Good Morning Friends! Here are my 5 Things to Consider this week!
Culture – Focus on the road, not the wall. (From The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz) When someone learns how to drive a race car, one of the first lessons taught is that when you are going around a curve at 200 mph, do not focus on the wall; focus on the road. If you focus on the wall, you will drive right into it. If you focus on the road, you will follow the road. Running a company is like that. There are a thousand things that can go wrong and sink the ship. If you focus too much on them, you will drive yourself nuts and likely crash your company. Focus on where you are going rather than on what you hope to avoid.
I thought this except was poignant right now because in the coming weeks, we will encounter a great deal of distractions on the path back to normalcy. Now more than ever, it’s important to focus on the basics and execute them brilliantly every day. Simply look to our Pierarchy Chart and remind yourself that your locations success is based on a foundation of “non-negotiables” and “basics” that make our shops work. Without this strong foundation, nothing else can be built.
Leadership – There is no hierarchy of pain. As the people that we lead begin to return to work, we will undoubtedly be faced with a new aspect of our jobs; scared, anxious, and emotional team members. One of the skill sets that we owe it to ourselves to become better at is managing people’s fears. As we have internally processed the events of last few months, we have experienced a myriad of emotions including; pain, fear, sadness, trauma, and grief among many others. These are all forms of suffering and we individually process these emotions very differently. Nothing makes someone’s pain, fear or anxiety lesser or greater than anyone else’s because these emotions are personal to the individual. As we slowly get back to “normal,” our teams will look to us to be more sympathetic. They will look at us to tell them everything will be okay. Some will need your reassurance more than others. Some will thrive off of your confidence. Some may just need a smile. As you begin to deal with the individual healing processes of your team members, be aware that not one person’s experience over the last two months is the same as someone elses. Listen to them when they talk to you. Hear their concerns. Calm their fears. It’s up to us not to judge a person’s experience, but rather empathize and offer gentle guidance. The world need leadership more than ever right now and it starts with us.
History – Ledo’s. I know I’ve written about this before, but on the heels of us closing this locations, I thought I’d share some memories about our third ever location. I remember opening in February because moving the equipment in on a 10 degree night was almost enough to make me quit right there. We took over the place with a giant stone pizza oven that belonged to the landlord. We took it to the scrap yard one day without telling him. Years later that would cost me $500. We partied and saw some crazy shit at Club 20. Danced at Ace of Cups. Saw a show or two at Space Bar and made more trips to Ace Hardware than I can even count. I’ll always have a place in my heart for that location and the neighborhood we helped create there. Perhaps one day, we will find another opportunity to return to being a friend and neighbor to so many great businesses. Cheers to so many good memories and great neighbors.
Motivation – “Plan for what is difficult while it is easy” – Sun Tzu
The 5th Thing (something I’m reading, watching or inspired by) – I know I’m about 15 or so years late on starting this series, but during the shutdown I started watching Arrested Development. I remember people saying how much I’d like that show and, yep, they were right. Being only a 23 minute runtime, I like to finish my nights with one episode. Great cast, great characters, total win.
Baby Update – My child wants the world to burn. Last week little William turned 8 months old. He’s beginning not to be so little anymore. He’s in a phase now where everything must be in total disarray. Anything within reach must be knocked down. Anything on the counter must be on the floor. What was once right, must now be gone. It all must be destroyed!!! I sometimes wonder why he cannot tolerate order in this world, but then I remember he is half Devil. His mom’s half.
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 