Happy Tuesday, Friends! As this newsletter has developed over the last couple months, I’ve noticed it going in the direction of covering a few topics, mainly culture, leadership, history, motivation and what I’m reading or watching. So that’s the direction I’m going to head with this.
I hope you enjoy it!
Culture – Tribe or Family? When it comes to business, people talk a LOT about the difference between the two and they are VERY different. It all starts on how you define family. The term “family” is different to each and every one of us. It doesn’t have to be a Mom, Dad and two kids. No matter what your definition of “Family” is, we always want family to be first for you. The truth is, you cannot be fired from your family. You can leave them. You can become disconnected from them, but you can’t get fired from them. No matter how much my sisters might annoy me, they’ll always be my sisters no matter what. That can’t be said for the people you work with. You CAN get fired from your job. You CAN get let go from your tribe, so we have to think of those things different. You can love the people you work with. You can think of them as family. You can even get so close to them that they basically become family, but they are NOT the same thing. They have to be different and here’s why. Your tribe succeeds on the strengths and contributions of everyone in it. You have a responsibility to each and every member of your tribe to hold up your end of the bargain. If everyone in the tribe consistently bring their WHOLE SELF, is doing their BEST WORK and is PRESENT every day, the tribe succeeds. If you don’t, the tribe will either help you get back on the path or decide it’s best for you to find a new tribe. As the old saying goes, You can choose your friends, but you can’t choose your family.
Leadership – Discovering the strengths of your team, not focusing on their weaknesses. A paragraph of the book I’m reading (The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker, 1966) caught my attention the other day. Btw, sorry girls about the him/he/his below…it was 1966.
“A superior has the responsibility for the work of others. He also has the power over the careers of others. Making strengths productive is therefore much more than an essential of effectiveness. It is a moral imperative, a responsibility of authority and position. To focus on weakness is not only foolish; it is irresponsible. A superior owes it to his organization to make the strength of every one of his subordinates as productive as it can be. But even more does he owe it to the human beings over whom he exercises authority to help them get the most out of whatever strength they have. Organizations must serve the individual to achieve through his strengths and regardless of his limitations and weaknesses.”
You can see why this book is a MFer to read sometimes! To distill this down a little more; every individual on a team has a strength. It might not be in the specific position you gave him or her, but they have a strength. Your job as a leader is to figure out and position that individual to where they are the strongest and not simply discard them for not excelling at a specific role. You not only owe it to the person, but to the team. Picture having the perfect person positioned in the perfect place relative to their individual strength. There is endless power in discovering the strengths of your tribe and not focusing on their weaknesses.
History – Where “No Squares” came from. Way back in the very early days of LNS “No Squares” was one of the first positions we took a stand on. Our fans and customers, being very used to square or “party cut” pizza, would always request their whole pies to be cut into squares. Now, on the surface this seems like a totally legitimate request. But we knew, perhaps even subconsciously, that to stand out in a pretty crowded field, we needed to take a stand. We needed to be different. If we acted like all the others, we’ll just become another fuckin pizza shop. Over the years, No Squares has become much more than a stupid rule, it’s one of our company values. One of our guiding principles that says, “we will not be dull, conventional or out of touch with current trends. We will encourage expression from our Piesans and never cut our pizza into squares.” We don’t do things like everyone else. Our people don’t act or look like everyone else and we don’t cut our pizza like everyone else. We stand out in a sea of bullshit because we’re individuals and the minute we stop being individuals, is the minute we fade into the realm of “who gives a shit.” Fuck. That.
Motivation – My motivation this week comes from Roy Disney (Walt’s older brother) who said, “when your values are clear, decisions are easy.” This week, I’ve been thinking about my own personal values. Mine are Respect, Truth, Hard Work and Being Different. What are yours?
What I’m Reading or Watching – This week on the way back from Cincinnati, I listened to the Podcast “How I Built This” from NPR. I really like this podcast because it talks with entrepreneurs about how they built their companies. I always like when restaurant episodes come out and this week featured Jerry Murrell from 5 Guys. His story was awesome and motivating. Check it out here!
Thanks for reading! Like or hate any part of this? Let me know! I really value your feedback.
Have a great week!
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