Weapons and Warriors

Weapons and Warriors...

There are few things more compelling than having a telephone ringtone splash ice water in your face in the middle of the night or the sound you’ve associated with your IM: Instant Messaging, shatter your reverie, rest or concentration. Both alert you to the possibility of something urgent going on somewhere in the universe: something you should probably be aware of. 

This time it was the IM ringtone that dragged me away from Meet The Press this morning and the political railing swirling around the latest campaign gaff (Doesn't really matter who stepped on the landline or even which landline they stepped on does it?). It was our son and daughter-in-law letting us know that Ryan had just finished the race they had flown cross-country to compete in and that for the first time he had finished first in his age group: certainly, worth the interruption.

You see, Ryan is a Triathlete... A three-time IronMan, actually. And, after watching him and the the hundreds (In some cases, thousands!) of other athletes who challenge their psyche and punish their bodies every time they compete, the simple act of finding the Finish Line is nothing less than spectacular! 

It is especially gratifying in Ryan's case because he is not a 'natural athlete.' Sure, he played soccer and tennis and a host of other organized sports while he was growing up. But, he was one of those kids who had to really work hard to make the team and then earn time on the field at the level he relentlessly pursued. In other words, through sheer force of will. Whatever he may have lacked in genetics, skill or natural ability he made up for in courage, heart and determination.

Because the desire to compete... and, then succeed - please note: I purposely substituted  'succeed' for 'win!' - was so strong, he has always managed to persevere and that kind of Warrior's Spirit has served him well over the years and made him an important part of every organization he has ever been a part of.

There are a lot of parallels between what you and I do everyday and Ryan's success this morning, perhaps more then even I am aware of. 

Champions - Warriors - will succeed when others fail not solely because they have the skill or the ability to win: but, because as, Harvey Mackay, so aptly put it, “they have too much pride to lose.” Warriors will find a way because they don't stop looking when everyone else has. They will find a way because they never lose sight of what they are fighting for. They will find a way when unforeseen obstacles block the way or their tools or weapons fail them. They will find a way... Or, create a new way, because for them personal failure is not an option. 

This morning's event was as "Olympic" distance triathlon: that's a one mile, open water, ocean swim followed by 24.9 miles on the bike and ending with a 10-K run (6.2 miles). Ryan competed without the quality tools he has invested in, the tools he is used to and comfortable with. He swam without a wetsuit and competed on a rented bike, not one of the three competition bikes he owns. And, yet, he somehow managed a personal best and a trip to the top of the podium.

There are technicians out there who owe themselves body and soul to one or all of the tool truck driver's that visit your shop once a week, every week. There are tech's who must have: can't live without, the "latest/greatest," just released, whatever it is that just came out. I know, I was one of them... And, there are others who always seem to get the job done; at times, with far less then 'the latest' or 'the greatest' whatever it is, because they are constantly investing in themselves - in their training and education: their experience, ingenuity and imagination. 

Ideally, you are surrounded by warriors - by, champions - who share their desire and their commitment with you for the benefit of your clients - our clients - the motoring public. They willingly sacrifice their time, energy, effort and resources to maintain a level of personal excellence few who are unwilling to compete at that level will ever understand and in too many cases there is no reasonable, rational reason to drive that kind of performance. 

It isn’t for the honor or the accolades. It certainly isn’t for the money. It isn’t even about the competition if you believe that competition has anything to do with anyone other than yourself. 

It is all about knowing that you have brought and left everything you’ve got, everything you are capable of in the arena. It’s about satisfaction and personal best. 

The best bike, the most aerodynamic helmet, the newest tool or the sharpest blade aren’t the weapons that make the warrior formidable enemy or a force to be reckoned with... Courage, heart and spirit are a true warriors weapons of choice!

Find them in yourself. Perfect them in any and every way you can. Learn to use the wisely and often. Find your way to the top of the podium.

2:45 A.M.

Standing at the kitchen counter at 2:45 in the morning, staring out the window at the rain with a glass of water in your hand isn't exactly the kind of place you would think a flood of positive emotions about our industry would wash over you. I certainly didn't think it would happen to me, at least not there and not then. 

But, it did and for whatever its worth, there wasn't much I could do about it...

Now, at 2:45 A.M., most people would let those positive and powerful emotions wash right over them and then go back to bed. In fact, I'll bet most people might even have lied to their significant other about why they were up, what they were doing and what they were thinking, but I didn't...

Lesley asked why I was up and I told her. I told her I was thinking about "the industry:" our code for what you and I do, and how it had been very good to me... very good to us. 

Fortunately, she was so tired she just grunted and went back to sleep, but not before she mumbled, "That's good, because you've been very good to the industry."

I wasn't that lucky. I had to analyze why there was an instant replay of a lifetime committed to the motoring public, our customers and this industry running in my head and why I was convinced I'd gotten so much more from the commitment I'd made to my craft all those years ago, than I'd given. After all, it hasn't all been fun and games!

You can come up with some strange explanations for all kinds of "stuff" at 3:00 A.M. while you're watching the numbers on your digital clock change minute by minute. "Stuff" you might never have even considered during the day... Like all the incredible relationships you were privileged to experience: the wonderful people who enriched your life in more ways than you could ever articulate or explain.

 

You think about all you've learned: invaluable life-lessons that may not have fully registered when "class" was in session because you were too deeply involved in them to recognize everything you were absorbing.

If you were me staring out the window at 3:15, you were thinking about how your future father-in-law was so concerned about your ability to support his daughter: your wife of what has now been forty-two years, he felt compelled to warn her not to hang out with you because all you did was "pump gas and work on cars..." And, the fact that "pumping gas" and "fixing cars" has paid for a pretty good life so far: a house, more than a couple of nice cars over the years - cars that always ran and ran well, two great kids, two four-year college degrees, some really incredible vacations, a big chunk of one wedding ten months ago... and, just about a week ago, a bigger chunk of another.

 

You think about the fact that after more than forty-six years, it isn't over yet. And, perhaps, more important, the fact that you're still excited about getting up every morning and going to work every day! 

Maybe, not in two-and-a-half hours… But, most days, anyway!

How many people do you know who can say they feel the same way about what they do... And, mean it?

I guess it's true, you do think about a lot of strange "stuff" in the middle of the night and not all of it is likely to make you smile or feel good about yourself. I was lucky this time: lucky to find myself thinking about why I decided to keep working with my father when I had more than a couple of chances to leave, lucky to understand how and why I was drawn to the same challenges and satisfaction that motivated him and lucky to realize just how privileged I am to be able to share it all with you.

Perhaps, more important, I was lucky enough to fall back to sleep before the sun finally did come up. And, even though I only slept for a couple of hours, I was lucky enough to sleep soundly and to sleep well: lucky enough to realize that when it comes to this industry, it would be safe to say that we just might have been good for each other.

Creative Tension

Creative Tension…

They call the strain that manifests itself when you’re trying to reconcile your “Current Reality” – where you find yourself in life at any given moment – with your Vision for the future, “Creative Tension.”

Tension, because of the pressures leaving your comfort zone to do new and different things brings with it: creative, because of the new and different things you generally have to do in order to transcend your current reality.

Most of us have experienced “Creative Tension” at one time or another in our lives; we just didn’t know it had a name. It’s that uneasy, uncomfortable feeling that washes over us every time we challenge ourselves with something new, something different, something more.

My entire professional life has been filled with creative tension. It’s an integral part of the changing technology that is the automotive service aftermarket and the many different hats I’ve learned to wear moving from ‘pump jockey’ to ‘driveway salesman;’ ‘mechanic’ to ‘technician’ and, then, ‘shop owner;' ‘trade journalist’ to ‘seminar facilitator’ to ‘author.’ It’s become a natural element of remaining successful in an infinitely changing environment, a survival skill in an ever-changing world.

A natural element of my creative tension is leaving the shop. I say that as if leaving is a ‘bad thing.’ It’s not… Not if you’re leaving for training, education or to expose yourself to new and different ideas all focused on creating a better experience for everyone involved in your business: clients, associates, vendors… everyone.

OK… Leaving for vacation every once in a while isn’t such a “bad thing” either! But, either way, leaving still involves not being there and not being there is still stressful. 

Being someplace else, doing something else – regardless of what that ‘something else’ might be. Even in a digital world, your physical absence still involves some loss of connection, which is generally accompanied by a fair amount of discomfort.

The stress I feel isn’t due to lack of confidence in our people… Nothing could be further from the truth. We have a great crew and as different as our backgrounds and experience might be we all have one thing in common. We all have a profound and very personal sense of what it is to serve. We’re all proud of the profession we’ve chosen as well, and approach what we do deliberately with enthusiasm and a real understanding of the responsibility we’ve accepted when it comes to the service, maintenance and repair of our customer’s vehicles. We also understand how important it is for our clients to have the freedom to go wherever it is they want to go with the security and confidence of knowing they will be able to return home safely.

This is what you think about at 35,000 feet on the way home from two meetings focused almost exclusively on “Best In Class” automotive service delivery. It’s what you think about after almost a full week spent discovering new and different ways to improve and enhance the relationship you share with your client base – improve and enhance it from the client's perspective as the purchaser of automotive service: the client's perspective as a customer.

Something else you think about is how you are going to balance the creative tension you know will accompany integrating these new concepts into your service mix without compromising the same high quality customer care our client’s have come to expect from us. 

The good news is the kind of creative tension I’m feeling as I consider everything I’ve experienced over the past ten days: everything I’ve listened to and learned, is every bit as exciting as it may be stressful. Things like moving toward a more Customer-Centric service delivery model: looking at the whole process and every conceivable interaction through the customer’s eyes, managing diversity in the workplace, engaging Generation “X” and Generation “Y” clients, coping in a web-enabled world and much, much more.

As far as I can see it’s all good and more than exciting enough to drive us into a shared and mutually beneficial future: a future much more consistent with the Vision I have for all of us. A Vision worthy of the Creative Tension that is certain to accompany its achievement…