Good Morning Friends! Here are my 5 Things to Consider this week!
Culture – Unapologetically Ourselves. There are people in this world who love us and there are people in the world who don’t. Being in the hospitality industry, more specifically the pizza and booze industry, we’re in a unique situation where our doors are open to the ENTIRE public. Everyone. And people have a strong desire to patronize a company whose values align with their own. So we have a choice to make. Fade into the background with all the other pizza and booze places in the world or STAND UP AND STAND OUT! The chameleons in our industry may never understand why we choose to stand up for the things we do. They may never understand why we open our mouths when it’s probably easier or safer to keep our mouths shut. They may never understand why we make the jokes we make. For us though, we wouldn’t have it any other way. We know exactly who we are. We know exactly what we stand for. Some call it stubbornness, I call it confidence. I call it passion. I call it being unapologetically ourselves. Our fans are attracted to us when we stand up for what we believe in. They respect us when we are aligned with their values. The jokes we make, the people we hire, the graphics we put online, the charities we give to, the groups we align with, and the people we fight for. These are all ways we are unapologetically ourselves. It will always be easier to “shut up and blend in,” but the price we pay to have strong values will always be worth it and we will always pay it.
Leadership – Getting things fixed. One of my biggest pet peeves in our business is when I walk into a shop and hear that a piece of equipment has been broken for a long time and “we’ve just been dealing with it”. One of the things we’ve made it a point to improve on is being as proactive as possible when getting you the tools and support you need to do your jobs properly. I don’t have to tell you how difficult, frustrating and sometimes demoralizing it is to come to work and have to navigate around broken, damaged or missing equipment. As if it isn’t enough to have to come to work and get your ass kicked, to then have to deal with an oven that won’t cook?! We have a system in place to remedy such occasions, but sometimes things get caught in the “action paralysis” stage where someone doesn’t know how to either ask for help or fix a problem and it’s easier to just let it go. Having the right tools for the job is imperative and we, as leaders must make sure our teams those tools. If you ever find yourself in a situation where something isn’t getting the attention it’s needed, never accept that “that’s just the way it is.” It’s not. And we as a company and a team cannot accept “just dealing” with broken equipment.
History – The first time I left to go on vacation. About 10 years ago, almost to the day, I made my first trip back to Key West since moving back to start Late Night Slice. Two of our first employees, my buddies Drew and Chris we’re entrusted with keeping the shop open for the weekend while I was away. I totally trusted these guys, but being my first time away from the shop, of course I was nervous. Jason, who would have watched the shop in my absence, was out of town too that weekend. Hell, he might have been with me. Anyway, back in those days, we had a funny rule about drinking. The rule was, “you can drink, just don’t get drunk.” Well, this particular Saturday, Drew and Chris got shitfaced and the next morning I started getting all these pictures of what the guys did at close, mainly with this pop-up tent we had just bought. It was just destroyed. They were too drunk to put it away properly so they just crushed it like a college bro pile-driving a folding table. I was frustrated, but couldn’t help laugh at these two. When I think about the many situations, similar to this, that have happened along our journey, they’ve all been important learning experiences. Time when we’ve improved our systems and/or processes. Sometimes these lessons even cost us a tent.
Motivation – “Cool means being able to hang with yourself. All you have to ask yourself is ‘Is there anybody I`m afraid of? Is there anybody who if I walked into a room and saw, I’d get nervous?’ If not, then you’re cool.” – Prince
What I’m Reading or Watching – John Oliver. He just wrapped his last season this past week and I can confidently say this is one of the best written shows on TV. It’s very topical and he’s very anti-Trump, but the segments he does around his political ones are simply awesome journalism. If you have HBO and haven’t started watching him, I highly recommend it.
Baby Update – William is 10 weeks old this week, just shy of his three months mark. I think we’re in the phase you’d call “the calm before the storm.” I only can speculate on this because, up to this point, this kid has been really…good. As in, he sleeps really good, he doesn’t cry a lot, he’s been eating appropriately, and he picks us up from the bar when we’re drunk and need a ride, saving us hundreds on Uber rides. I just keep thinking, “this has to give at some point.” Those of you with kids will tell me, “of course it’s going to get worse!” Maybe “worse” isn’t the right adjective to use. “Different” is probably more appropriate. I try to remind myself not to look too far into the future and really enjoy whatever phase he’s in right now, and we totally are. We’re lucky to have good baby and good friends and family to love him too.
Thanks for reading! Like or hate any part of this? Let me know! I really value your feedback.
Have a great week!
5 Things to Consider Archive 