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| Determination Is A Life And Death Decision, Respect It. |
Over thirty years ago I was managing a portion of department categories for The John Breuner Company in Sacramento, California. I was part of the buying group for the upholstery division of a furniture store section of that company. Sales managers and sales representatives for various furniture vendors were commonly circling my environment to capture my attention. This is how many of those representatives did their attraction work. They wanted to improve their popularity with all of the managers employed by the Breuner Company. They felt it could improve their chances to get more of their items onto the display floors within the company retail units. The John Breuner Company was the second largest furniture store retailer in the country at that time. Getting more items on that retail floor was a big plus to those sales representatives and their district managers.
In the late 1970's, wining and dining your way to popularity was the main method used to get more of your products into our successful retail environments. The sales reps used that method a whole bunch. Going to dinners, barbecues, sporting events and regional headline entertainment shows was a common practice used by many sales representatives and their company support. They did whatever they could to increase their chances to get more floor space. One famous company even had the Dallas Cheerleaders arrive at their annual furniture show space during a regional market convention. I do not think they were the 'real' cheerleaders, however. They performed special favors in special rooms for the largest dealers. I am certain I have offended some readers with that piece of reality. Although I was not one of those selected to take part in that scene, I was there, I know. Stuff like that happened. I am sure in many tightly protected circles, it still does.
Taking great care of the people who help make the decisions on how your product could find its way to your popular sales floor was a big deal and very common. Sales reps did what they could to attract your favorable intentions. I still own two very valuable pencil sketch pieces of art given to me by an owner of a custom upholstery line from the San Francisco Bay area. I have checked them out to test their value. Not bad. On another occasion, I had a sales manager for the Landmark Upholstery Company invite me to come and enjoy a barbecue at his private home. It was a very nice spread. The digs where not middle class digs. His home was very special, professionally cared for and located in a district where only the wealthy could afford to reside. He was part owner of the company he represented. His company was also doing well at this time.
When I arrived at his house I was met by him and his two full-grown, well-trimmed, 'kill' trained Doberman Pincers. One was standing at attention at each side where he was standing. It was impressive, but unnerving. I am not afraid of dogs. Those two had all of my complete attention. They were extremely intimidating, not to mention, very strong and very big. We sat down in the living room and he made a couple of drinks. We did the usual get to know each other process in our conversations. The two dogs sat on the floor directly in front of me while I was sitting there trying to ignore them during the conversation. Finally I asked Stan, "Do these guys need to be in this room right now?" He smiled and said, "No. Do you want me to put them in another room?" I gave a yes nod to his question. He put them away and secured them in another room. I am sure any quick move I made towards Stan would have been lethal. When a mean dog shows his teeth, he can be very determined to be warning you about what can happen next if you do not comply. Determination can be very effect stuff when it is applied properly. Those two dogs were not stubborn, they were determined. There is a big difference.
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| Stubbornness Can Lead To Peculiar Situations! |
I started the project out by showing them the easiest way to perform this task. I reminded them that even though it does not look like it is the fastest way to accomplish the material removal task, it was the quickest way to get it done. I had them stand and watch me show them the technique I had learned in the years I have spent doing this kind of work. I took out my putty knife, which was a small width tool. It had a blade width of about four inches. They looked rather surprised at the small size of the blade when compared to the size of the room we would be scraping to remove. They turned both of their heads towards each other as if to say, "Is he joking?" I was not. I then got on my hands and knees, took the putty knife and pushed it through the rubber back material glued on the floor. I showed them how to take only about an inch off at a time. I described how they would be more effective when they used only one inch of the blade at a time to remove the glued material from the floor. I showed them how to push down at an angle, in the right pitch, with a smooth motion applying a firm but gentle level of energy. I noticed how they were making fun of this description. I stopped, "Do you guys want to work extra hard on this project or complete it quickly with little energy applied?" They said, "We want to do it the easy way." I said, "Then pay attention to the techniques I am showing you. Learn how to teach yourself how to master it so you can do it the easy way. O.K.?"
I continued to show them how taking an inch at a time would be faster than taking four inches at a time. I also showed them how to push a straight line, continuously forward with the right kind of soft pressure and how it would be better and more effective than scraping the floors in a back and forth natural motion. Most people believe scraping should be done in the common back and forth scraping way. I had learned how to be quicker with less energy applied by using a certain pitch. Combining that applied pitch with a long continuous one inch bite that, once engaged correctly, could be pushed from one end of the floor all the way to the other end in a funny crawling type motion. A short one inch section was immediately removed with little muscle strength applied. It looked out of character, but worked very well. I know, I perfected the technique over the years to improve the efficiency of my business. The two guys were not easily buying my suggestions. I had them try it out and tried to help them 'get the feel' for how it was done correctly. They were too proud to do it in the 'funny' way.
After three hours of scraping the floors, my half of the room was completed, swept and ready for the new tile flooring. The two helpers had blisters galore, sweating tired, sore muscles and had only completed a combined total of about one quarter of the floor that needed to be done. They did not look happy about this kind of work. It was hard doing it the way they felt it should be done. They were still trying to scrape the floor exactly the way everyone else would think scraping should be done. What a waste of time and energy. Fortunately, I knew this would happen. The portion of the floor I selected to scrape was the part of the floor that would need to be installed first. I figured they would need more time to finish scraping while I was installing the tile floors in the section that needed to be done first. I accurately pre-budgeted their slowness into the whole installation project just fine. I could get on with installation while they working to finish the rest of the scraping. When they got done scraping their portion of the floor, they sat outside for about 30 minutes resting their arms, shoulders and stressed out minds. I was now installing the tile in the section they completed. This was not determination, it was stubbornness. There is a big difference.
I took a short break in the action and went out to share some time with these two helpers. I asked them, "Who's technique worked better?" One of them quickly quipped, "Yea, but you looked like a fool doing it." I walked away as I said, "Really?" Then before I entered into the kitchen door to go inside I asked them this question, "Who is almost done tiling the floor that you guys finally finished scraping? Better yet, if this was your flooring business, who would make more money, you or me? You guys have not even started tiling yet! Who's the fool now? In my business, tomorrow I get to start a new paying job. You guys would have to come back to finish the one that has not paid yet. You are absolutely right, I look like the fool." I walked in.
Determined or stubborn, which will it be? Your business model will perform better when you separate the difference in your mind between what is part of determination and what is part of stubbornness. You will lead yourself to better efficiency when you remove the stubborn characteristics in your mind. Quit worrying about what it looks like. Get more determined to perform more efficiently. There is a huge difference between determination characteristics when compared to stubborn levels of foolish support. I know these two kids who helped me do that floor job on that day, nearly twenty years ago. Neither of them have ever amounted to very much in the employment world. One I see occasionally pumping fuel at local service stations, bouncing around from one outfit to the other for some reason. The other one works part time on local farms when the season swings into harvest. Otherwise, he does some odd jobs here and there. They are in their mid-thirties and struggling in this economy to make ends meet. There is a huge difference between determination and stubbornness. They produce hugely separate sets of results. Same kind of activities, different results produced.
Determination or stubbornness, what kind of leadership do you perform in your business model?
Effective determination is like doing things others are unwilling to do, when they need to be done the most. It is also the time when someone does what needs to be done at a time when doing it seems so impossible to do. How can one inch of floor material removal out run four inches of material removal? The technique, energy saved and the continuous motion will win every single time. It just looks weird. I did not care about what it looked like, I cared about how effective it was. Those two guys failed to remove their stubbornness and avoided working in tandem with determination properly. It appears as though they still have that affliction.
Until next time...
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