Days Like Today...David Spiegel

This is a guest entry from my friend and fraternity brother, David Spiegel. He's a hard-working, deep-loving family and business person who shares his insights on a daily (almost!) basis. I like the positive nature of this entry and I have some leadership questions for you to contemplate after reading...

Today is one of the days of the year that I truly enjoy.

As the rest of the world seems to be shutting down from the mundane and gearing up for the upcoming holiday,we are busy doing business!

When I arrived at The Grooming Shoppe this morning, Becca had already opened, brought in our first client, put on the Christmas music and straightened and cleaned up the front end. We were ready for action on what should be one of our busiest days of the year. Truth be told, we were actually busier on the Saturday before Christmas last year. It was the single busiest day we ever had.

It's not that we have any less business. On the contrary. Becca has done a marvelous job of scheduling before the holiday. She chose to open last Monday (we are normally closed Sunday & Monday) as well as tomorrow,the Sunday before Christmas. In those two days we will bring in an additional 2 dozen dogs and no body had to kill themselves on any 1 given day.

By 8:30 this morning, 2 dogs were in the door, bathed and on the tables getting groomed. I love the energy! I don't know when this whole concept of shutting down for days on end before a holiday began. I hate it!

If you have ever watched A Christmas Carroll, in Dickenens' time, Scrooge wakes up on Christmas morning and yells out "hey boy" to the young lad walking past his window. The streets are a bustle and Scrooge sends him to the butcher shop (which is open!) to get that goose hanging in the window.

I love it!

To me, it's all part of the magic and mystique that surrounds the holiday.

Tomorrow around 5 p.m., our last dogs will be getting their finishing touches. After they leave,we will clean up as we do at the end of each day and the end of each week. Some gifts will be exchanged. An envelope with a special "thank you" will be handed out, and hugs and kisses given out. A little while later, we will wrap up the day. We will turn off the lights and as we put the key in the door to lock up, I will take one long last look into the shop and acknowledge that it really is A Wonderful Life! Shabbat Shalom!

-- David Spiegel

Leadership Calls to Action

What's your busiest time of year? Is it busier this year than last?
What small changes can you make in your schedule to to both better the experience and convenience for your customers AND make your own work easier to perform?
Have you appreciated the people you work with this week? What can you do that is above and beyond the ordinary to show your appreciation even more?
Are you taking care of yourself this holiday season? What will you do (or could you do!) to build better balance in your life and relax into true joy?

Comments

The Benefits of Supervisory Training

When was the last time you had any leadership training?
How often do the supervisors in your organization get training?
If you are like most organizations, it's never enough. Some teams go without any supervisory training at all and expect supervisors and managers to learn as they go, on the job. Unfortunately, while it is memorable to learn from your mistakes, it comes at a high cost. People get tired. People leave. Important accounts go away. Customers complain. And teams struggle without the skills and knowledge it takes to build cohesive teams that are capable of solving problems, improving performance and achieving goals.
Admittedly, I can be expected to support training since I'm in the business. Still, take a closer look at your own leadership career and decide for yourself. Are leaders better off with more training and development or with less?
Supervisory training can generate benefits that pay off long after the training is over.
Here are just a few of the things supervi…

I Didn't Look Back, But If I Did... by David Spiegel

I’m numb to judgement — even my own judgement of myself. I know I’m doing the best I can. Judging yourself is a huge vulnerability because everyone else is already doing it for you. And if you’re not in that place, you’ve got no shot. Everybody else sucks at stuff too. ~ Gary Vaynerchuck

I'm sure that if I took a look back at my writings from this time of year for the last few years, my messaging to myself would be pretty much the same.
New Year's day is just one more day on the calendar. January 1st does not bring new a new beginning to my life.
The idea that this upcoming year will some how magically be better than the last one is silly to me. Simply put, I wake up each day with the knowledge that I will work hard at being better today than I was yesterday. Just that simple.
Every day is an opportunity to create a better version of me than I was the day before. Therefore, it is only logical that by doing this, this year will see an improved version of David of last year. Th…

Right Now

How many moments does a leader have? How many do YOU have?

We don't know, do we? What we do know is that we have this moment, right now. What we do with this moment is done and then over. What we do with this moment is our choice. Let's do something great!

High performance leaders set great examples by doing great things in the moments that they have.

Right now is the perfect moment.

Can you feel it?

-- doug smith

Patience

Are you a patient person?

At one time, I was not a patient person. I had things to do, places to go, people to see. If people were slowing me down, it got me upset. If people were taking too long to do what seemed like an easy task, it got me upset.

The problem with having no patience is that you could spend a lot of time being upset. And what does that give you?

I've been working on it. While leaders may benefit from some impatience (are you done yet?) they truly need patience to achieve their mission. The big goals, the vision, the mission - all that takes time and patience. Let the butterfly work its own way out of the cocoon. Let the plant grow. Let your team member learn how to do what they need to do (even when, not if, it takes longer than it would have taken you.)

Patience takes practice.
How do you practice? Every time you feel impatient, breathe and whisper to yourself "ah...this is a patience growing opportunity."

Silly? Not as silly as living without patience…

High Performance Leaders Show Respect

If you had to build a winning team, what kinds of team members would you recruit? I haven't ever heard anyone ever say that they'd start with subpar performers. No one wants to build a team of strugglers. Wouldn't we rather have a perfect team?

Ah, yes, but there are NO perfect performers, are there? We are all flawed. We are all in various stages of growth. Superstars, as well as subpar performers all need to grow, all need to develop. How do we do that best?

As high performance leaders we must do two fundamental things very well. First of all, we must support our team members. Give them the resources, the training, the attention, and the respect that they need in order to prosper.

The second fundamental we must master is to challenge our team members. Challenge them in ways that they've never been offered before. Give them tough projects, delegate them advanced tasks, push them beyond their initial expectations until they see their own potential as something to work…

It's More Than The Money

I'm a fan of the arts. My high school yearbook blurb read "quiet, natural guy. Music, art and poetry are for him" and it's still true. Art matters.

Quality matters. Feelings matter. We are blessed with so many important tones and shades and notes in life and yet so much of our life is devoted to the singular note of money. Sure, we need money. Absolutely, I understand the quest for increasing one's wealth. I'm not saying that money is not important. It's just not alone in importance.

Money also makes a rough master. I've seen organizations make strategic decisions based only on the monetary factor and then get it dead wrong. Money doesn't care, and when the vortex points in a direction, even if it's the opposite direction you'd figured on, there it goes.

Making decisions based only on money can suck the heart right out of a direction. It can hurt people.

Money is important, it just works less effectively when it becomes all-important.

Mon…

Use Your Time Wisely

How are you using your time today?

-- Doug Smith

Remember What You've Learned

Hard fought lessons can be forgotten. What we forget can't help us.

It's easy, but foolish, to disregard the lessons of the past.

Remember what you've learned and your learning will serve you well.

-- doug smith

Don't Let a Lie Stand

Can you tell when someone is lying to you? Do you call them on it? Do you stay curious enough to explore what's behind what feels like a lie?

How about when you catch yourself stretching the truth or simply leaving out an important detail? You're better than that, right? High performance leaders are better than that. You can handle the truth, AND you can deliver the truth. Consistently, insistently, tell the truth.

The adjustment from a lie to the truth may be troubling at first but it's eventually liberating.

The truth rules.

-- doug smith

Sing In Your Own Voice

A long time ago, in a place not so far away, I was sitting in the living room of my college apartment (that I shared with at least three fraternity brothers) playing guitar and singing a Neil Young song. I was a tenor back then (or almost so) and I was affecting the tone and timbre of Neil himself. Or, so I thought.

One of my roomies, Skip, is one of the kindest people I've ever known, so you have to know that when he gave me feedback it was in the most gentle and compassionate way possible. In essence, though, what I heard was "you should sing in your own voice. We already have one Neil Young, and he does himself the best..."

Oh.

The full impact didn't hit me until years later. The importance of finding your authentic voice is a part of finding your leadership style and therefore your effectiveness. You could (and I have) imitate other leaders in hops of harvesting their success. It's no good. We each must be who we each must be. When we find that -- when we fi…

High Performance Leadership

Search This Blog