Posted: June 6, 2024 | Categories: Leadership, Management, Self-Improvement

Being a loyal team member is a virtue.  So is maintaining our personal integrity.  What if you run into a situation where you have to choose between the two?  The following true story illustrates this scenario as good as any I know:

In 1914 at age 27, Herm Krannert was hired by the Sefton Corporation.  Sefton made corrugated boxes, and they were at the top of their field.  Herm was eager and worked hard.  At age 30, he was rewarded by being promoted to VP and director.  There was one condition:  He would be required to vote as the president wanted him to.  This offended Herm and he saw it as an affront to his integrity.  He immediately quit.  Imagine being promoted to Vice President and director of a major company and unemployed in one day!

Herm came home and shared the news with his wife, Ellnora.  She comforted him, and assured him things would work out fine.  They did!  A group of co-workers heard what had happened and they quit also.  They said they wanted to pool their cash together and start their own company, and they wanted Herm to be president.  That was the beginning of the Inland Container Corporation, which would end up to be the 2nd largest container manufacturing corporation in the country.

If you walk the campus of Purdue University, you will find Herm’s name in many places.  Most noticeable, there is the Herman Krannert School of Management.

Herm was a man of rock-solid integrity.  We respect people with such a quality.  We also respect one of the most important ingredients we need to achieve and sustain our integrity…COURAGE!

Posted: May 17, 2024 | Categories: Management, Self-Improvement

“Success in business is a series of steps”

– Rodger Ford: Founder of Alpha Graphics

Would you care to guess what percentage of multi-million dollar lottery winners go bankrupt in the first 3-5 years?  If you guessed 40%, you are correct!  How could that be?  People who have and keep money have developed the habits and discipline of being good managers of money.  Those who win the big jackpot are often not the best stewards of their resources.  If we want to succeed, we need to “crawl before we can walk”.  For any worthwhile achievement there are steps involved and we must work through each one.

When I was an infant, I never went through the crawling stage.  I just went right to walking.  Who wants to crawl when you can walk?  It turns out that jumping the gun was a bad move.  When a baby crawls, he or she gets used to putting one hand in front of another.  That is important, because when we do walk we will have many a fall, and we need to instinctively put our hands out to protect ourselves from bashing our head.  I had to wear a football helmet for nearly a year.  I had leap-frogged over in important step in development and I suffered.

As Americans, we want what we want and we want it fast! Before we can succeed we need to painstakingly go through each important phase.  A good plumber was once an apprentice.  A major-leaguer was once in the low-paying minors.  Whatever we want, there are stages and steps involved.  We must be patient and focused to thoroughly complete each step.  If we do, we can look back with pride about all the grit we put in along the way.  What is your next step?

Posted: May 7, 2024 | Categories: Leadership, Self-Improvement, Team Building

“Seek first to understand” – Stephen Covey

The above quote is from the late self-help author and trainer Stephen Covey.  This vital piece of the Golden Rule can serve us royally:

Two days ago I experienced a touching example of this powerful principle.  My wife and I were visiting our son and grandson.  Little 3-year old Levi was not having a good day.  He was cranky, defiant, and exhibiting unpleasant behavior.   Normally, he is cheerful and happy.  That night my son went through his normal routine of reading Levi a story and putting him to bed.  At around 3am, my son was awakened by Levi.  He was standing right next to David.  For the first time, Levi had crawled out of his crib.  A whole new era began!

The next morning Levi and his Dad worked together to convert his crib into a bed.  Then Levi asked his Dad, “Does this mean I can’t be your son anymore?”  WOW!  That is a show stopper.  Now we could see why his behavior was so conflicted.  He knew he needed to give up his crib, but he didn’t want to give up his Dad with it.  A warm, quality conversation followed, and Levi, his attitude, and behavior were back on track.

As I reflected on this story, I realized that, even though we are not 3 years old, we can relate to Levi.  When we know we need to move forward and undergo change, it can create an inner conflict.  If the source of this conflict is not discovered, hurt and misunderstanding can occur.  Seek first to understand.  When we do, barriers are removed, trust is strengthened, and we move forward!

Posted: February 15, 2024 | Categories: Customer service, Sales, Self-Improvement

This message is only taught to sales professionals, but it applies to all of us.  If we want to be in step with someone, always check our assumptions to see if they are correct.

Here is a painful example:  Many years ago I was facilitating a sales training session and we were covering the part of the sales process that included “check questions”.  Check questions are asked when we need to check the correctness of our assumptions.  One of our class participants was a car salesman and shared a conversation he had with a potential buyer.  The prospect was considering buying a new Corvette as a college graduation present for his daughter.  The customer asked, “Is this car fast?”.  Immediately the salesperson enthusiastically replied, “Absolutely!  This car will go up to 180mph!” As soon as he said that, the expression on the customer’s face went from happy to scared.  He did not want to give his daughter a car that went that fast.  The deal was off.  It cost the salesperson a $1700 commission.  He learned his lesson.  He said the next time he will ask a question first before he answered like, “Is speed important to you?”  This question would have allowed him to stay in step.

This story carries a lesson for all of us to remember:  Before we assume, check our assumption with a good “check question”. By doing this we will save ourselves unecessary stress, and maybe even a friendship!

Posted: December 11, 2023 | Categories: Customer service, Leadership, Self-Improvement

“To Thomas Jefferson, the argument interrupted the song.  To John Adams, is was the song”

Several years ago I worked with a company that produced special parts for the U.S. military aviation industry.  The workers in this shop were good at their job, and were also critical thinkers.  One day I was talking with Vernon, the owner, about his team.  He talked about Larry, an employee he liked very much.  He liked Larry because he was a nice guy who always got along and did his best to keep peace and harmony.  Larry was a “people-pleaser” and a peace keeper,  Vernon said, “I wish everyone was like Larry”, and I replied, “No, you don’t”.  You see, people who are peace keepers often avoid confrontation.  Sometimes, confrontation is just what we need to do to preserve peace and prevent resentment.

Here is an example:  A couple weeks ago my wife and I went to a local steakhouse.  We both ordered the same thing, and we were served quickly.  Even though the steaks didn’t look like the picture on the menu, we shrugged our shoulders and dug in anyway.  As we were eating the steak, I asked my wife if she thought they could have given us something different than we ordered.  Joyce asked the server, and we found out we had been served a larger and more expensive steak than we ordered.  Each steak was twice the price of what we expected.  We brought it to the attention of the server.  She said she could give us 10% off, and that was all she was authorized to do.  She said if that wasn’t acceptable, we could talk to the manager.  Being the peace keeper, I didn’t want to elevate the situation, but Joyce did.  Politely and tactfully, Joyce said she would like to talk to the manager.  They had a good dialogue, and the manager gave us an adjustment that was more than fair.   We were happy.  Mistakes happen.  We liked our server and we like the restaurant.  We will be back.  If we had not confronted the manager, we would have probably not returned.  This is an example of when confrontation is good.  Joyce created a “win-win”.