we drove out to spend an evening at Rod Stoner’s house in West Virginia.  He was our consultant specifically for the hospitality test. Former Executive Chef at the Greenbrier Resort (google it).  His place was beautiful. The food was unreal. Truly amazing experience of hospitality.

That evening we are sitting in his family room.  Big glass windows with a light snow shower. Big stone fireplace with a fire burning.  Rod is reading books to our little kids. Perfect Hallmark Moment.

After the kids go to bed Rod and I talk some business.  He asks how the store is doing and I’m honest. NOT GOOD.  Despite all those good numbers and apparent success I knew there was a problem.  I’d been paralyzed by success. I hadn’t been willing to make some decisions that needed to be made and they had piled up.

I summed it up by saying “I wish I could just start from scratch.  I wish I could do what a new operator does when they take over an existing store.  They get to decide who to keep and hire only those people. They don’t have to fire anybody because technically none of those people work for them yet.  People expect change when a new operator walks in. I wish I could just go in and take over my store like that.” He had a simple reply. “Why don’t you just do that?”  

The next day, on the drive home I began piecing together what was going to happen.  I didn’t do it all right. In fact, I did a lot of things wrong. BUT, finally taking action meant I finally started the movement toward CFAROX as we know it today.  This included as much change for me personally as it did for my staff.

Is there something I’ve been needing to do but haven’t?  Anything Rod would ask me “why don’t you just do it?” Is success paralyzing me?

Parking Lot

Sometime in 1998-1999 I was sitting in my office in the basement of my first store when I heard the voice of Jimmy Collins, president of CFA.  One of the best descriptions of Jimmy is one I heard another operator share. He said “If you heard Truett Cathy was going to visit your store, you may not sleep well the night before.  If you heard Jimmy was going to visit your store, you may not sleep well the entire week before”. Jimmy was tough. He had very high expectations. But, he was also consistent.

So, the visit starts off exactly as I had heard from others.  He would try the lemonade and the cole slaw. Then, if they were to his liking, he’d very sternly ask “Who made this?!”  Marcella, who was a very bold Jamaican, wasn’t shy and immediately said “I did”. It was all good.

Eventually, Jimmy and I headed to the parking lot.  We had probably cleaned it that morning but it wasn’t great.  Lots of little stuff like cigarette butts and straw wrappers. Jimmy looks at me and asks “what are you going to do about this?”  My simple reply was “I’ll get this cleaned up right away” but that wasn’t good enough. “No, what are you going to do to ensure this never happens again?”  Guess, where the parking lot timer came from? It’s evolved from once a day to twice a day, to hourly, including blowing the lot daily every day, not just in the fall when leaves are coming down.  

More importantly, the lesson was that anytime something isn’t just right, don’t only do the quick fix.  Find a solution that prevents the problem. Don’t keep dealing with the same problem day in and day out.  Solve it so you can go find the next problem/opportunity.

             
       

Are You Insane?

I often hear people say they are seeking balance in their life.  Are they really?  Do you know any highly successful person that is balanced?  When I say "successful" I don't necessarily mean they are rich or are the CEO of a business.  In fact, they may be a highly successful dad, spouse, teacher, bicyclist, or hot dog eater.  They are just remarkably good at what they do.  Do they get there by being balanced?  NO!  They sacrifice balance to be exceptional at what matters to them.

The one way I would describe the remarkable people I know is INSANE.  I've got a friend that runs marathons.  We started our first marathon together.  He is still running them.  Not just running them, though.  He is finishing near the top of his age group consistently.  That doesn't just happen.  A couple weeks ago we were in the mountains with our two families and he went running.  He ran 4 miles and the total climbing was 800 feet.  I think I recall his pace being about 8:30 min/mile.  That is insane!  It doesn't just happen.  He runs long distances regularly.  He runs at all times of the day, including 4 AM, and in just about any conditions.  When it comes to running (and a few other things) he is INSANE.  

I've noticed that same thing with some highly successful business people.  Their daily routine isn't normal.  By "normal" people's standards, they are insane.  Highly focused.  Highly disciplined.  Not balanced.  

What about people with a strong faith?  They usually have crazy devotion plans.  Again, by most people's standards, they are insane.  

So, what are you INSANE about?