Leading By Inclusion

To protect the people involved, I have changed the names of those involved to Tom, Dick, and Harry.  (Consideration was given to Huey, Duey, and Luey, as well as Larry, Curly, and Moe, but in the end, I went with the less insulting route).

Last week when touring a project in Oklahoma, the Foreman, Tom, was giving me a tour of the project when two apprentices, Dick and Harry, came up to Tom and asked a question.

We followed Dick and Harry over to their workspace, so we could look at the situation involved in their question. When we got there, we encountered a simple obstacle to getting into the room. 

While Tom quickly removed the problem and entered the room, Dick said, “He thinks he smart, and he knows it.”

Harry quickly followed up with “no, he just thinks we are dumb.”

Tom didn’t say anything.  He just moved ahead. 

Once we were all in the electrical room, the three of them went over to the panel and started discussing the situation at hand.  Tom resisted telling Dick and Harry what they should do. Instead, he asked for their input on how and where to mount the conduits coming out of the panel. 

Dick and Harry offered a solution.  Tom asked for more ideas.  Finally, after hearing multiple suggestions, the three of them came up with a plan.  Led by Tom, they went over the pros and cons of each idea. 

I was impressed with Tom’s management of the situation.

First, Tom didn’t take the bait and comment during the smart/stupid conversation, he just moved on.  

Second, he had Dick and Harry be part of the solution process and got them to think for themselves.   

I know Tom, and he wants people to learn and so they can do things for themselves. Tom didn’t let them make a mistake.  He coached them through making the decision and affirmed them by going with a plan they were part of putting together. 

Tom does a lot of things using similar methods.  He includes learning about the Electrical Code in the morning huddles. He works to improve the people he works with, and the people around him continually tell me how much they like Tom’s style.

I love watching people make a difference for people.  Glad to have all three of these guys on my side.

Reckless or Righteous

In 1972 Stealers Wheel’s Gerry Rafferty and Joe Egan wrote, “Stuck in the Middle with You.”  In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, claimed the song was a parody of Bob Dylan paranoia.  The course says, “clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, (but) here I am, stuck in the middle with you.”

The song points out how they had found the exact right spot, and everybody else was wrong.  Good for them. 

In the 1980s, Jerry Seinfeld had a bit in his stand up routine, pointing out how, when you are driving, you consider anybody who drives faster than you to be a maniac, but you think anybody who drives slower than you to be an idiot. 

Since being enlighted by Jerry, I have noticed his comments hit the mark.  It seems all of us believe the speed demons who pass us on the highways of the world will cause people to be injured or die as a result of their recklessness.  At the same time, we all know the slowpokes produce numerous needless crashes as we all slam on our breaks to compensate for their traffic clogging over cautiousness.

I believe I have found the exact right speed to drive.  It maximizes the speed and safety of civic society to coexist and prosper alongside each other.  Please set your cruise control to the exact level of my Tahoe.

The world is moving into a phase—one with masks.  Or maybe one without masks.  

Modern COVID-19 times have many people applying the logic of faster/slower cars on the road to other people’s approaches to our current situation. 

At times you are made to feel you want people to die if you skip wearing a mask or open your business.  While others see people with masks and assume they don’t care about the job loss, or that our government is taking away our civil liberties. 

The situation is obviously much more complicated than the paragraph above. But it is a world with fistfights breaking out because people are told to put on a mask or because they are choosing not to wear a mask.

We tend to give ourselves more credit for being more righteous than our fellow man, while at the same time judging others as reckless because they aren’t complying with our standards.

Malcolm Gladwell’s recent book “Talking to Strangers” does a great job of helping us sort through our current situation.  “Talking to Strangers” lays out the case for understanding others before jumping to conclusions about their actions.  Understanding where people are coming from helps us understand why they are taking the path they are taking.  

I recently served on a panel with a speaker who referred to assuming positive intent as a critical point in all of her interactions.  At Willmar Electric, we agree wholeheartedly with this concept.  It is why we made it an underlining assumption within our company’s published “Meeting Code of Conduct.”

Seinfeld can’t use my example because it would get him booed off the stage. But most COVD-19 rants make me think of his routine from over 30 years ago.  Thirty years from now, I’m sure we will still have issues where each of us believes we have found the perfect balance between the maniacs and the idiots.

Do I Raise the Average

Motivational Speaker Jim Rohn has been credited with coining the phrase, “you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”

Please don’t take Rohn’s advice too literally.  Hanging out with five celebrity chefs isn’t going to make your meals worthy of a cooking show.  Assuming you are open to their suggestions, it should make you a better cook. Of course, it might cause you to add some extra pounds.

Rohn’s concept is so elementary.  If you hang around smart people, you get smarter. 

Spend time with people who lie and cheat, and you will become a better liar and cheater.  Yuck.

Famous Businessman, Philanthropist, and Author W. Clement Stone wrote: “be careful the environment you choose for it will shape you; be careful the friends you choose for you will become like them.”  Stone is advancing the same logic as Rohn’s.  We become who we spend our time with and our time around.

During this era of sheltering at home, it is much easier for us to figure out who the five people are you spending the most time with.  (Hopefully, you’re figuring out a way to connect with at least five people).

Usually, this type of advice is given to people to encourage them to look at who they are hanging out with and making sure those people are a good influence, and they are helping maximize their potential. 

I think we can all relate.  We have all have had people in our lives we know are a good influence on us and make us better.  We also have all have had people in our lives we know are a bad influence on us and make us worse. 

For just one moment, I would like to challenge you to reverse the logic of Rohn and Stone’s famous quotes.

Ask yourself what influence you are having on the people around you.  Do you raise the level of others?  What are you doing to improve the environments of the people around you?

I realize most of us seldom stop to think about what our specific influence is on the people around us.  Especially if we don’t have something to gain in the short term.  But imagine a world where people thought in those terms more often. Imagine a world where we each focused on being an influence of good.  It would be a much better place to live. 

A true win-win-win.  The person you are influencing wins because you are lifting them.  You win because it feels better to build something than it does to tear something down.  Everybody else wins because the two of you are a positive influence.

As the shelter at home restrictions slowly get removed, and we all get the chance to mingle more with a larger group of people, the world is going to know from the people I spent my time with if I raised or lowered the average of the people around me.

Waiting for Somebody Else to Do the Right Thing.

Later this month, we will cross over the second anniversary of moving into our new house.  We love our new home.  We have loved it since day one. It is located on a local golf course and offers beautiful views of lush green grass and trees. 

The beautiful view was one of the main reasons we build our the house where we did. 

But one piece of frustration has been with us since day one.  A the bottom of our view is a pile of what used to be a barbed-wire fence—mixed in with the barbed wire, is some white piping.  From our dining room window, it looks like trash.

The main reason it looks like trash is because it is trash. 

We complained to the contractor who built our house.  They told us it was part of the golf course the property and we should contact them.

We contacted the golf course several times.  They never got back to us.  I did once see a young groundskeeper who was picking up trash go over to the pile and grab some of the wire.  He quickly pulled his hand back.  I can only assume he found out it was barbed.  Being poked by the pile promptly brought him to the same position the rest of the golf course staff seemed to have about the situation. 

Let’s just leave the pile of trash alone.

We have mentioned it to fellow neighbors.  They always agreed it looked like trash, and they joined us in complaining to the golf course.  But they also didn’t hear back from the golf course. 

Over time rock got placed on top of the fencing materials, and mud washed over it, making the barbered wire get buried in the dirt.  But the eyesore remained. 

It was clear nobody had any plans to get rid of this trash.  The longer it sat, the more it became permanent. 

My wife, Sue, and I thought it was a problem.  We thought somebody should do something about it. 

Our thinking has been it isn’t our problem.  It is somebody else’s problem. It’s not on our land and we didn’t put it there!

But since it only really bugged the two of us and nobody else was taking action, it was our problem.

So this weekend, I put on my leather gloves and a pair of work shoes and set out to see what it would take to move this pile of trash up the hill 50 yards to the construction dumpster on the street.  (The contractor who built our house is building another house nearby).

I moved some rocks and pulled.  It moved the pile slightly. 

I moved some more rocks and pulled some more.  I got more movement.

I repeated the process several more times, and in what seemed like no time, I had the pile moved next to the dumpster.  The victory was ours.  The trash is gone. (The next day the contractor but the trash into the dumpster).

All the time we spent trying to get the “right” people to do the “right” thing and clean up their mess was a waste of time.  We spent hours of our lives complaining to people trying to get the issue cleared up.  When I stopped complaining and went into action mode, it took about ½ hour. 

Have I become a world-class enabler?  Will the golf course start to think I will do their work for them consistently?  No, and doubtful. 

I’m happier, and my view has improved.  I feel kind of foolish.  Why did I let an issue I could solve myself bother me so much?

Embrace, Quit, or Improve

The best golf advice I ever received was “if you’re a boogie golfer approach each hole with a plan to bogey the hole.” In case you not familiar with the term bogey, it is finishing a hole with one stroke over par.  Once I put this philosophy into place, I started to golf better.  My scores started to get closer to par!!!

(Please stick with this story even if you hate golf.  I will get beyond golf before it is over).

Let me back up a step. I’m sure; everybody has had the experience where we turn in the performance of a lifetime. 

Perhaps you have gone out and shot a round of golf about ten strokes lower than usual.   You walk away thinking you are the guy who should be shotting a 77 every time you play. 

Then the next time you play lose six balls and find taking solace in the fact that although you lost two sleeves of balls, you are a net winner because you found a random collection of 7 “new to you” balls looking for the balls, you hit out of bounds.

Granted, your “new” balls are mostly brand names you have never heard of with business logos from places you aren’t even sure what business they are in, you are still happy with your new windfall.  You almost forget the 12 penalty strokes you should be adding to your score.*  (See footnote below).

The brief moment of happiness you get from your better than the typical performance leaves you with a lifetime of failing to live up to your new lofty expectation for yourself.

I realize I’m getting lost in golf with my example above.  But the same logic applies to other areas in life. 

For example, we can apply the same logic to shooting free throws. If you are a career 60% free throw shooter and you make nine out of ten the next time you play, you are now a 61% free throw shooter.  You can consider yourself a 90% shooter if you have changed something in your approach shooting.  Otherwise, you can look forward to making about six out of your next ten shots.

Would you like me to give a non-sports example?

Let’s says you tend to make rock hard cookies or burn the cake, but one day everything comes together, and you make a “to die for.” dessert. 

I think you get the picture.

Many of us seem out of touch with who we are, frustrated with where we are, and our situation.  My experience when things go right, we attribute the results to ourselves, and when something goes wrong, it is bad luck.

So I’ve adopted a stress-reducing way to live my life, and I I want to pass it along.    

It seems we all have three choices.  Accept our current performance for what it is.  See ourselves as not cut out for the task at hand and move on to something else.  Realize we need to work to improve our performance.

I challenge you to make a list of this you are doing with your time.   Put each item into one of those three categories; Not cut out to do, happy with the current level of performance, and the things you need to improve.   

With the list of things, you’re not cut out to do, stop doing them.

With the list of things you are happy with your current level of performance, stop having

Anxiety over them, and enjoy them.

With the list of things, you want to improve, come up with an improvement plan.  If you can’t come up with an improvement plan, the item should move to one of the other lists.  

I promise if you try this system out, you will be happier with your results, and you will see improvement with several things. You will stop trying to accomplish the unlikely, and you will have a plan for improving things you have a realistic chance at improving.

By the way, golf is on my improvement list, free throws are on my happy with the current level of performance list, and baking is on my not cut out the to-do list.

*It is essential to note you do need to count these strokes when asked about your score by a fellow golfing buddy, but you don’t have to report these strokes when reporting into your wife.  A wife could think golf is a waste of money.  High scores might make her think you are a lousy golfer, and you should give up playing!  Here is a great chance to let her know you made money because you have more golf balls in your bag than when you left. 

Our 100th Birthday

On April 20^th Willmar Electric will turn 100 years old.  We had planned several parties to celebrate the milestone and the many people who made it possible. 

We have no idea how many people have helped us reach this milestone.

We know six different Chapins across four generations have owned all or part of the company.  Each of us has had the loving support of a kind and understanding spouse.  Many more of our sons, daughters, sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, and cousins have worked alongside the six of us as we have tried to make our family business something the entire Chapin family could put our name alongside.

We currently have over 140 coworkers who we proudly stand side by side with day after day.  But thousands came before us.

Our customers are too numerous to count.  We would struggle to count each of the individuals we have worked with at each of those customers. 

Our vendors and suppliers are also too numerous to count.  Like our customers, we could never hope to identify all the individuals from those organizations.

Nearly every project we have ever done involves several other trades.  Those other trades are an essential part of our longevity, and they have helped us more than we can list in this brief letter. 

We also owe a debt to many fellow electrical contractors who have to help us understand and improve our business.

We have enjoyed the support of countless business professionals: accountants, bankers, insurance brokers, bonding agents, and attorneys that have helped guide us to this milestone.

Numerous government officials, including inspectors and elected officeholders, have helped provide a cooperative environment where we could provide a safe product efficiently to our customers.

We have served alongside and benefited from many civic organizations, associations, and business groups who have helped us make our communities and industry a better place to live and work. 

Since we can’t put a number to all the people, it is hard to know where to start to thank this large group of people. 

Decades ago, we adopted the purpose statement of “People Making A Difference For People.” 

It is easy to understand who makes up the first group of people in our purpose statement.  We often get asked who the second group of people is we are referring to when we introduce people to our purpose statement.  With the second “people,” we are referring to all the groups of people we acknowledge above.

Every day each the first set of people works to live up to our purpose statement when we interact with each other and the second group of people.

The extended version of our purpose statement could have been, the employees of Willmar Electric making a difference for our coworkers, customers, vendors, suppliers, related business professionals, competition, government officials, and civic organization.

If you ever find us not living up to this statement, please let us know. 

More importantly, if you ever find one of our coworkers making a difference for people, please let them know, it means a lot.  Everybody likes to succeed, and your feedback will help our coworkers know they are making the difference they are trying so hard to make in the lives of others.

Sometime this year, when we are all allowed to come out to play, we are going to have the parties we already planned. 

For now, we are sending out this note to thank all the people who helped us get to 100. 

Did my 401k Tank?

I recently shared some very personal information with my coworkers.  They seemed interested, so now I am sharing it with the world. 

Last week somebody asked if I dared to look at my 401k yet.  I commented; it didn’t matter what today’s balance is because I can’t do anything with it for 8.5 years. 

(I don’t plan on retiring in 8.5 years, but I will be 59.5 years old then, and that as far as I know is the first date I could withdraw the money without penalty).

Another person commented on how this is a good time to invest because stocks are on sale.  True, but that doesn’t help my current balance go up, it only helps future balances increase faster. 

So, I am letting you know what my rate of return has been.  But notice I never just pull the data for one day, like the entire media loves to do. The markets hit an all-time high on February 19^th.  I was so excited I had a party and ate pie.   People walked around, congratulating me!  

But until we hit an all-time high again, your rate of return will always be a negative number. 

So go ahead and pull several dates and see what your rate of return is and I’m sure you will find sometimes it is good, and sometimes it is terrible.  In my case, most of the time, it is good.

So go ahead and check out your rates of return.  But keep in mind every day isn’t as awesome as my 51^st birthday.  So don’t use it as your only benchmark. 

This information doesn’t include the amount I have deducted from my paycheck or the amount matched by Willmar Electric every week. What you see above is just the return on the investments made on my behalf.

Keep saving for your retirement because someday it will come, and you will want to have as much money as possible on hand.  (But if you run a TV network only give out information that will cause people to tune in tomorrow). 

Puzzles over Books

I can remember when I was young, and the name of the town Abilene, Texas, came up. My Dad would sing this song by Bobby Bare.

Abilene, Abilene prettiest town I've ever seen
Women there don't treat you, mean in Abilene my Abilene
Crowded cities ain't nothing free nothing in this town for me
How I wish that I could be in Abilene my Abilene, Abilene, Abilene

I sit alone most every night watch those trains pull out of sight
How I wish they were carryin' me back to Abilene
Sweet Abilene, Abilene, Abilene
Women there don't treat you mean in Abilene my Abilene

Then I drove through Abilene. I have no idea if the local women are mean or not. But I can tell you Abilene isn't pretty.

My favorite part of the song is its length, two minutes, and thirteen seconds.

Last Saturday, during my wife, Sue, and daughter, Sara, pulled out a puzzle and started to work. I went over to check it out before I got started reading Simon Sinek's most recent book, The Infinite Game. I was looking forward to spending time making myself more enlightened. Have the rest of the house doing a puzzle was going to keep them from distracting me from my quest for knowledge.

It didn't work. The puzzle sucked me in.

A sign on the puzzle referred to Abilene. So, I pointed out the song. Neither of them cared about my song. But Sara, who is in college and majoring in psychology, ask if I was referring to the town from the Abilene Paradox.

I had to admit my knowledge of old country songs was better than my understanding of psychology.

She proceeded to fill me in on the Abilene Paradox. It comes from a 1974 article written by Jerry B. Harvey. (You should google it and find our more).

Let me give you the short version. In the Abilene Paradox, a group of people could all willingly agree to take action together even though none of the individual members of the group agree it is a good idea. The group just goes along with the "groupthink" because nobody is willing to speak up.

Hearing Sara walk me through this story was exciting moments. She gave me a name for one of the biggest problems I face at work. (While it was Jerry B. Harvey, but Sara was the messenger).

I was enlightened. Not by my book but by my daughter.

Eventually, I got around to reading my book, but I was sure glad I stopped to spend a couple of hours on the puzzle.

Things got so out of control, I said thank you and hugged Sara.

Thank you Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC)

An open letter to all the National and Chapter staff of the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC).

As our country and industry go through these troubling times, I couldn’t be more thankful for my membership in ABC. Our dues investment has paid off several times over.

Today would have been the day all the national committees would have gotten together in advance of our annual convention. Thinking about not being in Nashville made me think about how thankful I am about being a member of this great association. I think a thank you is in order.

As a small business owner, the only thing I have done during the last two weeks is work on COVID-19 related items. Trying to maintain the ability to provide my coworkers here at Willmar Electric a chance to earn a paycheck, so they can feed their families and pay the mortgage.

I don’t have time to lobby the federal government about the need to make sure the relief bills help the people who need help without putting crippling burdens on my small business. So ABC is helping me out.

I don’t have time to research and back down the impact of every new piece of guideline the various department and agencies are sending out. It is hard for me to know where to go for answers. Thankfully at both the national and chapter levels, ABC is leading the way in giving me advice and links to the place I need to go to get help.

The webinars ABC has almost daily at both the National and State levels are critical. They help me sort out the facts from the fiction I am being bombarded with from moment to moment as I try to move forward.

I belong to several organizations, and they are all trying to stay on top of things, but none are staying as current or getting me new information as well as ABC.

Thank you. I couldn’t do my job without you. You’re helping me continue to provide jobs.
#meritshopproud.

Talking about My Generations

People love to talk about generations. My coworkers at Willmar Electric are no exception.

Baby Boomers vs. Millennials seem to be the hottest divide right now.

The term Baby Boomers wasn't developed because a certain group of people shared a certain way of life, but because from 1944 until 1964, the United States experienced a boom in the number of babies being born. So people don’t debate who is and who isn’t a Baby Boomer.

On the other hand, the makeup of the Millennials generation isn’t as clear. According to the dictionary, the term Millennial means people who reached young adulthood in the early 21st century. But if you look online, you will get several different answers for the boundaries. Most say people born between 1981-1996 are Millennials.

I have a more specific answer. September 25, 1981, until February 20, 1997. Those dates happen to the birthdays of two coworkers. Neither of them like my limits and would prefer I left out of the Millennial generation.

Last week at lunch, we asked the latest guy to join the team, Nick, when he was born. He told us on April 25, 1997. Outside my limits. Then we discussed changing my limits to accommodate our new co-worker. Ultimately, we didn’t because we want to have a symbol for Generation Z.

Then the conversation got fun. The room started to talk about how generational labels aren’t very effective in describing individual people.

I spoke up and said, “it seems 40-year-old people have hated 20-year-old people long before Millennials came along.” The recently turned 40-year-old sitting next to me quickly said: “I don’t hate you, Nick.” We all laughed because, of course, we don’t hate him.

Yesterday it happened again. Another co-worker, Tayrah, refused to tell somebody what year she was born. Even went so far as to say she wasn’t a Millennial, which of course, was a tip-off we had another person who didn’t want to be associated with the label. She quickly pointed out how silly it was to link her to somebody who was 15 years younger than her. She’s right. Why should she be considered the contemporary of somebody born 15 years apart while two people born only two months apart are in different generations?

Silliness. It is all silliness.

At Willmar Electric, we laugh and joke about who’s in what generation, but at the end of the day, our goal is to get to know the individual and treat them as such.

Get Out of My Way

Have you ever had somebody get in your way?

Of course, you have. We all have.

It is very annoying.

I am an impatient person. When somebody is in my way, I tend to want to push or prod them. When I resist the urge to push or prod them out of my way, I don’t wait very long before I find a way around them.

In some very rare cases, I give up and find something else to do. For example, if I want to buy something but the lines at the store are long, I will skip the purchase.

I understand I am less patient than about 95% of the population. But everybody has a breaking point, even at Disneyworld. Depending on the person, especially at Disneyworld.

Lately, I have been noticing the same thing in the business world.

At Willmar Electric, we are in an industry with strict laws regarding licensing. I am not going to bore you with a breakdown of electrical licensing laws. Instead, I am going to relate how, and when we all work together for the advancement of a coworker, it helps everybody at Willmar Electric.

In the electrical contracting business, the first person on a project must be a licensed Journeyperson. After you have a journeyperson on-site, you are allowed to place apprentices with the Journeyperson. After four years in an apprenticeship program, you can take your Journeyperson's exam.

Passing the exam comes with not only a large raise. It allows you to advance to the next level of the trade. Passing the exam also allows one of the other apprentices to move into your role next to the journeyperson. It gives the journeyperson you were working alongside a chance to become a foreperson. The more forepersons a firm has, the more you need to move people into positions like estimating and general superintendent.

One person passing the exam can lead to the need to hire two to three new apprentices. Adding two to three new journeypersons leads to needing to promote a new foreperson. Adding two to three new forepersons leads to needing to promote a new general superintendent.

If apprentices don’t move up the ladder, everybody has something in the way of their advancement.

I love how our industry has this system. The systems give us all incentive to help each other move ahead. One promotion helps the entire team have a chance to advance in their careers. We are all motivated to help each other grow.

It helps with my impatience. There is always somebody I can help pull up rather than push aside.

Meeting Customers' Needs by Being Approachable

Yesterday I got some great feedback from our customer on the Lincoln Christian School remodel project.

The Development Director, Mark Powell, says everybody from Willmar Electric has been great to work with on the project. Mark said Humberto makes a point to say hello every time he sees him.

What is the big deal about saying hello to somebody? It must mean something or our customer would not bring it up. Humberto’s warm greetings stand out, and Mark likes it.

One of our core values is Meeting Customer Needs.

Meeting Customer Needs goes beyond saying hello, of course. We shined well beyond our morning greetings. The completion day for the project is today, and today the school is moving into the new space.

We had a short window to complete the project, and we worked with the general contractor and other trades to meet this need. It is a very satisfying feeling knowing we accomplished this goal while maintaining positive relationships with the customer. Meeting deadlines can become contentious, but we try to stay approachable even under the stress of a hard deadline.

We had dozens of people work on the project. Having a customer tell us every one of them was great to work with this summer drives home an important point. We are trying to have a culture where each individual naturally lives out our core values of:

• Treat others the way you want to be treated
• Merit Shop
• Thrifty
• Meet customer needs

Thank you to everybody involved in the Lincoln Christian School project.

Red Dirt, Twang and Genuine People

I know George Jones is dead. I realize it was reported widely on April 26, 2013, when he died. I remember because I spent the day listening to his songs on Spotify. However, when he did not show up last night, I became 100% convinced. I am now sure of it. Why? Let me explain.

Willmar Electric has an office in Lawton, OK, every summer the crew has a picnic at Bryan Gilland’s house. I had heard about the party and wanted to see why everybody bragged about it. So I bought an airline ticket and headed out.

Let me set the scene.

The temperature reached 103. I have no idea what the heat index was, in fact, at the party, several of us discussed how we thought the whole idea of heat index was a joke. Let us face it 103 is hot. Figuring out how to make it sound even hotter is an unnecessary exercise. According to the weatherman was day two of two weeks of 100 plus temperatures.
Welcome to an Oklahoma August.

The wind was about 20 mph. Earlier in the day, one of the people had commented on how at least it was not windy. Late in the party when the wind “died down” to about 15 mph people noted it was getting calmer!!! Although technically correct I would say, the word calm was the right word to use. They still had heavy objects on the plates and napkins. To keep them from blowing away. (This is a Midwestern tradition; it is not a party until you have chased down a paper plate blowing in the wind.)

The good news was the wind was coming from the south, and the house was on the south side of the gravel road. Speaking of which the directions to the party should have been, take the paved county road without a shoulder six miles until it curves at the county line. Then take a right on to the next gravel road. When you get there swerve to miss the wild boar in the road and take another right at the next gravel road. Then the house is the first house on the left. Please park in the ditch.
The house was not only the ranch style. It was a ranch. Cattle in the back. Very small ranch, only 80 head of cattle. When I owner of the cattle talked to me about working the ranch, he joked. “It’s hard work taking care of the cattle. Until about 9:30 am, and then I wonder what I should do for the rest of the day.” (Please insert rim shot.)

I am going to waste some of your time by letting you know we had a BBQ. Cooked by our host. If I need to know what the side dishes were, I do not know if we can be friends. (Baked beans, potato salad, coleslaw, and peach cobbler).

Over the speakers, they played country music. I mean real country music, David Allen Coe and Chris Stapleton country, not Oliva Newton-John and Luke Bryan.
There was red dirt as far as you can see. Red like Reba’s hair. Dry red dirt. Each step of Drew Janz’s cowboy boots sent a plume of powder into the air. I made a lot of fun of Drew for being an “old man” and wearing jeans and boots to pool party, but part of me wishes I had done the same. Half the party dressed like Drew and, to be honest, they fit the scene; the other half dressed in shorts like me and fit the weather. Drew’s wife said, “He only wears shorts when we camp.” No, wonder he likes to go camping.

Forget George Jones I should have been expecting Henry Fonda’s Tom Joad from Grapes of Wrath to show up.

By now, you must be wondering what my point is. What is the big deal about the scene you are setting?

I will explain it.

I would say everything about the party was similar to a scene out of a Hollywood motion picture except Hollywood would not understand or be able to recreate this scene.

I like genuine people. My biggest turn off is phony people. Hate is a strong word, but it is safe to say I hate pretentious people. I cannot stand phoniness or pretention.

I struggle when I am around them.

I work at a company whose purpose statement is “People Making a Difference for People.” I had spent the prior two days going around one by one shaking the hands of each of my Oklahoma coworkers. Nearly every one of them had told me the thing they love most about their job is the people. The people they work with, the people they work around.

As the partygoers sat in the chairs, they brought with them to the party and talked or played yard games they put on no pretensions. They enjoyed each other for being each other, no small talk needed because these people genuinely cared for each other.

The food was fantastic. The music was awesome. The weather was predictable. But it was the people who made the difference.

As the party ended, Mike Frakes asked if I was going to say something. I told Mike I was not. He seemed surprised. I did not give him a reason, but I will let you in on a secret. I had two reasons. Either I would have wrecked the moment by talking, or I would have started to cry in public. Neither is a good idea. Therefore, I stayed quiet, enjoyed the moment, and drove away a happy man.

I hope I am not giving you the impression I think I am some country guy. I am a city slicker through and through. I own and wear cowboy boots because they are comfortable. I listen to classic country music because it reminds me of visiting my grandparents on their farm, and I miss my grandparents. I am more comfortable downtown or at a sporting event full of people. This event’s greatness was not a matter of meeting my preferred style. This party’s greatness was the people who put it on and the people who came to enjoy each other.

If they have another party at Bryan’s, I will encourage more people around the company to join me.

Planning Leads to Organization

I recently lived out an example of why being organized matters.

Over the winter my wife, Sue and I decided we wanted to take a short trip this summer to one of our favorite places to visit, Kansas City. We have been there numerous times and decided to have Sue’s parents, Chuck and Karen Stern, join us. We thought they would enjoy many of the places we wanted to visit.

So like most things in our lives, Sue and I started by making a plan. The first step to having a good plan is to have a purpose.

So, we made a list of things we wanted to do. The reason I wanted to go on the trip was to see the National World War I museum, and for Sue, it was to revisit the Hallmark Headquarters, which is also a museum but of love and thoughtfulness. We also wanted to eat at Sue’s favorite place, The Plaza III, and stay at the Raphael Hotel on the Plaza. Because we were taking Sue’s parents, we added Union Station, Model Train Display, the Truman Presidential Library and Museum, and a barbeque joint. I also wanted to see the Negro League Hall of Fame potentially, and Sue was curious about the Arabia Steamboat Museum. We also were willing to go to the American Jazz Museum if Chuck and Karen wanted to check it out.

(Secret is Sue’s parents are good musicians who often still get out their saxophone and clarinet. In fact, at 76, Sue’s dad is adding saxophone to his list of talents. Why not, as we found out this weekend at Hallmark Grandma Moses started her 23-year painting career at 78.)

Next, we found out all the hours of operation and locations for each place and came up with a plan of action. Hallmark had to be done on the first day because it was not open on Sundays.

Now we had a plan — time for the trip.

Our first stop would be going to a BBQ joint, knowing this was what Chuck was most looking forward to we needed to get this right. If you been to Kansas City, you know, it is easy to find a great place to get Barbeque. We went with Jack Stack’s Freight House location because it was near Union Stations. (If you prefer Gates, Arthur Bryant’s, or Oklahoma Joes, please forgive us, but Jacks is good, and the location was perfect). Chuck loved it.

Then Union Station, the model trains and Hallmark. They are all very close to each other. However, things were going so smoothly we had extra time. But because we had a plan, we could quickly decide we had time to go to the Truman Library!!! Again, everybody loved it.

We found out where we originally wanted to have dinner had moved so despite having reservations we changed course and found another place to eat on the plaza. Again, a very easy task. We had made it easier because we had a plan.

Before we went to bed, we reviewed our plan for the next day mentally. Breakfast at Gram and Dun then the WWI Museum. If the Museum wasn’t as great as people said it was, we would be done early and could hit some of the other “maybes” on our list.

The WWI Museum was awesome if you are into history and haven’t been to it, you need to schedule a trip. We didn’t get done early. All the things on the maybe list would need to wait for another trip.

It didn’t go as planned, but because we had a plan, the trip was a success. We met our purpose and hit all of our goals. It was completely stress-free.

The example above is personal, but it reinforces why Willmar Electric has Organized as part of our brand promise.

(If the Kansas City tourism board needs a spokesperson, Karen Stern is the gal for you.)

Elmo and Frank Chapin, Millennials at Heart? Doubtful.

I get frequently told how today’s young people are concerned with sustainability and using our natural resources wisely. I hear people tell me all the time about how millennials want to know; their employers are socially conscious and not wasteful.
Good. Glad young people are concerned. However, hopefully, they don’t think they invited the idea.

I’m fifty. During my fifty years, the two people who did the most to conserve precious resources are my Grandpa, Elmo Chapin, and my Great Uncle, Frank Chapin. They would be in their mid to late nineties if they were still alive today. The only influence either had on today’s young people is they raised nine people, mostly baby boomers, who became the grandparents to several dozen millennials.

Elmo and Frank ran a company, Willmar Electric, with the core value of Thrifty. By thrifty I, the textbook definition of “using money and other resources carefully and not wastefully.” I’m not talking about being cheap.

My Grandpa and Great Uncle also looked out for the environment in direct ways. They picked up trash when they saw it on the ground. They shut off the lights when they left the room. They walked when possible.
The best example of thrifty at Willmar Electric throughout our history is Pillsbury paper. This movement was brought on by my father, John.

The Pillsbury Company was a Minneapolis, Minnesota-based company that was one of the world's largest producers of grain and other foodstuffs until it was bought out by General Mills in 2001. My dad got us access to large amounts of paper Pillsbury was getting rid of because the promotions they were using the paper was for had run their course. To them, the paper was waste. To us, because the back side of the paper was still blank, it was only half used.

We stocked our copiers and fax machines with this still usable resource. All internal documents got put on the back side “Pillsbury” paper from the late 70s into this millennium. Our stock of paper outlasted Pillsbury itself!

In 2019 being Thrifty means sending tools, we no longer need but are in good working condition to mission organizations who can put to the tools to use serving a high calling.

What does all this mean in the big picture? It means I don’t like having people telling me the world is going to end if we don’t force everybody to change their behaviors.

Two quotes I think make this point well.

“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”
― Rumi

“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”
― Leo Tolstoy

Elmo and Frank Chapin lived a life devoted to using money and other resources carefully and not wastefully. On a personal level, they raised their children to do the same, and those children raised a couple dozen or so grandchildren to do likewise. Then we took it to the next level with dozens more. I’m sure my children’s generation will do the same regardless of what others are doing, not because of peer pressure but because it is the right thing to do. On a professional level, the same generational movement happened within Willmar Electric because My Grandpa and Great Uncle lead by example and it’s making a big impact.

So let’s start with ourselves and see where it leads.

Watch What You Say: Your Children Are Listening

Sue and I, try hard to make sure we don't miss chances to impart wisdom on our children. The older they get, the more those sessions involve their help in breaking down the situation to get to piercing out the lesson at the heart of the case.

When my children each graduated from high school, I wrote them a book. The book was full of stories from their youth and how those events provided lessons for the future.

Recently on a trip to the west coast both our daughters, Anne and Sara mentioned they had recently reread their book.

Last month our son, Mike, mentioned some comments a made about our church hiring off duty policeman for our services. He said, "I think of your advice on the subject often. Does it surprise you? You probably forgot you even said it." I had not forgotten what I said, but I certainly haven’t thought about it since the words came out of my mouth.

For me, it was a quick remember how our children our students of what we say and do. In my case, it also showed me how my kids are learners. Wanting to improve every chance they get if it means applying the advice from their parents.

Wow!!!

Great stuff. No pressure.

I don't see it as pressure. I see it as an opportunity. I realize I need to study and analyze what I do to make sure I am acting out what I want to teach. I feel energized to break things down and figure things out to several levels.

To me, it seems fun and challenging. A challenge that will help propel me forward with energy.

I owe it to my adult children to continue to be somebody worth modeling and somebody whose advice is worth taking.

It is not only a challenge but a compliment. I'll take both. Thank you, Anne, Mike, and Sara.

March is (or isn't) Minnesota’s snowiest month.

We live in a world where we often hear the term fake news thrown around.

Today at work we came across a situation when people threw out lots of facts about how we did something at Willmar Electric. Instead of using it as an example I found a separate true story we can all relate to and will use it as my example to keep from embarrassing any coworkers.

I grew up in Minnesota and was frequently told: “March is the snowiest month of the year.” People love to throw this “fact” around. I even verified this sentiment with 3 Minnesota natives today.

Every March somebody would point out how winter was nearly over, and some wet blanket would announce while you know, “March is the snowiest month of the year.”

If you are a Minnesotan feel free to answer Mr. Wet Blanket with, “If I wanted to be in March I would cheer for the Timberwolves.”

Another classic is how “it always snows at tournament time.” I ‘ll leave this statement alone other than to say if March is so snowing and the tournaments are in March you don’t need a very high level of education to put it all together and deduce it will snow during one of the tournaments. (I now live in Nebraska; I’ll point out

Nebraskans say the same thing and the same level of genius is needed).

Guess what the snowiest month of the year is in Minneapolis?

It’s not March. March is the third snowiest month of the year. My source is the Minnesota Department of Resources (https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/climate/twin_cities/snowfall.html). I first heard this news around the turn of the century from Metrologist Paul Douglas on WCCO-TV and then by Dave Dahl on KSTP radio. I believed them. I’m still nervous you won’t, believe me, so I found a second link (https://www.usclimatedata.com/climate/minneapolis/minnesota/united-states/usmn0503).

If you live in Lincoln, like I now do, and you need to see your data, I found this (https://www.usclimatedata.com/climate/lincoln/nebraska/united-states/usne0283). It is interesting to note the season totals for Lincoln this year add up to the average Minnesota total.

Which when pointed in a group today prompted my Nebraska based coworker to turn toward our Minnesota coworkers and ask "how can you live there?"

She was told, "it's the woods and the lakes."

Finally!!! A Minnesotan who didn’t try to trick us by saying it’s not that cold. Had he tried that old trick we would have more facts to verify.

Hopefully, we are now all on the same page. January is the snowiest month in Minnesota. I hope this doesn't ruin your day or make you think your grandma was a lair. Feel free to track down your wet blanket friend and tell them to cheer up the end is near.

All this information on winter weather gets me back to my point of fake news. It seems the idea of people saying the same thing over and over again gets the majority of people to accept the information as truth.

As I said above today at Willmar Electric I was involved in an issue where during two different conversations two claims counter to each other were claimed as true. My response was to point out the good news. We have the information available to find out what is happening and react according to the facts.

Isn’t it cool we don’t have to move ahead making decisions-based on contradicting stories. We don’t have to accept under proven statistics as our proof.

Back to the weather, relax Minnesota the worst is over. But also remember on average you should still be getting another 10 inches of snow. Don’t worry you have an extra 60 hours of sunshine to melt all the new snow and the stuff underneath it. If you don’t believe me check the links I attached.

Good Customer Service Involves Results

My back has been hurting for about three years. In 2016 I was too busy as National Chair of ABC to do anything about it when the pain started. For another 18 months, I just put up with the pain because I’m not very good at stopping to go to a doctor appointment. It’s a hassle.

Early in 2018, I went to the doctor, and he tried a few things. Physical Therapy and pills didn’t’ solve anything so before I broke down completely from a physical standpoint, “broke down” went back to the doctor in early 2019. He gave me a few more options before anybody tries to operate on my back.

I would rather have back pain then a message and didn’t want stronger drugs, so I opted for going to the Chiropractor.

It has been a great experience. I will admit my back feels a little better. But the best part of going to this chiropractor is the lesson I am getting in customer service. (The worst part was looking at x-rays showing I have very little cartilage between two of my vertebra).

Everybody in the office knows my name when I walk in. (Of course, they know I’m coming because I have a prearranged appointment). But seldom are people excited to see me when I enter the room. So this is a nice change or pace.

The staff at my chiropractor’s office take customer care to the next level. As they escort me to the room for my treatments they ask about my time between visits. Not by saying something generic like “how was your weekend?” They ask things like “did you have a good trip to Oklahoma?” Or “how was weather in Minnesota?” Or other very specific question based on the last conversation we had.

They explain to me exactly what is going to happen next before moving to the next step.

When the chiropractor comes in the room, it is more of the same. He remembers the exact condition I was in on my last visit before I have to remind him.

Remembering details about me is impressive service, especially when your reason to go to a place is for personal care.

Meeting customer needs is one of our stated core Values at Willmar Electric. We pride ourselves on knowing what the customer needs and meeting those needs. We think to listen to a customer tell us their story is a key step in giving them good customer service.

If you remember from the first paragraph in this story, I didn’t get help with my back because I don’t like to go to appointments. I consider doctor appointments to be a hassle. But good customer service helped get me over the hassle factor.

I realize customer service goes beyond just caring and listening. Customer service also involves results. If my back doesn’t get better, I'll stop using the chiropractor.

Willmar Electric’s customers also want results. Yesterday Lee Freudenburg and I went on a customer visit. During the conversation, the customer, LES, kept telling us how Mark Ashcraft and Lee solve their problems. Highlighting the conversation by saying “I call them because they know us and they know what they are doing.”

I love it. I want the core values to go beyond something we say in the morning huddles. I want customer service to be something my customer tell other people about us.

They are Yellow not Green

Tennis balls are yellow right? I have never thought any other way. The facts are clear. You can literally see for yourself. Sure, I've seen some off colored balls from time to time. I've been present for radicals showing up with white or orange tennis balls. Trying to be cool or different.

Recently the International Tennis Federation declared only yellow or white balls could be used.

But never green. I've never seen a green tennis ball.

My wife and daughters on the other hand claim they have never seen a yellow tennis ball? They claim the world is full of green tennis balls.

What is this craziness? Why are they so foolish?

I have looked for common threads. Is seeing a tennis ball as green a gender thing? Could it be women see this particular object differently? Nope, I've asked around and found a couple of things. There are a collection of people who see tennis balls as green. Not all of them are women.

It leaves me wondering how can these perfectly rational people see something so basic so different than me. I've been told they can see how I would see tennis balls as yellow but they insist they are green. I can't even go that far. I don't see any green when I look at them.
Let's back up a step. Maybe these "green tennis ball people" aren't perfectly rational. After all, how could they be considered rational?

They can't even tell the color of a tennis ball.

Enough about tennis balls. Let's consider the big picture.

I would like to get into "group think" and lack of diversity of thought. Maybe even tolerance.

I love my wife and daughters. I respect them and their brains. When they say tennis balls are green they aren't trying to be argumentative. (Although, when the subject comes up, they aren't trying to stop the argument either).

How does this relate to other issues? I think the parallels are quite strong.

In the world we live in today we tend to view the other side of an issue as the enemy. If they can't see things our way they are just flat wrong. Some issues push us away from even being friends. Certainly, people aren't breaking off friendships over the color of a tennis ball, but you wonder where rational people draw the line.

Can we still be friends if we disagree over immigration, gun control, religion or even daylight savings time? (What about a Yankee fandom? Pity yes, befriend no way).

When somebody sees something differently than I do I'm trying to make my first reaction to consider their view.

When somebody sees something differently than I do I'm trying not to let their view define their entire personhood to me.

I know in a business situation we are better off when a diverse group of people shows up to solve a problem. If we all have the same perspective or views as each other our solutions get stale, boring and even a little ineffective.

I've heard it said the first idea is the worst idea but the most important. The first idea gets the ball rolling down the path to making an improvement. But in a room full of diverse thought the first idea is shaped, molded and improved upon. The end product is sometimes nothing like the first idea. But without the first idea, you would still be stuck in the past. The less productive past.

Tennis balls are yellow. But listen to the other person because they might offer an insight you find quite useful.

Sue's Secret Recipe is Simple: Execution.

I have a great wife. She has many wonderful qualities. People hold in her in high regard for several reasons. She is pretty, smart, organized, and a great conversationalist. She is so wonderful I could never list all the great things about her. But for the rest of this blog I’m going to focus on one of the things she is most noted for.

Chocolate Chip Cookies.

She makes the world best chocolate chip cookies. (And she makes them all the time). People request them for parties. People expect them at parties.

When a neighbor from our old neighborhood told me they had bought a acreage and were moving he said “I still consider us neighbors and at Christmas we will still expect Sue’s annual plate of cookies, I’ll stop by and pick them up.” How about me? Will you miss Sue’s charming husband?

Our daughter is all grown up and on her own. When she was staying at our house while we were on vacation, she had a large group of friends over to our house. The friends commented the house “wasn’t same without your mom’s chocolate chip cookies.”

She send them back to college with other people’s children.

At potlucks Sue brings chocolate chip cookies. During the potlucks I go over and tell people, usually the new people, “have you had the chocolate chip cookies? They are terrible. Whoever made them must have forgotten an ingredient.” I once said it from the stage. I have to use the line on strangers because the regulars know what I’m up to. (I wanted to take as many home as possible). It seldom works.

At our new house we have new neighbors. When new people move in we bring them chocolate chip cookies. Sue makes them. I deliver them.

At Christmas time we also give out cookies to our neighbors. When I returned for a second time with more cookies I got asked “The Question.”

What is the recipe?

And just like Sue has trained me I always give the same answer.

It’s just the one off the Nestle bag!!!

Then the person starts to argue with me. “It can’t be, they taste better then anybody else’s, my kids fight over them.” Others says “I’ve tried that recipe and they didn’t taste this good.” Ultimately people try to get to the bottom of things with “What is her added secret?”

The last question is our favorite question because we have a stock answer.

“Love, she adds an extra touch of love.” Most of the kid’s friends add this line for us. It’s legend among their friends they have heard it so often.

You might be wondering what is the real deal and why I’m I writing about it.

I have an even easier answer for that question.

Execution. She follows the recipe.

When I say “she follows the recipe” I mean exactly that. She doesn’t use it as a guideline, she follows it exactly. No substitutions. No rough estimates on amounts. The measuring cup is level. The oven temp is exact. She uses butter, not margarine.

Her execution is perfect.

She executes the plan. She plans for perfection and then gets perfection every time. She has practiced literally hundreds of times. (At least twice a month for over 25 years!!) On the rare occasion they don’t turn out to her standards she starts over again. She doesn’t settle for ok or second best. (But if you know me you already assumed, she clearly wouldn’t settle for second best.)

I don’t know who said it first but you often hear how in football even if the other team knew what play you are going to run you will succeed if execute the play properly.

(I can’t resist throwing in my favorite football quote on execution. When in the middle of a 26 game losing streak to start the franchise a reporter asked Tampa Bay Buccaneer’s Head Coach John McKay “what he thought of his teams execution?” He replied he was in favor of it. McKay and I are talking about a different kind of execution).

Take a good plan, practice your craft and execute the plan and you will have success. Is a very simple recipe for success. It works just like recipe on the bag of chips.

Again, make sure you follow the steps correctly.

Step one, buy the right brand of chips. The recipe is on the bag. From there it is all about execution.

(((Bonus secret. Don’t bake the cookies. Most of the time we just eat the dough. Don’t worry you’re not going to get sick or die. Live life on the edge, eat raw cookie dough. The Chapins have never used a sick day and we eat cookie dough at least once a month))).