The Act of Leadership: What Do Leaders Do?

Posted on by Scott

leading

Your actions speak so loudly, I can not hear what you are saying. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

I’ve written recently about the things a leader sees and the things a leader says. But it’s hard to ascertain the true measure of a person by what catches their eye. And anyone can come up with a great quote or two. What makes great leaders stand out is the sum of their actions. In short, you know someone is a leader by what they do.

Here are a few of the observable traits of effective leaders.

1. Leaders decide the direction. We’re each faced with a thousand decisions each day. Some are more critical than others. But some decisions affect lives other than just our own. When it comes to making the big decisions – the ones that impact customers, coworkers, and the future of the organization, leaders don’t hesitate. They instinctively know what the right thing to do is and they do it. Leaders step up and make the right call.

2. Leaders act with intention. Leaders see the promise of the future, and they communicate that vision regularly. Leaders also visualize a clear path to that vision. So when a leader acts, you can be sure there’s a reason for it. There’s an agenda. It may not always be readily discernable, but it’s there. Watch a leader long enough and you’ll start to see the master plan take shape. Leaders plan their work and work the plan.

3. Leaders serve as an example. I have three kids. I try to remind myself that they are always watching me. They see everything I do – the decisions I make, the way I respond to circumstances beyond my control, and how I treat other people. They follow my example and emulate my actions. Knowing this, I try to make sure that my example is a good one. Leadership is a lot like parenting. Leaders act knowing that others are watching and learning from their example.

4. Leaders equip others for success. I’ve said many times that I believe the number one responsibility of a manager is to develop those they lead. Ultimately, the job of a leader is to produce other leaders. Because the impact of a great leader is not felt in their presence, but in their absence. So leaders actively seek out resources that will help their team grow stronger. They look for opportunities to delegate responsibility. And they celebrate when the leader in others is revealed. Leaders participate in the education and growth of those around them.

5. Leaders let others lead. No man is an island. And no leader has what it takes to succeed in every circumstance. Strong leaders understand their own limitations and are comfortable with taking a back seat from time to time. That’s because leaders don’t focus on their own egos. They focus on achieving the vision. When someone else is better equipped to take point, strong leaders respond by following. Leaders happily step aside and others lead where appropriate.

This list could go on. There is no end to the list of positive things that leaders do. One thing I know for certain though, is that leadership is not a passive activity. Leading requires action – in a very real sense, leading is action. How will you lead this week?

Get SMART: Turning Great Ideas Into Strategies

Posted on by Scott

smart

So, you received your goals for the year. And rather than letting the future fall to chance, you decided to take control. You pulled the team together and generated a list of ideas – ideas that you hope will make the difference between meeting your goals and falling short; ideas will guarantee success rather than failure.

But what to do now? How do you take this list of ideas and turn them into workable strategies?

The key is to focus on SMART Goals. The acronym SMART is a method for turning an idea into a well-defined strategy that you can implement. It stands for:

SPECIFIC – Tells us exactly what we’re supposed to do.

MEASUREABLE – Allows us to determine the impact and whether or not the strategy was successful.

ATTAINABLE – Has buy-in from the team. Everyone feels that we can accomplish it.

RELEVANT – Helps achieve the overall goal we’ve set out to accomplish.

TIME-BASED – Has defined start and stopping points. We know when it’s over.

To illustrate the power of SMART goals, let’s use a personal example. Let’s say your family has decided to go to Disney World for vacation this fall. After analyzing your vacation budget and the costs associated with the trip, you set a goal to raise $5,000 in order to make the trip happen. So you have a meeting and brainstorm ideas to come up with the money. Ideas include…

  • Garage sale
  • Cut back on eating out
  • Get a second job
  • Sell blood/plasma
  • Discontinue the cable TV
  • Etc.

After brainstorming your list of ideas, you determine which ones have merit and which ones should be discarded. What’s left is a list of great ideas, but no defined strategy. We need to use the SMART Goal filter to turn the ideas into strategies.

For instance, let’s take the second idea on the list – “Cut back on eating out.” Perhaps your family eats out an average of five times per week. Each meal costs you around $50. Armed with this information, you refine your idea using the SMART goal filter. “Cut back on eating out” becomes “Reduce eating out from five times per week to 3 times per week during the months of April and May, saving $800 ($50/meal x 2/week x 8 weeks).”

Now your idea has been transformed into a workable strategy that moves you closer to the ultimate goal. Complete the same process with each idea from your list that you’ve determined has merit. Make sure to develop enough strategies to meet, or exceed, your goal. After a period of time, assess your progress and make any adjustments necessary to remain on track.

Get the most from your team by tackling those goals together. Use brainstorming and SMART goals to move the team forward. Here’s to your success!

Into the Storm: The Basics of Brainstorming

Posted on by Scott

brainstormThe word “brainstorm” refers to the process of generating a series of ideas intended to address a specific question. The idea of brainstorming was first introduced in 1942 by Alex Osborn in his book How to Think Up. Osborn was frustrated with the lack of innovative ideas from his team of advertisers.

Since then, the concept of brainstorming has morphed into a myriad of different branches, though most people tend to rely on the base model that Osborn proposed. Traditional brainstorming involves a team of people, from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines, working together to solve a problem. The goal is to generate a large quantity of ideas that will later be culled and refined into one or more quality solutions.

As you work to develop strategies for achieving your business goals, brainstorming can play an important role. Rather than attempting to solve the problem in isolation, why not tap into the diverse experience, education, and creative juices of the team? Here are the four general rules of brainstorming as presented by Osborn.

  1. Focus on quantity. The goal of brainstorming is to generate as many ideas as possible. You want a figurative “storm” of ideas. Don’t spend time analyzing any particular thought. Digging into the specifics of an idea will short-circuit the generation of others by slowing things down and shifting the team’s thought process from “big picture” to “small details.”
  2. Withhold criticism. Resist the temptation to pass judgement on a suggestion. You want people to remain open and the flow of ideas to continue unabated until they naturally dry up. Pointing out the problem with any one thought kills the momentum in two ways. The individual that voiced the idea in question is now embarrassed, self-conscious, and unlikely to share again. Others involved now hesitate before offering ideas of their own; wondering if the words they speak will be met with criticism as well.
  3. Welcome unusual ideas. Remember, the purpose of brainstorming is to generate a large quantity of ideas. We’re not concerned with the quality just yet. And sometimes the wackiest, most outlandish ideas prove to be the best. Sure, that idea that someone expressed may be really out there; but it could prove to be just the spark needed to spark a really great – and doable – thought in someone else’s brain.
  4. Combine and improve ideas. Sometimes the best solution to a problem is really a combination of ideas. Look for relationships between ideas; or take two seemingly opposing thoughts and see if they can’t somehow work together. Expanding on someone’s initial thought is a great way to keep the ideas flowing and take brainstorming to a whole new level.

Brainstorming is an effective technique used by leaders seeking to achieve their goals while engaging their team. When employees have a hand in developing the strategies guiding their work, they are infinitely more likely to act on them. As a team, there’s a greater sense of urgency to succeed, leading to increased collaboration and accountability. Those are side effects any leader would welcome.

There are a variety of options to traditional brainstorming, and many resources to help jumpstart the process. If you’d like more information on brainstorming, or assistance in facilitating a brainstorming session, just let me know. I’d be happy to help. Of course, the next step is to refine the best ideas into workable strategies. I’ll provide some thoughts on that process next week.

What’s Your Strategy?

Posted on by Scott

point-a-to-b2Well, the first quarter is over. Finished. In the books.

How did you do?

Did you make budget? Did you reach your goals? Did you meet the expectations set by your organization, shareholders, customers, and employees?

Did you accomplish the things you set out to achieve? Did the strategies you put in place pan out like you thought they would?

What’s that? You didn’t have any strategies? Oh…

Too many leaders navigate their way through the year without a strategic plan. This is a mistake. You may have goals, but without a strategy, you have no clear path to achieve them. You have no idea how close you are to the finish line. You have no way of knowing whether or not you are headed in the right direction until the final numbers come out. In short, a goal without a plan to achieve it is just a dream.

Perhaps you achieved your goals. If so, congratulations. But how do you what activities resulted in the victory? How do you know you didn’t just get lucky? Operating without a plan is like going on vacation without consulting a map. Having a clearly defined plan for achieving your goals gives you control over your destiny. And which would you rather do … wander around blindly, hoping for the best … or execute a strategy that’s designed to provide the results you want?

That’s what I thought.

How about we approach the second quarter with intention? Let’s put together a set of strategies – a plan – that will get us where we want to be. Here’s how…

1. Clearly define the results you are after. Start with your annual goal. Subtract the gains you’ve made year-to-date (or subtract your losses) to get a true picture of the mountain you have left to climb. Now break that goal into smaller, more manageable chunks. I like to focus on 90 day increments. That’s long enough to implement some fairly detailed tactics, but about as long as you can keep people focused on a specific initiative. And you need your team to stay focused. Plus 90 days will get us to the end of June – a perfect time to regroup and refocus.

2. Develop a set of strategies to address the goal. With your 90 day goal(s) now in mind, it’s time to devise your strategy. Pull your team together and share one of your 90 day goals. Now lead a brainstorming session to generate a list of actions the team will engage in over the next three months. It’s important that everyone participate in this meeting. You want as diverse a group of people as possible. How can you expect to uncover new ideas if you don’t entertain new perspectives? Make sure to use the SMART Goal formula to refine each idea. (I’ll write more about brainstorming and SMART Goals in the near future.)

3. Execute your plan. The best strategies are useless if they aren’t implemented; so get moving. Every day counts and 90 days will be over before you know it. Delegate responsibilities, allocate resources, and provide the necessary motivation/accountability. Don’t assume that communicating the plan once at the beginning of your initiative is good enough. Most people require regular communication to stay engaged. Our tendency is to wander off track, so need something, or someone, to pull us back in line.

4. Lather, Rinse, Repeat. After 90 days of focusing on your strategic plan, it’s time to start over. Assess your progress to determine if your strategies have been successful. With a new goal in hand, reconvene the team to discuss the next 90 days. What strategies have been successful? What can be done to make them even more so? Conversely, what strategies failed? What can be done to salvage or replace them?

We all need goals to help move us forward. A properly designed goal provides a target to work toward and a measuring stick for performance. But unless the goal is accompanied by a well thought out strategic plan, it’s hard to know the way forward. The absence of a plan means you’re left with luck as your strategy. And I don’t know about you, but I’d rather not depend on that.

If all of this sounds intimidating, or you’d like some assistance developing good strategies, give me a call. I’d love to help.

Leading the Race

Posted on by Scott

IMG_1519Saturday I participated in a 5k run – my first ever. It was a Color Run. As you make your way through the course, you get blasted with a variety of colored powders. You can tell someone has finished a Color Run because they look like a crayon factory exploded around them.

The organizers of the Color Run promote it as a giant party; a celebration. There’s music, dancing, give-aways, and lots of cheering. It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement and energy of the event and, as a result, almost impossible not to finish the race.

I was there to jump-start my personal fitness campaign. Others were there to test themselves physically – to set a new personal best time for completing the run. Others were there simply to enjoy the weather and time with friends. But while we all had different reasons for being there, we all had the same goal: to finish the race. Everyone participating in the 5k had the same end game in mind. We wanted to cross the finish line.

The organizers of the Color Run had a goal too. They stage these events in order to make money. We’d all paid a fee to be there. But they know that in order to be successful, we had to be successful as well. No one comes back for the next race if they have a bad time. So the people in charge – the leaders – made sure to create an environment that almost guaranteed we would succeed.

How did they do it? I thought you’d never ask …

1. They prepped us for success. In the weeks leading up to the event, I received informational emails that told me everything I needed to know to have a successful run. They told me what time to arrive, where to park, and what to wear. They provided maps, FAQ’s and other resources to assist me in reaching my goal. When Saturday finally rolled around, all I had to do was show up and run. Leaders understand the importance of addressing barriers to success up front. They prepare their team for success.

2. They encouraged teamwork. There were individual participants at the run, but I’d bet most people came with a team. My wife and daughter went with me and it helped knowing I wasn’t running alone. The Color Run organizers made teamwork easy by allowing you to create teams during the online registration process. They know that with running, as with most things, going through it alone is harder than going through it with a support group. I saw teams with similar t-shirts on. Other teams wore matching tutus, or costumes, or headgear. And I noticed that those running as part of a team seemed a lot happier and more energetic than those running alone. Leaders understand the importance of shared experiences. They encourage teamwork.

3. They created an engaging environment. When we pulled up to the designated parking area, it was easy to tell we were in the right place. We still had a short walk to the start line, and we couldn’t see anything, but we could hear it. The sound of up-tempo music and cheers found their way to our ears. As we approached, we could see the crowd gathering and the colorful flags that marked the event. People driving by – who weren’t even participating – slowed down and craned their necks to see what was going on. It was obvious that the environment at this place was different. It made others want to join in and made me feel proud to be involved. Leaders understand the importance of context. They carefully craft an environment conducive to success.

4. They celebrated our milestones. Finally the race began. As we progressed, we passed through a series of colored arches spread out along the course. Passing through each one represented the completion of a stage of the run. And with each milestone you passed, volunteers sprayed you with colorful powder (hence the name Color Run). These volunteers didn’t just throw a little color on you, they cheered for you. They celebrated the fact that you had made it to that point. And everyone wanted that feeling. Some participants walked the entire course – except for when they crossed a milestone. As they approached each arch, these people picked up the pace, raised their fists in victory, and gave out a shout. And that mini celebration gave them renewed energy that propelled them closer to the finish line. Leaders understand the importance of small victories. They celebrate with you every chance they get.

5. They made everyone feel like winners. I didn’t finish first. I didn’t finish in the top ten, or even the top 100. But I finished. And the same people who greeted the first runner across the line greeted me. I had a medal thrust into my hands and I joined in the party at the end of the event. I didn’t “win,” but I felt like a winner. Because I had accomplished my goal. I ran a 5k without having a heart attack. And it felt good to look around at all the other participants who had achieved their own personal goals that day. I have no idea who crossed the finish line first. The organizers never announced a first, second, or third place. It really didn’t matter – because we all won. We all achieved the goal. Leaders understand the importance of personal achievement. They know that if you don’t win, they don’t win.

My legs felt heavy Saturday afternoon, but my heart felt light. And I thank the organizers for leading me across the finish line. I’m looking forward to my next 5k and to achieving my next goal.

Winning From Behind

Posted on by Scott

Bobby Thomson - 1951 New York GiantsFall is in the air, and that’s good news for baseball fans. It means playoffs are here and the 110th World Series is in sight. Wild Card are tomorrow and the Division series start this week.

Baseball is a classic game and, like many sports, makes for great stories. Some of the best movies revolve around baseball, but some of the best sports history moments come from actual baseball games. I’m not a huge baseball fan (I think I played one season of little league), but I do love a good story.

One of the most interesting to me is the story of the 1951 New York Giants.

The Giants had endured a horrible year. Coming into August, they were 13 ½ games behind the Brooklyn Dodgers, who led the National League. Everyone figured their season was finished. No team could possibly hope to overcome such a deficit.

But then, inexplicably, something changed. The Giants somehow found new life. Teammates challenged each other and each player vowed to give everything they had through the home stretch. They won 16 games in a row. By October, they had managed to tie Brooklyn for the lead, winning 37 out of their last 44 games.

New York and Brooklyn split the first two games of the playoff series – the first ever in National League history. It came down to the third and final game of the series. The winner would become league champions and go on to face the Yankees in the World Series.

That game didn’t unfold as the Giants had hoped. By the ninth inning, they trailed 4-1. Fans began heading for the exits as Brooklyn prepared to pitch for the game. Three outs and it would all be over.

But once again, the Giants rallied. A couple of singles and a double moved the score to 4-2, with runners on second and third base. Outfielder Bobby Thomson, a fairly consistent hitter, came to plate and rookie Willie Mays moved to the on-deck circle. The Dodgers sent in relief pitcher Ralph Branca – presumably to walk Thomson so he could pitch to the rookie.

Somehow, Thomson connected with the second pitch, sending it into the left field stands. It was ‘the shot heard ‘round the world,” and the underdog Giants were now the National League Champions. Fans stormed the field. Radio announcer Russ Hodges screamed “The Giants win the pennant!” He kept screaming it until he lost his voice. The celebration continued for hours.

How does your team react when the odds are against them? We’re about to enter the 4th quarter of 2014 and many who read this are behind on their annual goals. For some, the deficit may seem too huge to overcome. Is it time to cut the losses and hope for a better 2015? Or is it time to refocus and reenergize?

Time and again, history has shown that the greatest champions aren’t those who coast to victory. The real champions are those who overcome the odds – those who find a way to win when the game is on the line. Those are the victories that mean the most.

Lady Liberty – A Symbol of Teamwork

Posted on by Scott

The Statue of Liberty by Scott Voland (8/16/14)My wife and I recently returned from a weekend vacation in New York City. I’ve visited a couple of times before to attend conferences, so I really enjoyed this opportunity to see the city through the eyes of a tourist. We mapped out a few places we wanted to eat and some attractions we wanted to visit and, of course, Susan had some shopping in mind as well.

One of the attractions we made a point to see was the Statue of Liberty. I’ve always been amazed by large-scale works of art such as this. And pictures just don’t do it justice. You have to see Lady Liberty first-hand to really appreciate her.

Did you know that the statue was a gift from France? It was first conceived of in 1870 by the politician Édouard René de Laboulaye and sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi. They hoped that by honoring the United States’ advances in the name of freedom and liberty, the citizens of France would be inspired to move toward democracy themselves. Bartholdi traveled to America to gain support for the idea. President Grant quickly agreed to the gift and Bartholdi returned to France to begin the work.

Bartholdi’s design called for building the statue in sections that would be shipped across the Atlantic and assembled on site. French citizens donated to the project and as sections were completed, they were displayed at fairs and other exhibitions. The statue was completed in 1884 and fully assembled in Paris. It was presented to the U.S. Ambassador and the French government agreed to pay for its trip to New York.

But the Statue of Liberty almost never made it to America.

Under the original proposal, The United States would finance the design and building of a pedestal for the statue to stand upon. The American government, however, proved reluctant to donate to the effort. The Governor of New York, Grover Cleveland, vetoed a bill to provide half the cost. Democratic representatives stalled a congressional bill to fund the full project. The pedestal, initially designed to be 114 feet tall, was reduced to 89 feet in order to reduce the cost.

Still, the statue sat in Paris for almost a year before sufficient funds were collected to complete the pedestal. It took a grass-roots campaign by newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer (does that name ring a bell?) to generate enough interest to move the project forward. Eventually, sufficient work had been completed for the statue to be moved to New York. It was finally unveiled in place on October 28, 1886. Now President Grover Cleveland presided over the city’s first ticker-tape parade as part of the festivities and the Statue of Liberty began welcoming immigrants seeking a new beginning in America.

I find it interesting that people, and organizations, so often fight against clearly beneficial opportunities. The Statue of Liberty would obviously serve as a symbol of America’s success to the rest of the world, and yet Congress refused to allocate the necessary resources. It would bring recognition and tourism revenue to the City of New York, but the funding bill was rejected. And keep in mind – the statue was a gift! All we had to pay for was a display stand. I wonder what the French thought of us at that point.

As is the story of America, the people stepped up. The pedestal was paid for by 120,000 individual donations from ordinary people. Pulitzer published the names of every single donor, and 80% of the donations were of less than $1 each. The team pulled together and accomplished what seemingly couldn’t be done.

What opportunities are you missing out on right now? What great work is being held up by infighting, someone’s desire to maintain the status quo, or fear of failure? What if your team actually pulled together? What could the sum of their many individual efforts, focused on a common cause, accomplish? Something amazing, I bet.

A Community of Service

Posted on by Scott

RosetoOn the eastern edge of Pennsylvania, about 15 minutes from the Delaware River and the state of New Jersey, lies the small town of Roseto. It was founded in the late 1800’s by Italian immigrants who settled to work in the local slate quarries. Roseto would go largely unnoticed until 1961, when a chance meeting between two doctors catapulted the town into the spotlight.

Dr. Stewart Wolf, a cardiologist and Head of Medicine at the University of Oklahoma, had just delivered a presentation on trends in heart disease and heart attacks. Roseto’s resident physician was in the audience and approached Dr. Wolf with a shocking observation. Heart disease rates in Roseto were half the national average. Furthermore, he could not recall a single instance of heart attack within the high-risk 55-64 age group during the past decade.

After additional discussion over a few beers, Dr. Wolf knew a more thorough investigation was needed. He and a team traveled to Roseto and began a multi-year study of the town’s inhabitants. A study of death certificates for the prior 30 years confirmed the doctor’s statement. Incredibly, Rosetans displayed an odd resistance to heart-related illnesses. Other communities located just minutes away looked statistically identical to the rest of the United States. What could possibly account for the uncharacteristically good health of this group?

First Dr. Wolf looked at diet. But that wasn’t the answer. Rosetans ate traditional, high-cholesterol Italian foods. Sausages, salami, and meatballs were all fried in lard, and coupled with hard and soft cheeses. “Fat-free” was nowhere to be found. They also drank wine with every meal.

Next, Wolf studied their work conditions. The men, always the most at-risk for heart attack, worked long, hard days in the quarry. They came home coughing from the dust and chemicals used in the mining process. At home, they relaxed with old-style, unfiltered cigars. Aside form the work in the mines, there was no standard of exercise.

For years, Dr. Wolf and his team scrutinized every aspect of life in Roseto, trying to account for the unusually healthy inhabitants. Nothing about their diet, working conditions, or even the environment provided a clue. Then one day, he looked beyond the physical attributes of the town and turned his attention to the intangible.

Families were close-knit. Townspeople favored local businesses over larger retailers in nearby towns. There was virtually no division based on wealth. Neighbors knew each other and came to each other’s aid. Stress was virtually nonexistent.

Roseto had no crime. Zero.

In fact, everywhere he looked, Wolf saw townspeople helping each other. Rather than occupying themselves with their own gain, Rosetans seemed to be keenly focused on helping each other. No one in the town was a stranger. No one felt alone.

And a thought occurred to Dr. Wolf. A strong sense of community breeds healthy individuals. People become stronger and healthier when they band together for the common good. A community built on service will thrive despite overwhelming obstacles.

Sadly, change came to Roseto. By 1970, the strong sense of community had eroded. Young people left to pursue careers elsewhere. Outside influences changed the socio-economic makeup of the town. Fences and country clubs began to appear. Rosetans started to look and act just like people everywhere else. In 1971, the Roseto saw its first heart attack under the age of 45. Today, the town’s rate of heart disease looks just like anyone else’s.

Who Ya Gonna Call?

Posted on by Scott

Trailer AxlesRemember the movie “Ghostbusters?” What about the theme song, written by Ray Parker, Jr.? Well believe it or not, the movie is 30 years old – I’ve had the song stuck in my head for a few days thanks to an unfortunate accident.

I was towing a smoker to a group camp out. Approximately 15 minutes from my destination, I glanced in my rear-view mirror and saw black smoke pouring from the back of the trailer. It seems one of the axles had cracked, causing the tire to cant inward and rub against the inner fender well. The smoking was the result of the tire melting from the friction.

I quickly pulled over and, after letting the wheel cool down, jacked up the rear of the trailer to get a better look at the axle. However, as soon as the weight shifted, the axle snapped in two. I guess I was lucky. Had the axle broken at 70 miles per hour, my weekend could have taken a particularly nasty turn.

But there I was, stranded on the side of the road. The trailer was too heavy to pull on only one axle and, try as I might, I couldn’t bind the broken one to the frame well enough to keep the tires straight so I could limp into town. I sat inside the truck to cool off and think. This problem was bigger than I could solve on my own. So I asked myself “Who ya gonna call?”

A lot of our customers ask themselves the same question. Every day, people in our communities find themselves in a variety of situations with no easy way out. They need a friend. They need an advocate. They need an expert (or at least another brain to help them determine the next course of action). In short, they need someone who will answer when they call. That’s where you come in.

You know, it’s easy to become jaded about the work you do day-in and day-out. It’s easy to get cynical and bored and apathetic. After all, answering the same old questions and dealing with the same old issues becomes a chore after a while. So it’s no wonder we grow weary of the daily grind. It’s no wonder we sigh and roll our eyes when yet another customer calls with the same question we’ve answered 100 times already today. That’s what happens when the job becomes routine.

But it’s not routine to the customer.

The same situation that’s a no-brainer to you is a gut-wrenching crisis for your customer. The decision that needs to be made is an easy one for you, but it’s monumental for them. And even though you’ve answered the same question 100 times today, it’s the first time your customer has had to ask. In order to provide the best possible service to your customer, you have to take off your shoes and put on theirs. Because its only after you understand what your customer is feeling that you can truly begin to serve them.

I got lucky. The first friend I called immediately dropped what he was doing and came to help. And he didn’t show up alone. Three other guys came with him. Each one of them knows what it’s like to be stranded, praying someone will come and help you out of the jamb. Together we were able to develop a plan to fix the smoker and salvage the weekend. The next time I’m in trouble on the road, I know who I’m going to call.

What about your customer? Who are they going to call when the next crisis hits?

What it Takes to Win

Posted on by Scott

Tour de FranceHenri had a problem.

Sales of L’Auto, his daily newspaper devoted to sports, were slow. He’d started the paper in 1900 to compete with France’s largest sports paper, Le Vélo. But after almost three years, circulation hovered around 25,000, far lowered than desired. Henri wanted to not only compete with his rival, but dominate them. So he called an emergency meeting of the paper’s staff. They needed an idea – something big that would cement their legacy as the country’s premier sports authority.

The answer, suggested by a young writer focused on rugby and cycling, was a race. The paper would sponsor a six day, multi-stage bicycle race around France; creating an event grander than anything seen before. The proposal was quickly adopted. As plans for the race progressed, it grew to 19 days. Six just wasn’t enough to attract the kind of attention L’Auto needed. Unfortunately though, this put the race at out of the reach of many would-be participants. By the time it started on July 1, 1903, there were less than 100 registered racers.

However, while the field of competitors was small, the race attracted hoards of avid cycling fans. L’Auto’s circulation immediately jumped to over 65,000. The race became an annual event and circulation continued to grow. By 1923 over 500,000 copies were being sold each day. As luck would have it, the paper was eventually shut down in 1946, having been associated with Nazi influences during the Second World War.

But the race continued.

Today, the Tour de France consists of 21 day-long segments covering approximately 2,200 miles over 23 days. It is generally considered the most prestigious multi-stage bicycle race despite the grueling schedule (there are only two scheduled rest days). While the route changes each year, participants are guaranteed to encounter steep uphill climbs, unpredictable weather and a variety of road hazards. Every day, veterans and rookies compete to be the first overcome the physical demands of the race and don the yellow jersey (a nod to the yellow paper L’Auto was printed on).

Winning the Tour de France is complicated. It’s more like a game of chess than a race. In addition to physical performance and high tech gear, it involves strategy, teamwork and a great deal of patience. There are times when you give it your all and times when you sit back and let others lead. It involves sacrifice for the sake of the team and a steady stream of communication between teammates and even other riders.

In many ways, winning the Tour de France is like winning in business. There are periods of preparation and planning followed by periods of intense activity. There are times when the best strategy is to lay low and times when those who want to win leave everything they have on the road in pursuit of the goal.

Winning is hard. It isn’t for the weak of mind or spirit. It isn’t for those who take the easy way out. Winning is for those who are willing to sacrifice in order to stand on the podium. That’s why so few ever do.

What does it take to win your particular race?