The Last Game

Spring of 1996.  Put on my uniform for the last time.  I took did my last warm up tosses.  Took my last practice ground balls.  Took the field for the last time.  Last at bat.  Last play in the infield.

I read somewhere that you usually don’t realize when you are doing something for the last time.  But, that day, I knew it was my last competitive baseball game.  My last college game.  At the time I wasn’t sad.  I was kinda relieved.  The next season I didn’t really miss the game.

I do miss tossing the ball and taking some swings but I don’t often find myself wishing I could play it competitively again.  HOWEVER, when people ask if I have any regrets in life I don’t have many BUT I absolutely regret that I didn’t give baseball my best shot.  I was gifted.  Lots of talent.  But, I didn’t give it my best effort.  I didn’t play to win.  I often played not to lose.  I didn’t enjoy the game as often as I should have.

Having said all that, I’m thankful that I can say this.  Baseball was a big part of my first 20 years but it’s not my life story.  I’m thankful I got to learn the lesson with baseball that I need for the rest of my life.  I may regret that I didn’t give baseball my all but it taught me to ensure that when my last days of more important things come I will have given them my all.  I may not always get it right but I don’t want to ever have that same regret.  I’ll give my all.

Difference between me and a pro

In the last 5 years I've learned that water isn't always a good thing.  We moved into our current home in October of 2013.  During the buying process we did the inspection thing BUT the inspector missed something.

Many months later I was in the crawl space and something got my attention.  I pulled away some insulation and discovered that I could see the bottom of the tile that was the floor of our master bathroom.  That's not good.  All the subfloor had rotted away.  It was in an odd spot, not near drains or a faucet which is why the inspector didn't see it.  Water had made it's way to a spot that was in the middle of our floor and started eating away at the wood.

When we bought the house we had thought we might redo the bathroom eventually, so this just expedited that thinking.

Fast forward 2 years.  Early one morning I got woken up by Kaylyn hollering my name.  Water was spraying everywhere from under our sink in the bathroom.  Because I'm only half awake I tried everything except turning off the valve under the sink.  Water was covering the bathroom floor and soaking the carpet in our bedroom.  And there was even more water in the crawl space.  I think it took 4-5 days for ServPro to completely dry the area out.

Another new floor in the bathroom...

What did I learn?  2 things.  1)  Water can cause alot of damage.  2)  While I watched the people work on our bathroom, in both cases, they didn't seem quite as stressed about the problems as I did.  Part of that could be that I was the one paying BUT there was something else.  They knew what to do.  They knew what tools they needed and they knew how to use those tools.





Fast forward to a week ago.  We had a list that was getting longer and longer of little projects at the house that I hadn't been able to complete.  Squeaky step, light not working, door not closing, loose step on the deck, loose shingles on roof...  I called up a handyman to come and knock this list out because clearly I wasn't getting it done.  When he came out I walked around with him and talked with him while he was fixing things.  I never once saw him do something I couldn't have done.  And, it didn't seem to stress him fixing each of these things that had been a frustration to me.  What was the difference??  He knew what tools he needed and how to use those tools.  Check out the difference in the tools in these two pictures above.  One is a picture of my solution and one is a picture of tools of a pro.

Leadership seems to work the same way.  When I watch a great leader, they don't seem to get stressed with things that can cause me stress.  Why?  They know what tools to use and how to use them.

Some people say leaders are born, not made.  Not true.  Just as I could learn to be a plumber by learning what tools to use and when, anybody can learn to lead by learning what tools to use and when.  We all already do this everyday.  How do you get places?  Driving a car?  There was a day that you didn't know how to drive and getting places was more difficult.  Now you know what tool to use and how to use it.  How about cooking?  Same thing.  Grilling?  Brushing your teeth?  Heck, there was once a time that each of us had to learn when and how to use a toilet.

Leadership is no different.  Once you learn the tools and when to use them, leadership becomes more routine.  Just like remodeling a bathroom for a professional builder.        

ESRC
SBI
SERVE
How to Get Your Boss to Say Yes

Just a few of the tools we have available.  They only have value when we know how and when to use them.

 

Parker Pens

Parker Pens. They are my favorite pen. They fit my hand well, they write well, they fit in a shirt pocket well, they can be used with one hand (don’t have to take a cap off)... when I have my Parker Pen, I don’t ever have to look for a pen that works. I’m ready. I’m prepared!

I got in my truck this AM and headed to the store. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my phone charger in my truck because I had taken it in another car yesterday. I’m composing this in carpool line at Voyager on a phone that is getting low on power. Because of this, I’m having to consider whether to continue using it and when will I have access to a charger. That’s interfering with my productivity. I’m not prepared.

My intentions may be great but my preparation determines my capacity.

Which Came First?

When our kids were small, Myrtle Beach was our go-to beach destination. Easy, affordable, convenient oceanfront accommodations. Plus the lazy rivers at all the condos are a tired dad’s best friend.


Back then, Wendy’s were still decent restaurants so we stopped at one on the way down and one on the way back. They couldn’t have been more different. One was remarkably clean, friendly, fresh and fast. The other was remarkably dirty, slow, rude and stale. I’m not one to submit comments at businesses but both of these Wendy’s locations were so remarkable in their own ways that I did look for a way to submit feedback. The remarkably good store had comment cards at the tables, on the wall and a phone number posted near the menuboards. So many ways to give feedback. The other Wendy’s had zero options for submitting feedback. On the way home I was thinking about this.

Was the good one good because it sought feedback? Or, did they seek feedback because they are good? Was the bad one bad because they didn’t listen to customers or do they not listen to customers because they are poorly run? Which came first? Excellence or feedback? The Chicken or the Egg? Who knows?!?!

I started paying more attention to which places make it easy for feedback and noticed that the better run places typically make it easy to get feedback. I still don’t know which causes the other but I’ve learned that if you act like a top performer you tend to perform well. This is before we had the easy access to CFA CARES like we do now. We placed comment cards on every table. I really expected to get alot of feedback on how we could get better (complaints). What I learned is that customers just like being asked. Most of the feedback was positive. It seemed that simply by asking them how it was, customers felt more favorably about their visit. And, yes, we got some constructive feedback as well.

I still don’t know if asking for feedback made us better or if we decided to ask for feedback because we were leading better. What I do know is that top performers crave feedback. If I want to be a top performer, I probably should crave feedback.

Challenge Accepted

I think it was my sophomore year but it could have been my freshman year of HS. There was a guy named Brandon in my grade that sat in front of me in geometry class. I don’t know what I did to get his attention but he must have decided that his purpose in life was to make me miserable. In today’s culture, I’m pretty sure you’d call it bullying. I don’t recall any physical attack but he would just try to provoke me any way he could. Stupid stuff like ketchup packets between pages in my textbook to see if I’d pop them accidentally. If he got to class before me, I knew there would be something awaiting me. Called me every name in the book.

I was a pretty quiet, reserved kid. Not provoked very easily. Plus, I was kinda wimpy. Didn’t lift weights till college. But, one day he met me at my locker and said or did something that ticked me off so I responded. I don’t remember exactly what I did but it provoked him to ask “so you want to fight?” Part of me did. And the sensible part of me said that’s stupid.

The timing of this was key, though. We were right at the beginning of baseball tryouts. We had a big school so lots of guys trying out and it was about a week long process with multiple rounds of cuts. He was also trying out.

I don’t recall exactly my immediate response to his request for a fight but then he made a comment about baseball, implying that he was better. I knew the truth and saw an opportunity. “Brandon, if I get cut, there is no chance of you making the team. How about we settle things on the field?” I wasn’t just returning trash talk. I very objectively knew I was better than him. You know the song “Devil Went Down to Georgia” by Charlie Daniels? The coolest fiddle song ever. Brandon played the part of the devil. I felt like Johnny accepting the challenge. “My name’s Johnny (insert Tony) and it might be a sin but I’ll take your bet and you’re gonna regret, cause I’m the best there’s ever been.” No, I didn’t think I was the best there’s ever been. Just good enough to win this bet.

He took the challenge. That was the last time I ever had to deal with his irritations the rest of my High School days. *Insert some crazy fiddle playing

It's A Beast

The way the Interim Manager program worked back when I was trying to earn a store was you’d go for a few months and then they’d send you to another store. My first stop on that path was University Mall in Bloomington, Indiana. You don’t hear me talk about it much because there weren’t many lessons learned there. It was a very well run store and my role was just to not mess it up. Seriously. That’s what they told me.  Just in between owners. The original guy, Rick Johnson, had opened a store in Indianapolis and the next guy was still in operator training. I had about 2-3 days notice that I was going to Bloomington. And it was a beautiful place right on the edge of the campus for Indiana University.

Fast forward just a bit to the last few weeks of my time in Milwaukee (after Bloomington) which I hope you’ve already read about. I got a call from a friend that was an operator in GA. He was giving me a heads up. “Tony, they are going to ask you to run Memorial Drive FSR. I’m just warning you. It’s a beast.” He was discouraging me from accepting that offer.

Here’s what I knew. I wanted to be back near Atlanta because Kaylyn and I were getting married on Sept 20 and it was August then. I also knew I wanted an FSR as an operator but up till then I’d had no experience in anything but a Mall. I also knew that the worse the store, the easier it is to create a track record of growth. Sure enough, maybe a week later, Chick-fil-A calls and asks if I’d run Memorial Drive. Because I knew what my long term goal was of having an FSR and being in Atlanta during that season, it was an easy decision. Back then, IMs only went to malls. I had never heard of an IM going to an FSR. What an opportunity! YES! I’ll take the Beast.

And it was a beast (another story). I still remember a few friends commenting to me that they thought my decision wasn’t the smartest BUT I knew where I wanted to be and Memorial Drive was a step toward that. I remember running into my travel baseball coach during this time and told him what I was doing. His response in a very heavy NY accent: “Tony, you got a degree from Oglethorpe University and now you are running that restaurant? What a waste.” I liked this coach. Great baseball coach. Fortunately, I knew he was wrong this time.

When you know where you want to be in 3-5 years it makes the tough decisions today a lot easier. Whatever gets you closer to that goal is the right next step. 10/10/10

Real ER: The Bronx

Last night as I was jumping back and forth between a ball game and car building show I stumbled onto a show called Real ER: The Bronx.  As the name implies its a documentary style show of life in the ER at a hospital in The Bronx.

Regan was in the other room studying for her final exam in her EMT class and recognized the sounds and dialogue and came in to see what I was watching.  She was captivated.  I asked her if I was going to cause her to fail her exam.  "Probably" was her response as she settled in to watch (She took the exam today and passed).

As patients were brought into the ER, I'd ask Regan what she knew about their conditions.  I was amazed at how much she knew.  She sounded like a doctor to me.  There was one patient with a collapsed lung and they were inserting a tube into his chest, through the ribs to fix the lung.  They used used words I didn't understand, but she did, and so did all the supporting medical staff that was treating this patient who had been stabbed and was going to die if the staff treat his wound properly.

As I watched the show I saw up to 10-12 people working together to diagnose and treat the patients.  They used a common language.  One they had learned as they grew into medical professionals.  One that was clear and consistent.  One that took a very complex, high stress, situation and simplified it.

Imagine if I stepped onto the scene in that ER.  Could I figure out that the guy had been stabbed and had a collapsed lung?  Probably eventually.  Could I figure out that he needed a tube inserted to revive the lung?  Probably eventually.  I'm very confident that the patient would have been dead for days, maybe weeks before I could solve the problem.  And that was just one case that evening.

Application??  What is our common language?  Everyday we have as many cases come into our store as they do in that ER.  3,000 customers.  30+ team members.  IT.  Fryers.  Corporate.  Food Safety.  Reports...

As leaders, how are we diagnosing each case?  With our own personal language and systems?  With added drama?  Or, with a common language and common tools?  Professionally?

Can a doctor... I mean leader, step in and take the case you've been working on and smoothly proceed?  Or, would there be excessive time spent explaining things?

We have this common language.  We have these common tools.

Values
Toolbox (ESRC, SBI, 3 for 3, 4 Disciplines of Execution...)
Checklists (lots of checklists in the world of medicine)
@CFA
Podcasts

Are you like the doctors in this show that understand their role is to see the next patient, diagnose and begin treating them as efficiently as possible?  Or, are you like me walking into that ER and trying to solve it my way, eventually losing the patient, even if I eventually figured it out, just too slowly?

As leaders, we must control the systems and language we use.  The more consistent we are, the more effectively we will execute our Mission.  Be Remarkable.     

Even if you get uneasy with blood, I encourage you to google the show or find it on TV, or any other documentary of life in the ER.  Pay attention to how professional the medical staff remains.  Pay attention to what they say.  How they say it.  We think our environment can be high stress.  Maybe we are creating a good bit of the stress in how we respond to the cases that are coming in.  What if we approached the cases with the same professional urgency that is demonstrated in this show?  Think stress would be higher or lower?  It's easy to wish others would do this but we can only control one person.  Ourselves.  Let's each do our part to create this professional urgency in our culture.