The grocery store? A farm? Grandma’s garden? The refrigerator? Nope. According to the 3-year-old preschoolers I was teaching Sunday morning, carrots come from rabbits. And why should they think otherwise since….
So, you are wondering, how am I going to get a business/leadership post out of an introduction about carrots, rabbits and 3-year-old preschoolers? With three “where” questions:
#1—Where does job security not come from?
#2—Where does job security come from?
#3—Where does job advancement come from?
I can’t answer all three in one post, so today I’ll start with #1.
Job security does not come with a college degree—unless you have a degree that is in demand. Get a degree in philosophy, music, history of religion, etc., and you’ll likely end up working at the mall with a pile of college debt you can’t pay off.
Job security does not come from unions. (Union membership has dropped from 21 million to 14.5 million in the last 35 years.)
Job security does not come from the government. We have the largest government programs in our history. How are they working?
Job security does not come from the company you work for today or the skill set you have today. In a fast changing world, your company better be changing and you better be changing.
Job security does not come from doing your best or working hard. If your hard work and doing your best don’t yield the results your organization needs, well…you know what happens.
I am not trying to discourage you with these “does not come from” truths. However, as long as you cling to them for job security, you are like the 3-year-old who believes carrots come from rabbits.
So where does job security come from? That is next week’s post—stay tuned.
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© Copyright 2014 by Dick Wells, The Hard Lessons Company.
My friend, Leon Drennan, grew up on a 160-acre Kentucky farm. Along with tobacco and hogs, they had a small dairy. The cows had to be milked every day, twice a day, 365 days per year, every year. So before school and after school, in rain-sleet-snow, on birthdays and even on Christmas, it was trudge through the mud and manure (have you ever seen a dairy farm?) to the barn to milk the cows.
I asked Leon what happens when you don’t milk the cows. Best case, they dry up and quit producing milk. Worse case, they get mastitis that if not treated can lead to death. That’s why milking is an everyday job.
Sound familiar? Life works the same way. Life is an everyday job and there are some things that have consequences if you skip a day or two—sooner or later you dry up, or worse.
Leadership is an everyday job. Leaders can’t have bad days at the office or store or church or wherever.
Relationships are an everyday job. They dry up easily…or worse.
Your health is an everyday job. Just have a three-Five-Guys-cheeseburger day and see what the scales say the next morning.
Your relationship with God is an everyday job. Do you think “I’m too busy today for you, God” actually works with Him?
Your ____________ (you fill in the blank) is an everyday job.
In every dimension of life, if we start taking days off, we begin to dry up, or worse…. And yes, that means some days we have to trudge through the mud and manure to get to the barn or office or church or dinner table or whatever.
Now, I am not trying to make life all drudgery and all work. There is great joy and satisfaction in a job well done when the cows are milked, when a relationship is fulfilling, when your health is good, and when you feel the smile of God’s favor on your life. But these things don’t just happen—they take some time and effort. So rather than dry up or worse, milk your cows every day; you’ll be glad you did.
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© Copyright 2014 by Dick Wells, The Hard Lessons Company
One of the most inspiring stories of Greek history is the battle of Thermopylae (480BC) during which 300 Spartans held off an army of 100,000+ Persians for seven days before they were betrayed and all killed. Their leader was King Leonidas—he fought on the front line and perished with them. They were fighting for their country and their sacrifice saved Greece.
A story most every American is familiar with is the battle of the Alamo in which 200± “Texians” held off 2000 or so Mexican soldiers for almost two weeks before being overwhelmed and all killed. They bought time for Sam Houston to raise an army that—about six weeks later—defeated the Mexican army at San Jacinto and won independence for Texas. Jim Bowie and William Travis were the commanders at the Alamo though Hollywood likes to elevate Davy Crockett played by Fess Parker, John Wayne, Billy Bob Thornton, etc., depending on which vintage you watch.
A lesser known story of a small group following a leader into battle against overwhelming odds is found in the 14th chapter of Genesis. Four kings (all with long, hard-to-pronounce names) made war against Sodom and Gomorrah and “carried off Abram’s nephew Lot and his possessions” (Genesis 14:12 NIV). Abram (better known as Abraham) “called out the 318 trained men born in his household and went in pursuit (Genesis 14:14 NIV). You can read the full account for yourself, but the outcome was that the 318 men led by Abram defeated the four armies led by kings and rescued Lot and all his possessions.
Three stories of men who followed their leaders into battle against overwhelming odds: in two everyone was killed, in the third they were victorious. In all three, they had to choose to follow the leader.
The leadership question is: what about Leonidas, Bowie, Travis, Crockett, and Abram inspired their men to follow them to almost certain death? Now, I could give you my version of the answer(s), but why don’t you give me yours by answering the following question: what kind of leader would I follow into battle against overwhelming odds? The battle doesn’t have to be a war. It could be any aspect of life, but the defining issue is “in all likelihood we are going to lose badly, but I am going to follow the leader anyway.” That is the kind of leader I want to be; how about you?
Let me hear from you. I’ll summarize your comments in a later post.
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© Copyright 2014 by Dick Wells, The Hard Lessons Company
The WSJ article by Lauren Lipton(1/30/14) was titled: Posh Hair Cutters Push the $1000 Envelope. My mind immediately went to how much I save by having my hair cut at Genie’s for $13. Hmmm…that is a saving of $987 per cut. Assuming one visit per month, that is $11,844 per year. If I invest $11,844 in ten year treasury bonds (at 2.75%) for ten years, I’ll have more than $130,000 in the bank. I sure am glad I don’t live in Manhattan.
Of course, not every hair cut or styling on Madison Avenue gets $1000. Some are discounted to $500. The savings over ten years? A hefty $67,177. If you get a New York haircut at the discounter “Wal-cuts” (not a real company) for a mere $100, your ten-year invested savings will be $12,000. If you get a “street-corner” haircut for $50 (cash only), you will have about $5000 in the bank after ten years.
Now I know some of you are thinking, Dick, you need to spend more on haircuts; it will help your image. Maybe so. But the point of this post is that small savings that seem insignificant on a monthly basis can add up to big savings when viewed over a ten year horizon. I recently cut our monthly utility bills by over $100 per month by simple phones calls to Comcast, Verizon, ADT, and TWC. If I save it instead of spending it, I’ll have an extra $,12000+ in the bank in ten years.
There are few things that hurt businesses, families, churches, etc., more than short-term thinking. Instead of asking, What is the impact over five or ten years?, if there isn’t an immediate short-term payback, we ignore changes, savings, investments, and relationships that have a long-term payback. Why is Warren Buffet the best investor on the planet? He’s not a stock trader or company flipper. He buys stocks and companies and holds them—almost forever.
If you expect to be alive ten years from now (I do), there are things you can do now that will have a big payback then. What will 15 minutes per week spent getting to know each of your employees be worth in ten years? How about losing one pound per month instead of a crash diet? If you buy a $2.50 (instead of $5.00) cup of coffee on your way to work, you’ll have an extra $6000 in the bank in ten years. Would a 30-45 minute walk, 5 times a week, stave off diabetes or heart disease for you? Would one hour of training every month for you and your employees make a difference over time?
Today would be a good day to get started. 2024 will be here before you know it.
By the way, I do tip Genie, so the actual cost of my hair cut is $15. So my ten-year savings compared to Julien’s on Madison Ave is only $135,872. Rats.
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© Copyright 2014 by Dick Wells, The Hard Lessons Company
Wow! The Wednesday, February 6th headlines were “CVS to Kick Cigarette Habit” by October 1st (WSJ). CVS is giving up over $2B of revenue but expects to maintain its profit forecast. One reason they will is because people like me will go out of their way to shop at CVS though a Walgreens is much closer. (Anybody from Walgreens reading this?)
According to the CDC, 18% of the adults (18+) in the U.S. are regular smokers. In spite of the smoking rate reducing about 0.5% per year since 1965 (it was 43% then), smoking is still the leading cause of preventable death (480,000 per year) in America.
There is no way for CVS to say on one hand, our purpose is “Helping people on their path to better health” (from cvscaremark.com), while on the other hand selling a product that kills 480,000 people per year. I love it when organizations make hard choices to maintain the integrity of their mission statements.
Maybe your organization doesn’t sell cigarettes, but are there other things you do that are contrary to your mission statement?
A better question may be “Do you even have a mission statement?”
As I write this, I am challenged to examine my own life in light of my own personal mission statement:
“I have as my ambition—wherever I am and whatever I am doing—to be pleasing to God.”
2 Corinthians 5:9 (my paraphrase)
The “wherever I am and whatever I am doing” part gets me every time. Like CVS, I have some hard choices to make.
Okay, Walgreens, you’re up. And so am I. And so are you.
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© Copyright 2014 by Dick Wells, The Hard Lessons Company
In one of the best loved children’s books of all time, Charlotte the spider immortalized Wilber the pig by spinning words like “that’s some pig” in her web. Really? A spider that could spell and spin words in a web? Yup. Charlotte was a that’s-some-spider spider while Wilbur was just an ordinary pet pig. But I suppose a pig saving a spider wouldn’t have much charm and appeal to the preschoolers who love the story.
Now, when it comes to bulls, “that’s some bull” is the true and earned description of Bushwacker—the greatest bucking bull of all time. Bushwacker is the king of bulls. He bucked off a record 42 riders in a row while compiling a current lifetime record of 67-3. The average time before the rider eats dirt is 3.3 seconds. That means Bushwacker earns about $500,000 per year for working less than one minute. (Remind you of Washington D.C.?)
So how did Bushwacker become a that’s-some-bull bull? He worked at it! Strength training, aerobics, nutrition, and bucking practice are all part of a that’s-some-bull bull’s regimen. Want to become a that’s-some-leader leader? Work at it! Will working at it make you a better leader? Leadership icon Warren Bennis thinks it will:
“The most dangerous leadership myth is that leaders are born—that there is a genetic factor to leadership.
This myth asserts that people simply either have certain charismatic qualities or not.
That’s nonsense; in fact, the opposite is true. Leaders are made rather than born.”
Warren G. Bennis
“Leaders are made” means they work at becoming better leaders.
If you want a 67-3 leadership record, you will have to work for it. I suppose that’s why most leaders are 50-50 at best. I wish I had realized this a lot earlier in my career. I could have avoided a lot of mistakes and my company, Hard Lessons, could have a different name.
By the way, Bushwacker’s owner, Julio Moreno, describes Bushwacker’s retirement as passing the time in 15 irrigated-clover acres with about 20 girl friends to keep him company. Hmmm. Sounds better than a 55+ retirement village in Florida.
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© Copyright 2014 by Dick Wells, The Hard Lessons Company
They are all enjoyable? Yes.
They are all big business? Yes.
They have all been around a long time? Yes.
They all have fans? Yes. (Old westerns, the Braves, and Diet Coke—never Pepsi—for me.)
Okay, there is one more important thing: Fay Vincent was an executive leader in all three industries—CEO of Columbia Pictures, commissioner of Major League Baseball, and executive VP at Coca-Cola.
The February 4th WSJ had an article by Fay Vincent titled “Ten Tips for New Executives.” It is full of leadership wisdom that applies to new executives, old executives, or anybody at any level in leadership.
For example:
#3 Leadership is a full-time job and the duty clock is never off.
#10 Never do or say anything that you would be unhappy to see…on a newspaper front page. (Would your grandmother approve is another good criterion.)
And, always “tell the truth.”
I could ramble on about all of these, but please do yourself a favor, get a copy of the 2/4 WSJ and read the article (page A9) or google Ten Tips For New Executives and click the “online.wsj.com” link. You’ll be glad you did.
By the way, don’t just read it, follow this great advice from an experienced and successful executive. You won’t regret it.
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© Copyright 2014 by Dick Wells, The Hard Lessons Company.
It is the #1 network television show. It is fighting terrorists, fighting crime, fighting traitors, fighting everything…on steroids.
There is Gibbs—the world’s smartest crime fighter—who is ALWAYS right. (Ever worked for someone like that?) There is (was, now gone) Ziva, the lovely ex-Israeli agent who can take out Chuck Norris, Bruce Lee and Steven Seagal (even when he was young and menacing)—all at the same time without breaking a sweat. There is Abby—everyone’s lovable favorite, even with her tattoos and loud metal rock music. McGee is the “tech geek” and “Ducky” is the medical geek and trivia repository.
Then, there is DiNozzo—the jerk. He is completely self-absorbed and self-centered. He is rude, a snoop (searching his coworker’s desks, etc.), an over-the-line teaser who loves to humiliate everyone— especially McGee (but never Gibbs). He steals food, brags incessantly, is condescending to everyone (except Gibbs), gossips, and loves to make everyone look like a fool. He is just the kind of guy you love to work with, right?
On TV, it works. Gibbs and the others put up with DiNozzo because…well, because it is TV. In the real world, DiNozzo would poison the chemistry of the team, hurt productivity and effectiveness, and make most everyone dread coming to work. In the end, the best and brightest wouldn’t come to work; they would move on.
Generally you can’t reform a jerk; you can only fire them. You can wear yourself out trying, but in the end…. Google has a “no jerk” policy and by the way, ranks #1 on Fortune’s Best Places To Work list. The best and brightest stay at Google. Maybe that is one of the reasons Google is now #4 on the most valuable companies list and will soon pass Microsoft and Exxon, trailing only King Apple.
The question is: would you fire DiNozzo? I would. Let me know what you would do.
[By the way, when you do fire DiNozzo, don’t do it with a post it note, do it in person.]
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© Copyright 2014 by Dick Wells, The Hard Lessons Company
According to comedian Ron White, you can’t fix stupid. He has made a lot of money with that as his trademark line.
In Cold Play’s 2005 mega-hit, Fix You, the line is “I will try to fix you.” The song doesn’t say whether “I” was successful or not—an important point to remember.
In Disney’s $500M success, Wreck It Ralph, one of the main characters is Fix-It Felix, Jr., whose role is to—you guessed it—fix things. At one point in the movie, Fix-It Felix…. (you’ll have to watch it).
Without a doubt, I have a fix-it nature. And worse, my ego has too often convinced me that I can fix-it most anything. Dottie (my wife) has reminded me more than once that I can’t fix-it everything and sometimes I shouldn’t even try. It is really hard for me to stand by and not fix-it or die trying. However, she is right, I can’t fix-it everything. Neither can you.
As a leader, you probably can’t fix-it people who are lazy, or gossips, or serial complainers, or certified jerks (more on jerks in my next post). Further, you will exhaust and frustrate yourself trying.
So what should you do? Most of the time: fire them. And I only say “most of the time” to give myself a little wiggle room. You and everybody else will be better off without them. Morale will be better. Productivity will be better. Retention will be better. Creativity will be better. Everything will be better.
So what are you waiting for? Quit trying to fix-it what can’t be fixed. Sorry to rush off, but I have to go fix-it….
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© Copyright 2014 by Dick Wells, The Hard Lessons Company
John, Maintenance Supervisor: Our machine downtime has increased again. We are tracking it every day, but it just doesn’t seem to get better. The machine shop manager is really ticked off and blaming us for missing his production targets.
Jerry, Manufacturing Manager: What do you mean by “tracking it every day”?
John: We talk to every machine operator on every shift to get an exact record of how much the machine was down for repair. I’ve always heard that you get what you measure, but measuring downtime isn’t helping.
Jerry: Do you track how often you are doing the required preventative maintenance on each machine?
John: We log it in when we do it, but frankly, we are spending so much time repairing machines that we run behind on maintenance.
Jerry: How often do you get the oil on your car changed?
John: Every 5000 miles—exactly what the specs require. I don’t want to blow an engine because old oil isn’t doing its job.
Jerry: Why don’t you try taking care of the machines the same way you care for your car. Lubricate when you are supposed to. Calibrate when you are supposed to. Sharpen drill bits when you are supposed to. Would that make a difference in machine downtime?
John: I’m sure it would help.
Jerry: Let’s do this. For the next month, don’t track downtime at all and don’t bring me any downtime reports. Instead keep track of maintenance actions and bring me a report on that. Then after a month or two, we’ll take a look at downtime to see if it is getting better.
Two months later, John: The machine shop manager called to let me know that his machines are working much better and downtime is down. He is really happy.
Jerry: John, a hard lesson we all have to learn is that “you get what you measure only if you measure the right things.” You don’t track downtime on your car; you track oil change intervals. Nobody ever loses weight by weighing everyday. You lose weight by tracking exercise and calorie intake. You don’t reduce debt by keeping track of your debt; you reduce debt by keeping track of your spending. If you want to get the weeds out of your yard, you can’t do it by counting the weeds. You do it by applying weed killer at the proper time, or digging them up by hand. Tell your team that I am really pleased with their effort the last couple of months; just keep tracking maintenance and downtime will take care of itself.
Is there something in your life or organization you want to change? Change what you measure and track if you really want different results.
Do you have any “you get what you measure” stories? Share them in the comment section.
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© Copyright 2014 by Dick Wells, The Hard Lessons Company
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