Tag Archives: Kids

Thanks and Goodbye

12 Oct

I’m out. I’ve written this column/blog for the last 2 years and it’s time to stop. I don’t know why, it just is.  The last few things I’ve written have felt forced. That’s not good.

I’ve enjoyed the time, the sharing, the ideas, and the inspiration. The truth is I’m on to what’s next. There are new responsibilities, new things to do, and my attention is elsewhere.

I’m always here to kick around ideas, and my blog will certainly stay up, but the weekly column is done.

Thanks again for reading; it was appreciated more than you’ll ever know.

Stop. Look. Listen.

16 Sep

I made a grocery run last weekend in pursuit of corn on the cob.  Our grocer stages trash barrels so you can do the shucking on-site.  I generally hate this job, but I had help, so my son and I got to work on four ears. After his first one, he looks up at me and says this:

“Can we do more than four? This is cool.”

“Really?” I thought. “You want to just stand here and shuck corn?”

“Totally!”

We kept going, three then two more, than another three. We started handing them to strangers.  We laughed, made fun of ourselves, he kept telling me how great it was.

In the mean time, there was a guy running around in the tomatoes chatting with someone through his Bluetooth ear piece.  He looked like an idiot. Two little ones in tow, he just wanted to get in, get out, and get some work done. He missed an opportunity to engage with his kids.

Connecting with your audience is no different.  Sometimes we get so wrapped up in the transaction, that we miss out on listening and learning from them.  That’s the good stuff, that’s where the great ideas and inspiration come from.

It’s just like crossing the street:

Stop. Look. Listen.

If you don’t do that, you’ll never make it to the other side. If you don’t do that with your customers, you won’t get your brand to the next level either.

My Kid Peed in the Backyard!

31 Aug

I asked my 8-year-old son to take the dog out to relieve itself. The dog, and the responsibility, is fairly new so I intended to go with him.  He had a head start, because I fumbled around for shoes.  Eventually, I strolled across the back of my house and turned left to head down the side. There it was a glorious stream, not from the dog, but from my son.

That’s right; my son was peeing with the dog. She’s squatting, and he’s standing with one hand on the leash and the other…you get the idea.

Just because the dog does it, doesn’t mean you get to do it.  Lesson #86 of gazillion he’s heard from me over the years, like:

  • because we take turns
  • because your teeth will fall out
  • because we have a penis
  • because you can’t fit under the bed
  • because it’s not going to make itself (bed)
  • because you’ll get sick if you eat it
  • because you have a fever
  • because if you don’t pick it up I keep it
  • because you can’t
  • because I said so

To be fair, Max has taught me a few things too:

  • There are no short cuts; you just have to do it.
  • Stop focusing on what everybody else is doing, and start focusing on what you’re doing.
  • Saying “Hi” can knock down a lot of walls.
  • Farting is still funny.

My radio station is not #1, I’m not out of debt, we don’t live near family, and when the toilet flushes on the second floor above my office at work, I can hear it. Life isn’t fair.

Say these words with me: “It is what it is”.

Now get on with doing what you do, as well as you can do it.

Blood, Kids, and Wal-Mart. What would you do?

22 Jul

A while back, I was buying a Blu-Ray player at Wal-Mart.  I was in the process of checking out when a frantic mom with a kid about 4 years old came running up to the register in electronics.  There I was with the cashier, the mom…and her bleeding 4-year-old son.

That’s right, he was bleeding.  I don’t mean, fell down cut your knee bleeding, I mean fell face first into a metal shelve and ripped open your chin, lips, and nose bleeding.

It was bad.

Mom was in panic mode and had simply run to the nearest employee and asked for help. To bad it was my man No-Action Jackson. This guy just froze.  She’s screaming for help and he picks up a phone and calls somebody else while the kid kept bleeding.

When he doesn’t get an answer from the manager, he tries calling another manager.  Of course, the kid keeps bleeding.

All of it unfolding before my eyes, he’s on the phone, she’s freaking out, and the kid’s screaming. I realized that what she really needed was a way to stop the bleeding, like maybe the paper towels sitting on the counter.

I grabbed them and handed to mom, you would have thought I gave that woman a hundred bucks.

Old man winter was still on the phone.

How come that guy had no idea what to do?  How come rather than dealing with the situation himself he avoided it?  Why was it not obvious to him that the paper towels would make some immediate sense until someone arrived?

Perhaps it’s just that I had the benefit of being a spectator, it was easy to remain calm and assess. He was expected to solve the problem and solve it immediately.   I’m guessing Wal-Mart doesn’t have a section in the training manual called “What to do when a kid starts bleeding buckets at your register”.

When things go wrong at work, what do you do? I don’t mean a bleeding kid, I mean when revenue is down? When there’s a typo in the 6 figure marketing campaign, when a customer is pissed about an experience, when you or someone on your staff has royally f’d up and you’re left holding the bag?  What you do matters. That reaction is the key difference between those who can lead organizations and those who can’t.  Know how to solve problems, it’s one of the best skills you can have.

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