The only sign of life was a mangy dog fearlessly ambling down the middle of the road. There wasn’t a single car—parked or moving—anywhere on Main Street. The dog was perfectly safe and seemed to know it. Looking to the west, every building was boarded up, gutted or torn down; looking east…the same thing. There were no grocery stores, banks, dime stores or drug stores; no place for a boy to buy an ice cream cone or a nickel coke. Saddest of all, the RIO was closed! No more Tom Mix, Hopalong Cassidy or Gene Autry 15¢ cowboy movies on Saturday mornings. The nearest theatre is now 30 miles away; too far to walk and too far to ride a bike. Saturday mornings must be boring now.
It had been more than thirty years since I last visited my childhood home—a small, no-stop-light town on the Red River in southwest Oklahoma. It was a town of about 1000 farmers, refinery workers, teachers and preachers, shop keepers, one policeman and…well, that was about it. But it was a great place to grow up. There was swimming in stock tanks, pick-up baseball games in the park (no Little League), “quicksand chicken” in the river and playing Tarzan on the rafter rope in the seed room of the cotton gin. There were horses, real cowboys and real Indians, and donkey basketball games. It doesn’t get any better than that.
It wasn’t prosperous when I lived there and I didn’t expect it to be prosperous now, but I didn’t expect it to be nearly deserted. My boyhood friends have been long gone to pursue careers in Texas or Oklahoma City. People make the drive through the wheat fields and pastures to Lawton or Wichita Falls to shop and work. Except when the wheat is young and green in the spring, the drive always looks the same: flat, dry, hot and brown. Instead of the refinery (which is closed), some people now work in the casinos that are east of town. Some don’t work at all because there is nothing for them to do. There are still some teachers, part-time preachers and a lot of retired folks. The town has a handful of workers at the Farmer’s Co-op and cotton gin, and there are a few at the one and only café/gas station/grocery/convenience store; an insurance office…some city employees…a post office…utility workers…that’s about it.
In spite of the decline, my love for the town and the people is still strong. They are great people. They love God, love America, love each other and don’t expect Washington D.C. to take care of them. It is part—an important part—of my identity, and always will be. As I drove away, I was sad and had thoughts of returning to start a small factory to provide employment for 20-30 people. But I didn’t have passion to do it and I wasn’t willing to leave my comfortable life in Tennessee to do it.
There is a big difference between sentiment or emotion, and passion. You can drive away from sentimental and emotional things, but you can’t drive away from passionate things. Your heart won’t let you—you have to do something.
What are you truly passionate about? If you are a leader, I hope it is people. You don’t lead buildings, machines, computers, products, stores, etc.—you lead people. If you aren’t passionate about leading people, they will know it and follow you only because they have to, not because they want to.
Do you have passion for people? I hope so. My suggestion: don’t try to lead without it; it’s too hard.
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© Copyright 2012 by Dick Wells, The Hard Lessons Company
Island Fever by The Beach Boys
Do you ever get the feelin’ that you got to get away?
It’s a sympton of the fever all across the USA.
My family doctor told me,
“Son, the flu is what you have.”
But I know it’s island fever and I got it real bad.
Hey girl, I got some good advice: drive your dad mad and make him take you down to paradise.
My daughter, Cathy, gets island fever almost every year. The only cure for her is a week at St. George Island with her family. I get to tag along to play with my three buddies in the surf and to pay the bills…a daddy’s privilege. Here are a few observations and comments from last week’s trip.
The best thing about the beach is the sand on the beach.
The worst thing about the beach is the sand in the house.
Walking 4 miles on sand is like walking 6 on land.
87 degrees on the beach with a 10mph breeze is like heaven.
87 degrees on the beach with no breeze is…for the devil and his angels.
Sand crabs are as ugly as sin. They must be part of THE FALL.
Watching my five year old “beach buddy” catch his first fish—it doesn’t get any better than that.
2 out of 100 women who wear bikinis look good—too good.
98 out of 100 women who wear bikinis look ridiculous and that’s an understatement.
100 out of 100 men wearing a Speedo look worse than ridiculous.
When it rains at the beach, no problem, pull out the Crazee Jumpin’ Beans Race Track featuring:
Barbie Bean (pink)
Stinky Bean (the other beans avoid)
T-Rex Bean (big, slow, ugly)
The King Bean (Elvis, of course, and the winner)
Dinner with friends and fresh gulf shrimp at Harry A’s is a great day at the beach.
The added pounds on the scales is a lousy welcome home.
The best part of the beach is watching Dottie smile at the beach boys and Cathy and Sam as they get an escape from their everyday life.
Speaking of escape…when is the last time you escaped? If you are in leadership, you need it regularly whether it is the beach or the mountains (my favorite) or wherever. And real escape is no email or texts or calls from the office. You aren’t so important that they can’t do without you for a week or so.
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© Copyright 2012 by Dick Wells, The Hard Lessons Company
In his first-rate book, Getting Naked, Patrick Lencioni says, “There is nothing more attractive and admirable than people who willingly and cheerfully set their egos aside and make the needs of others more important than their own.”
In The Message, Eugene Peterson says that at times, leaders need to “practice playing second fiddle….” If you are the “first fiddle” leader, everyone already knows it; you don’t need to hog the spotlight to make sure they know.
One episode of my leadership I’m not too proud of occurred when an important general was going to visit our facility in Nashville to review our progress on a defense project. The visit was arranged by our COO who knew the general personally. As the CEO, I expected to have a role in the program, probably introducing the general to our employees. Guess what? The big day arrived, the platform was set up, hundreds of employees gathered, and my role was…nothing. I wasn’t even part of the plant tour. The COO took care of everything. He introduced the general; he escorted the general on the plant tour; he briefed the general on our project status. Guess what else? The general was pleased and impressed. It was hard for me to accept that it went so well without me. I sulked for days with hurt feelings. I didn’t play second fiddle very well.
One of a leader’s foremost responsibilities is to develop other leaders. There are several reasons you should stay off the platform at times:
I didn’t need to be on the platform when the general visited it. It wasn’t my show. As hard as it was for me, I needed to play second fiddle that day. How about you? How long has it been since you “set your ego aside” and played second fiddle?
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© Copyright 2012 by Dick Wells, The Hard Lessons Company
On November 15, 2011, Duke beat Michigan State, giving Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski) his 903rd victory—the most in NCAA Division I men’s basketball history. In his worth-your-time-to-read book, Leading With The Heart, Coach K says that “…basketball is a game of adjustments—just like business.” In basketball, the adjustments can be to change the line-up, use a zone defense instead of the man-to-man that isn’t working, call a timeout and so on. The need for adjustments is true for basketball and business…true for churches…true for life…true for you and true for me.
In the sports world, a lot of adjustments are made at halftime. Since it is halftime for 2012, this is a good time to take a look at your 2012 game plan, evaluate progress, then make adjustments for the second half of the year. The mid-year scorecard for my 2012 NYRs (New Year Resolutions) is not too impressive: one A, one B, two Cs, one D, one dropped. I am firmly committed to raising the C and D before the year ends.
How are you doing? Are you on track for the 2012 honor roll, or like me, need to refocus your efforts?
Is your personal life where you want it in terms of health, relationships, and faith?
How about your business? Are you facing any new challenges that have come out of nowhere?
If you are a church or non-profit, is giving on track? Do you have enough volunteers? How is the morale of your paid staff?
Six months—July through December—is a long time. Don’t let a poor start to 2012 keep you from having a strong finish.
If you are the leader, everyone is watching you. You will set the pace that determines where you finish in 2012. It’s up to you. Step it up!
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© Copyright 2012 by Dick Wells, The Hard Lessons Company
“I have a few loose ends to tie up and then I’ll be home.” Does that sound like a familiar phone conversation at the end of a long day? Sometimes those loose ends take a few minutes; sometimes an hour or more. It can be cleaning out your inbox, returning a phone call or two, or packing up your briefcase for an early morning flight. Whatever the loose ends are, the trip home will rest easy on your mind if they are done. And if they aren’t, sleep comes hard that night, because a rope, or business, or church, or life with loose ends has a way of coming unraveled.
It is common today for leaders to believe that the details are beneath them: “I leave the details to my staff.” Great leaders don’t buy into that line of thinking and know that the difference between good and great is often attention to detail. In the business world, no one has ever understood this better than Steve Jobs. From the iMac…to the iPod and iTunes…to the iPhone…and finally to the iPad, Jobs was obsessive about personally ensuring that every detail met the standard of excellence he expected in Apple products. General Colin Powell, who served our country ably as both the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and as the Secretary of State, had this to say about details:
“Never neglect details. When everyone’s mind is dulled or distracted the leader must be doubly vigilant.”
“Never neglect details.” Wow! Never? Really? That’s what he said, and he’s right.
History is full of missed details that brought down nations, companies, individuals and organizations of all kinds. The Greeks defeated the Trojans because someone forgot to look inside the Trojan Horse. In the late 1990’s, a Mars Orbiter Satellite was designed partly in metrics and partly in English units. Guess what? The navigation system malfunctioned and it was lost in space. In 1994, a small detail—a safety valve left off—caused an explosion that killed 167 men on the Piper Bravo oil rig. As the old saying goes, the devil is in the details. I am not saying that the leader has to personally take care of every detail, but the leader does have to be “doubly vigilant” to make sure that every detail is taken care of. Steve Jobs did. Colin Powell did. You have to also.
[This is an excerpt from my first book, One Stone At A Time, coming this fall.]
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© Copyright 2012 by Dick Wells, The Hard Lessons Company
The Polo Club in Palm Desert—think palm trees, blue cloudless sky, low humidity, Ritz Carleton and cool evening breezes—was the site of the opening reception for our corporation’s annual meeting. All of the directors, corporate officers and key staff, and division presidents, along with their spouses were there for three days of business in the mornings, fun in the afternoons, and dinner every evening.
It was my first time at the annual meeting so I was excited as Dottie (my wife) and I worked our way up the receiving line. After the Chief Human Resources Officer, Chief Legal Counsel, and Chief Financial Officer, we came to the second highest chief, the Chief Operating Officer (COO). (Yeah, I know, you’re thinking too many chiefs, not enough…. Well, a $10B+ corporation takes a lot of chiefs and assistant chiefs.) As we approached the COO, he had a huge smile and made my day by introducing me to his wife by saying, “This is Dick Wells. He runs our Nashville division and he’s one of my favorites.” For about ten seconds my ego soared completely out of control until the COO’s wife brought me down to earth by commenting, “You say that about everyone.” Oh well, it was nice while it lasted.
Let’s be honest. Don’t we all want to be someone’s favorite? We learn early in life the advantages of being a favorite. We strive to be the teacher’s favorite, or the coach’s, then at some point it’s a girl or guy we hope to marry, and later the boss’s. If that striving is focused on serving, not manipulating, flattering, etc., it is a good thing.
In my various leadership roles, I have been very blessed to have some exceptional people serve and support me. They earned favor with me. When they needed a hearing to ask for special favor, they got the hearing and more often than not they got “yes” to their requests. They were all different in terms of their talents and personalities, but they all had these things in common:
● They were trustworthy. They did what they said they would do whether it was a huge project that took months, something simple, or something hard.
● They were not high maintenance. I didn’t dread it when they walked into my office. They didn’t expect me to be their counselor or therapist and they didn’t expect me to fix all their problems.
● They were focused on the company’s needs, not personal agendas. They knew that promotions would come if they excelled in the job they had rather than worrying about the job they wanted.
● They were positive and fun to work with. I looked forward to time with them. They didn’t bring gloominess into the room with them.
● They got results. They knew that working hard and being lovable was not the goal. We needed to satisfy customers, deliver profits, motivate and develop employees, and introduce new products.
● They told me the truth when I messed up (which was often). There was no sugar coating or walking on egg shells around the boss.
They gained my favor without manipulating, maneuvering, flattering, politicking, or abusing others. They had a simple strategy: be exceptional every day. It worked for them. It will work for you.
[This is an excerpt from my first book, One Stone At A Time, coming this fall.]
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© Copyright 2012 by Dick Wells, The Hard Lessons Company
Subtitle: Maybe This Is Why AA Is Bankrupt?
We arrived at the Jacksonville, Florida airport (JAX) about 1:30pm to pick up our friends, John and Kathy Murphey, on our way to spend a few days in historic St. Augustine. The airport status board showed their flight—American (AA) 310 from Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW)—to be “On Time” for a 1:50pm arrival. Great, in about 30 minutes they would be walking up the exit ramp. At 1:50pm, the status changed to “Arrived” and at 1:55pm it said “At Gate.”
We watched dozens of people walk out. Fifteen minutes…twenty…thirty go by…still no Murpheys. The board still said “At Gate.”
Concerned, I checked the baggage area. No Murpheys and no baggage from AA 310. So I went to the baggage claim office to inquire about the flight.
AA “Electrical problem; it will be here at 4:00pm.”
Dick “The status board says it is here now, at the gate.”
AA “The status board is wrong.”
Dick “Who is responsible for the information on the status board?”
AA “The airport is.”
Dick “Who is supposed to tell them the flight is late?”
AA “They are supposed to call us.”
This is actually the simple version of the whole episode. At one point, the JAX status board showed that AA 310 had arrived on time and left on time when actually it was still at DFW the whole time.
Three different AA people told me it was the airport’s job. The airport told me it was AA’s job to let them know when a flight was going to be late. This is a classic case of The Left Hand Doesn’t Know What The Right Hand Is Doing while each hand is blaming the other, saying, “It’s not my job.”
To my way of thinking, because it was an AA flight and AA customers, they have more at stake than the airport. No one will blame JAX because an AA flight is on the ground at DFW with a problem. Evidently, not one single person from AA felt like it was their responsibility to let JAX know that the flight was going to be more than two hours late. (It is still a mystery how JAX posted At Gate when the flight was still in Dallas.)
I am a long-time AA customer: lifetime Platinum, more than two million miles. I don’t fly much any more, but when I do, it is usually AA (three trips last year). Last Monday (5/7/12), I was embarrassed for them—and more than a bit frustrated. They should be embarrassed too. Maybe it is customer service like this that explains at least in part why they are bankrupt.
How about your customer service? Does your left hand know what the right hand is doing? Are your customers wandering around trying to find out what is going on and hearing, “It’s not my job?”
If you are the leader, it’s up to you to fix it.
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© Copyright 2012 by Dick Wells, The Hard Lessons Company
It was Tuesday afternoon about 2:15pm. I was sitting in the Coffee Beanery waiting on a 2:00pm appointment. Just a little “put out,” I called Dottie (my wife) to let her know I would be home early because my appointment was a no show. She reminded me that I had forgotten an appointment every now and then to which I smugly replied, “Only once or twice.” (Remember that.)
Before heading home, I called to find out if I should continue to wait. “Yes,” he had forgotten; he apologized and said, “I’ll be there right away.”
He came; we had a good meeting.
Less than 24 hours later—Wednesday about 1:50pm.
I am putting on my running shoes ready for a go on the Natchez Trace when my phone rings: “Dick, Brenda wants to know if we should reschedule the meeting or are you just running late?”
The call jogged my memory: “You mean the meeting that was supposed to start at 1:30pm?”
“Yes.”
“I forgot, but I can be there in fifteen minutes if she still wants me to come.” (Oh how I was tempted to say I was just running late—much less a blow to my pride.)
I went; we had a good meeting.
Dottie really enjoyed it when I shared this embarrassing episode with her. (I think I saw a smug little “I told you so” look on her face.)
It would be good for all of us to remember that Jesus once said whoever “exalts himself will be humbled….” (Luke 14:11).
I sure need to remember. How about you?
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© Copyright 2012 by Dick Wells, The Hard Lessons Company
Passion—where do you find it? There is not a pat answer to that question. I have Googled ten pages deep looking for a Passion Roadmap. It doesn’t exist. I have, to no avail, exhausted “Bible Search” looking for God’s Five Steps For Finding Your Passion. I couldn’t even find a one step formula. Why? Because passion is not something you find, rather it finds you, or catches you, or calls out to you—take your pick.
The heart is where passion resides, catches fire, burns hot and leads to action. There is a phrase we often use to encourage people to greater effort: “Put your heart into it!” I’ve heard it a thousand times from coaches, teachers, bosses and preachers. However, where there is passion, it’s not necessary because the heart is already into it.
Although there is no formula for finding passion, there are some things that will help you recognize your passion—that thing you must do:
I have passion for leadership. How do I know?
One thing is certain, if you are in leadership, you better have passion for it. It’s too hard to lead without it.
What’s your passion? If you don’t know, I hope you’ll discover it soon.
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© Copyright 2012 by Dick Wells, The Hard Lessons Company
The WSJ headline was Bio as Bible: Managers Imitate Steve Jobs (WSJ 3/31-4/1, 2012; by Leslie Kwoh and Rachel Emma Silverman).
The gist of the story is how managers are reading Walter Isaacson’s excellent biography, Steve Jobs, as a “how to” manual and are trying to lead the same way Jobs did. Some have gone to the extreme of even dressing like Jobs—wearing black turtlenecks as their exclusive office garb.
Are you interested in trying it? Answer these questions first:
If the answer to all of these is “yes,” you can make a run at leading like Jobs. Let me know in a year or two how it works out.
If the answer to any of these is “no,” you can’t lead like Steve Jobs, so don’t try. My suggestion is for you to adopt the good things about the “Apple/Steve Jobs Way” that are transferable to your organization (read my 3/12/2012 post, How Much Of The Apple Is Left? at www.hard-lessons.com), but don’t adopt the Jobs leadership style. Take to heart what Bill George emphasizes in True North:
“…no one can be authentic by trying to be like someone else.”
“No one” includes you and me.
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© Copyright 2012 by Dick Wells, The Hard Lessons Company
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