Month: February 2009

Categories
General Leadership Perseverance

Persevere And Win

True, caring leaders persevere and win. Phillip Kane
Matt Kenseth Wins 2012 Daytona 500 | Photo credit: Grindstone Media Group, Shutterstock.com)

February 20, 2009

Watching the Daytona 500 unfold this past weekend I couldn’t help but think of our business. 

It wasn’t a usual 500. It wasn’t a usual 500 winner. But both seemed appropriate to me. 

As the clouds gathered and it became clear that the race may not proceed as expected, things on the track changed. Many drivers began to act erratically. But a few drivers reacted positively, carefully changing their game plan, doing something about it to put themselves in a position to win. 

One of them was Matt Kenseth, who hadn’t been heard from much during the race. Matt started near the back and typically worked his way quietly and methodically through the field.

As the rain started and the final caution was thrown, Matt ran to the front. 

Then, when the red flag was waved, and the cars were brought to the grid for the rain delay Matt chose to stay at work if you will behind the wheel with the cover over his car while other drivers ducked for the dry of their trailers or the spotlight of ESPN’s cameras. 

During the off-season you won’t find Matt jetting off to Thailand, Jackson Hole, or any other exotic destination. You’ll find Matt at home in Wisconsin, not far from his family or his race shop there, preparing for the season ahead. 

Here’s the point for this week. 



That Matt Kenseth won Daytona wasn’t a fluke of weather or NASCAR timing. Matt Kenseth won Daytona because he is Matt Kenseth. 

His quiet leadership, recognition that things were changing, decision to act, and work ethic all combined to put him in victory lane. 

Our situation isn’t much different, well except for the fact that we don’t get big cardboard checks and don’t get to spray Coke on everyone when we make a sale while confetti falls from the sky. Otherwise, things are comparable. 

See, our race is not going as expected. We are behind and need to find our way to the front. Our competition is fierce and can’t be counted on to behave in ways we’ve come to expect. Storm clouds are all around us.

Let’s tear a page from the Matt Kenseth playbook. 

Winning the 2009 tire selling race will require hard work, perseverance, the courage and force to do something different as quickly as we can, and the self-confidence to go about it for all the right reasons. 

So, get out there and run to the front. And don’t worry about the rain, you can’t stop it…you can though do something about it. 

Race hard. Persevere.

And win. 

If you like the blog, you’ll love the book. To purchase a copy of Phillip’s book, The Not So Subtle Art of Caring: Letters on Leadership, from John Hunt Publishing, London, please follow this LINK. “Letters” is based on 85 story-backed lessons Phillip used while leading actual teams to accomplish extraordinary things. It is an outstanding resource for those who wish to commit to becoming the sort of leader that people WANT to follow.

To learn more about Phillip, please click HERE.

(Photo credit: Grindstone Media Group, Shutterstock.com)

Categories
Joy

Release Joy

Release joy. Phillip Kane's andwin.net blog.
Art: Don Drumm Studios, Akron, Ohio

February 8, 2019

On my daughter Charlotte’s dresser is a small pewter plaque from a local Akron artist. On the plaque are only two words, “Release Joy.” Charlotte, who we call “Chuck,” has never needed additional encouragement in this regard. Whether from creating an entire multi-generational family from unopened soup cans and a Sharpee marker to bringing lavishly decorated cakes home for special occasions of her own invention, Charlotte naturally wrings every bit of life and happiness out of every waking moment. Charlotte releases joy.

Recently, I shared with all of you the list of “Rules” that I have for my life. I have more than once considered adding “Release Joy” to the list. It is probably only that I don’t want 13 rules that I haven’t added Release Joy. And adding two rules swells the list to 14, which isn’t as neat and tidy as 12. So, I’ve been content to leave the list alone, leaving Release Joy to suffer the fate of poor alternate, waiting for another rule to fall off the list. But Release Joy is truly as important as any of the other 12. That’s because, personal happiness matters. 

And that’s the point for the week.



Performing a task with or without joy will make the difference between a job well done or not. The presence of joy will affect the quality of human relationships; when it is absent, relationships suffer. Having joy in our hearts for each day we are given makes good news feel even better and bad news sting a little less.

Joy, like any emotion, is automatically and freely shared. It can light up a room. Ignite passion in others. Heal a hurt. Elevate. Propel. Calm. Inspire.

When each one of us here spends more time releasing joy, (which is almost never found in things, by the way) and less time looking for reasons to be sad, angry or disappointed, we will accomplish more together. We will keep each other safer. We will teach each other more things. We will reach the heights we have dreamed of together. We will win, together.

And when we do, we will be happier, for we have sought the better part, the joyful art. A life better lived, where people we have the privilege to interact with smile more, laugh more, help each other more, watch out for each other more, lift each other up more, and win more. 

So, be like Charlotte. Release joy.

And win.

If you like the blog, you’ll love the book. To purchase a copy of Phillip’s book, The Not So Subtle Art of Caring: Letters on Leadership, from John Hunt Publishing, London, please follow this LINK. “Letters” is based on 85 story-backed lessons Phillip used while leading actual teams to accomplish extraordinary things. It is an outstanding resource for those who wish to commit to becoming the sort of leader that people WANT to follow.

To learn more about Phillip, please click HERE.

Categories
Perseverance

Focus On Things You Can Control

True, caring leaders focus on things they can control. Phillip Kane

February 10, 2009

My son Will, who just turned 5, and I are fierce Lego Star Wars (video game) competitors. We’ve been known to play for 16 hours in a single weekend. 

The object is to complete 100% of the game by collecting 99 gold bricks, 18 power bricks, completing 10 Bounty Hunter missions, and achieving True Jedi status twice in each of 18 chapters. 

Recently, after about 3 or 4 weeks of play, we had completed 81 some percent of the game only to lose all of our progress to a “corrupt data card”. 

I was amazed at my son’s reaction.  Will was unfazed.  It didn’t seem to bother him that we lost it all, that we’d have to start completely over.  

This seemingly insignificant event reminded me of something I told a friend once about why I believe my daughter Caroline recovered more quickly from open heart surgery than an adult would have. She hadn’t learned to feel sorry for herself. Neither apparently has Will. That we lost our progress was simply a fact to be dealt with not an event to rustle up a heap of self pity over. 

Worrying about issues we have no control over is a waste of time, emotion and energy.

And that’s the point for the week. 



As news of the economy worsens, as our industry further recedes, as the work we have done is threatened we have a choice. 

We can choose to feel sorry for ourselves and wish it weren’t true. Or we can accept what we can’t change and go do something about it. 

We can be like Will. 

Times like these offer wonderful opportunities to trounce someone who is sitting around feeling sorry for themselves or who is pulling back somehow to compensate for the slowdown. Look for openings. If someone gives you one, drive a truck through it. 

Remember, life is a choice. 

We can either choose to participate in the malaise or we can capitalize on it.  We can either decide to take control of every moment or we can give in to the urge to let the moment control us.

Be like Will.

Focus on things you can control. Then control them.

And win.

If you like the blog, you’ll love the book. To purchase a copy of Phillip’s book, The Not So Subtle Art of Caring: Letters on Leadership, from John Hunt Publishing, London, please follow this LINK. “Letters” is based on 85 story-backed lessons Phillip used while leading actual teams to accomplish extraordinary things. It is an outstanding resource for those who wish to commit to becoming the sort of leader that people WANT to follow.

To learn more about Phillip, please click HERE.