Get Behind the Wheel

A large portion of my job is hauling equipment with a truck and trailer. It's not uncommon for me to spend 4-6 hours a day driving.



My truck, trailer and machine at work

I've learned there is a lot about driving truck that can be applied to business and leadership.

Allow me to explain:

Look Ahead

Semi's are big, and they weigh A LOT when loaded. My weight is usually around 85,000 lbs. You can't stop over 40 tons like you can stop a little family sedan.

When you drive truck you've got to look a long ways ahead of you. You have to know where to turn, what lane to be in, what traffic is doing, what stop lights are doing, and a million other things.

Likewise, in leadership and business, we can't look at only what is happening now. We've gotta keep an eye on what's going down the road. If we fail to look and plan ahead, sooner or later the full weight of our business will crash and burn. Plan ahead.

Look Behind

As important as looking ahead is looking behind you. Watching what's behind you helps you plan as well. It's important to see that little sports car coming up quick in the other lane, or the idiot in the 4x4 that is so close to your trailer you think you're actually towing him.

In business, looking behind you and recognizing mistakes or areas for adjustment will also help you avoid a future crash.

Accept Help

Fun fact: Next time you're on the interstate watch for this:

When one semi passes another, the semi being passed will often either hit his high beams, or turn his headlights on and off to let the other semi know he is clear to move back into the right lane.

Driving a truck and trailer makes it difficult sometimes to judge when the tail end of your trailer is past the truck you're passing. This gesture is extremely helpful!

As a "thank you" you will see the truck that has just passed flip on his hazard lights, or turn his clearance lights on and off a couple times.

These are nearly universal signs used by upwards of 90% of trucks.

As we travel down the road in our business take notice of the suggestions and insights of others. They often have a different view than you do that will help you avoid misjudging a situation that could cost you a lot of time, money and frustration.

Take the Wheel

So next time you're driving and you see one of those asphalt cowboys, take notes! They just might teach you something that'll lead to a huge payload in your leadership!



Question: What can you learn about leadership from your commute and/or travel?



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Twitter: @Skropp2

Gathering Your Thoughts When You Have No Idea

Cool Ideas

 If you're like me, you get some way cool ideas on a fairly frequent basis...
 
What!!? You don't?
 
Ooohhh, let me guess,

 

You're one of THOSE people that thinks that everyone around them gets awesome ideas but you never do?
 
I used to think I didn't either. But do you know what I've found?

 

We ALL get them, but most of the time, we choose to dismiss them before we consciously realize we had one! 
 

Dismissing Ideas

 

Why do we dismiss them?  

I don't know, it's kind of silly, in all honesty.

If we listened to all the ideas we had and acted on one or two, you and I would've probably ran into Chris a couple months ago on some remote Caribbean beach just down from where we anchored our yacht! (If that's your thing...my point: we could be wealthy!)
 
Having great ideas is vital in business, leadership, and personal life.
 
I believe that you're smart. I believe you have a unique perspective of the world and that with your perspective and skills you could improve the lives of countless people! Your ideas are valuable! And they are right there in YOUR BRAIN!!
 

So how do we capture these ideas?

 
1. Be Aware: Pay attention to what you're thinking. Some of your best ideas will come when you are supposedly "not thinking". Proactively ask yourself what you are thinking about.
 
2. Write it Down. Committing your ideas to paper conveys to God (and your subconscious) that you value those ideas. When I show my wife I value her cooking, I typically get to enjoy MORE great food. The same applies here: Assign value to your ideas and you'll begin to receive and recognize more fantastic ideas!
 
3. Sundown Rule. Before the sun goes down the next day, share your idea with someone. Your spouse, children, close friend, mentor--someone! Articulating your idea out loud will clarify your idea and spark other related ideas in your mind and from those with whom you share them.

4. Come back to them. Keep all your ideas (good, bad, or ugly) in a note book or on 3x5 cards. Go back and review each idea once every couple weeks or each month. Some time may give you added perspective on an idea.
 
5. Act! You may have no idea how to bring your idea to fruition, but don't let that stop you! Take a cue from Andy Andrews. Andy says if he doesn't know what to do he asks himself this question:

"I know you don't know what to do, but if you DID know what to do, what would you do RIGHT NOW? (emphasis added)

Then make plans to do that one thing with your idea right away. Research the idea. Write a blog post about it. Do a brainstorming session. Seek further counsel.
 
YOU are intelligent. YOU have great ideas. You just need to convince yourself of as much!
 

 

Question: What do you do to recognize and develop new ideas each day?

Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings! Please pass them along to your friends, family and associates if you find them valuable!



Twitter: @Skropp2

 

The Customer is Always Right!

"The Customer is Always Right"

How many times have we heard that?

How many managers have said it?

How many company websites, stationary, business cards, sales material and coffee mugs have sported this saying?

How many of us believe it?



Photo Courtesy of LonelyBob, Some Rights Reserved

Ok, you can put your hands down.

Before we get into the post, let's find a few things we all can agree on.

1. Customers are important.

2. Customer service is important.

3. Many customers THINK they are always right.

4. Odds are, customers are NOT right as often as they'd like to believe.

Can we agree on those? If you disagree, well, get your own dang blog! This one's mine ;)

But let's be honest, the customer is NOT always right. And quite frankly, the ones that are insistent that they are, and are determined to rub it in your face--like you're a dog in need of house training--probably aren't your best customers anyways.

But does this mean that you just write off their complaints as the ramblings of a madman and laugh mockingly at the stupid notion that "the customer is always right?"

Short answer: No.

And here's why:

Perception is reality.

I LOVE that phrase, and no where is it more applicable than in customer service.

Here's what I mean:

In reality, your customer is wrong, the terms of delivery were 5-7 BUSINESS days, not 5-7 days, regardless of Christmas, New Years and the Sunday in between!

In perception, your customer feels you are incompetent, and incapable of keeping your word...and he tells EVERYONE at Starbucks exactly that.

In reality, the warranty clearly states that throwing your product onto a rock from your tree stand 35 feet up voids the warranty.

In perception, your client tells all his hunting buddies that not only is your product a piece of crap, but your service belongs in the toilet as well.

You get the idea.

Now I'm not saying you should fall all over your customers if they are blatantly wrong. You only need a fraction of the earth's billions of inhabitants as clients. Some clients are best served by making sure the door doesn't hit them on the way out.

My point is,

When striving to provide excellent customer service, be mindful, and take into account that, though they may be wrong, your client's perception IS THEIR reality, and he will relay it to everyone he associates with as such.

Perception is reality.

Perhaps THAT phrase should be found in our businesses (and maybe on a coffee mug) a little more often. It may improve our ability to understand and serve our customers.



Question: How have you seen perception affect your job or business?

Thanks for reading! If you find these posts valuable, please share them in your social circles!!

Twitter: @Skropp2

We Hired You to Be a Leader

We Hired You to Be a Leader

In a previous post I talked about an interview Chris LoCurto did with Joe Scarlett, former CEO of Tractor Supply Company for the EntreLeadership Podcast. If you haven't listened to the podcast, do yourself a favor and click here to listen (be sure to scroll to the bottom to listen to the bonus interview!)!

In the interview, Joe talks about his love of delegation. Bragging (rightfully so, in my opinion) that he had delegated so well that as CEO he made very few actual decisions.

Photo courtesy of Mays Business School, Some Rights Reserved

He told a story about when he was a young leader in an department store in charge of closing the store. In order to get finished he rolled up his sleeves and began emptying garbage cans etc. While do so the store manager came to him and said, in effect, "We didn't hire you to empty the garbage, we hired you to lead. "

What a profound statement. Joe said that after that delegation became his middle name!! He says if you learn to delegate you'll never become a workaholic.

Delegation

Delegation is the key to keeping balance in your life. Joe says living a balanced life and not letting work take over is a mindset. He says you must do 4 things well:

1. Build good teams

2. Delegate responsibility

3. Trust people to get the job done

4. Set up checkpoints to make sure things stay on track.

his definitive statement on delegation was:

"if you can't delegate responsibility you can't move up the ladder."

Question: What is your view of delegation? How can you delegate so you can be a more effective leader?


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Twitter: @Skropp2

What Do Tractors Have to do With Leadership?

What Do Tractors Have to do With Leadership?

A lot if you're Joe Scarlett.

Photo Courtesy of www.joescarlett.com 

Mr. Scarlett is the retired CEO of Tractor Supply Company and founder of th Scarlett Leadership Institute. Recently Mr. Scarlett was interviewed by Chris LoCurto for Dave Ramsey's EntreLeaderhip podcast. I would strongly recommend listening to the whole interview. You can find it, along with a bonus interview with Mr. Scarlett here.

I could write 5 blog posts on the information in the interview, and I just may. But for today I want to share the 5 things Mr. Scarlett advised aspiring leaders to do to prepare for leadership.

Prepare for Leadership

1. Set Clear direction

"Do the people that work for me, do they clearly know where we are going?" 

 Know where you're going, know where your organization is going. Be able to convey that direction to your team members.

2. Delegate

"If you're micromanaging, forget about it, I'm not gonna promote you."

Mr. Scarlett spent a lot of time on delegation. He said the ability to delegate is one of the most essential skills of a leader. If you can't delegate your success is limited to only what you can personally do.

3. Humility

"Do you have a big ego? If you really think you're great, you can stay where you are!"

Being humble is an critical to being a great leader. 

4. Communication

"The further up the ladder you get, the more important communication becomes."

Always be honing your communication skills, verbal, written etc. know how I give a speech, write a report, pitch an idea to the Board of Directors, etc.

5. Be a cheerleader

"Be the first one to recognize performance."

Be a positive uplifting influence. Be the first to praise and encourage. Celebrate success. Smile

This was just one small portion of a fantastic interview. Again, click here to listen in its entirety.



Question: What are you doing today to prepare for greater leadership opportunities?



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Twitter: @Skropp2

Raising Entrepreneurs....

Late Night

So this past Saturday my wife, my daughter and I were lying on the couch watching a movie.  Well, my wife and my daughter fell asleep so I shut off the movie.  Now we have Roku, not regular TV.  If you dont know what Roku is, it is a device that you hook to your TV and it allows you to watch "channels" via your internet connection. 

Anyways, there are always new channels coming out, so I was browsing through the new channels to see if I was missing anything super important.  And Lo and behold, I was!!! There was now a TED talks channel!!! Now, if you don't know what TED talks are, PLEASE click on the link right now!!! TED talks are one of the neatest things I've ever come across.  10-20 talks on all sorts of topics.  It allows you to learn about alot of difference subjects and new, cutting edge ideas in those subjects in a short space of time.  It's fantastic.

Anyways, so I download the TED talks channel and start browsing through the talks.  I found some really great ones.  I watched the Simon Sinek TED talk, which is absolutely mind blowing! That should be watched monthly by everyone!! AWESOME info! 

The talk that pumped me up...

Then I came across the talk that really pumped me up.  The talk was given by a gentleman by the name of Cameron Herold. (You can follow Cameron on Twitter @CameronHerold) His talk was titled "Let's raise kids to be entrepreneurs".  This talk was absolutely amazing!  There's way to much to just summarize it, so I'd encourage you to watch the entire thing, then I'll share what I got from it!

 Enjoy!

Mr. Herold makes some great points.  The first that I noticed that is absolutely true is that our school systems are focused on making all of us great employees, but we don't recognize and develop kids who may be wired more towards being entrepreneurs.

He gives alot of examples of what he did growing up, but what really stuck out to me were the ideas he suggested for teaching our kids to be more entrepreneurial.  Some of the suggestions he gives that I am going to implement with my daughter are:

No Allowance

He says allowances teach kids to expect a regular paycheck, which is a job, not entrepreneurial.  He suggests you teach your kids to look around the house and find things on their own that need to be done, then have them come to you and explain what you want to do, then negotiate a price.  This teaches them to look for a need and negotiate a price to fulfil the need.

Don't just read bedtime stories

Reading has a place.  But he said to take a few nights a week and have your kids tell you a story.  Give them a few items and have them make up a story.  This teaches them to think on their feet, to imagine, to create, to sell.

Stand infront of groups and talk

Give your kids opportunities to speak infront of groups, even if its just their friends or your friends.  This helps them learn how to speak, how to present to an audience, etc.

Point out Good and Bad Service and Employees

When you're out and about, point out when you receive poor service, explain why the service wasnt very good so your child learns by observation how to serve and how not to serve.  Do the same with employees so they know what a good employee looks and acts like and how to spot bad employees.

Craigslist

When you're getting rid of old toys of your childs, don't just give them away, have your kid put them on Craigslist, ebay, etc.  Teach them how to write a description, have a good picture, determine and set the price, spot scammers, and negotiate. 

My Take Away

It seems that his point was that there are so many every day experiences with our children that we just overlook that could be HUGE learning opportunities for them! 

I was blown away with these ideas!  What great ways to teach and train our children to look for and fulfill needs around them. 

I believe if we can teach our kids some of these principles and thought processes we'll raise a generation that will power this economy.  A generation that will provide jobs rather than looking for someone to give them a job!  A generation that will be self-sufficient, confident, and successful! 





Question: What every day experiences do you have that could be used to teach success principles to your children?




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Twitter: @Skropp2