All posts by Keith Thompson

Starbucks

Career

As many of you know, Starbucks is my coffee of choice. I am not endorsing their political views, but just simply saying that I love their coffee.

Hanging on our office wall are probably the two most important pictures we have at Hotel AG. The picture on the left was taken at the original Starbucks store in Seattle in 1971, and the picture on the right was taken at the same store in 2012. The angle of the camera lens is the same in both pictures.

The point of this blog post is that everything is complicated and messy when you start regardless of how great it may become in the future. It is always messy and unorganized in the beginning. Every business, every new idea, every church, etc., is always more complicated and confusing and messy when you start.

The 1971 picture shows a Starbucks store that is very unorganized and very sloppy with trash, empty coffee cups everywhere, unhappy customers at the counter, and a staff that is frazzled and overwhelmed. I simply love the picture.

The 2012 picture shows a Starbucks store that is the opposite of everything in the 1971 picture. It shows a competent staff and happy customers in an environment that is organized, well managed,  clean, and exactly what you would expect from a global coffee company.

The difference between the pictures is time.

The time to figure it out, find your market, have training, quality control, etc, but mostly the time to get traction in whatever you are doing.

It always always always takes longer to get it right and takes much more money that you plan for to get it to a successful point. And this is for every new venture, new job, new company, and new idea.

Proverbs 14:4 says, “where no oxen are, the crib is clean.” It means that it’s easy to keep a barn stall clean and organized when it doesn’t have any animals in it. Just like a new business. If you don’t have anything going and no customers, it is easy to keep all the files straight and desk clean.

What am I saying here? Sometimes things being a mess and unorganized is a good thing if the reason is because you are working to get an idea off the ground and would rather have customers than a clean office.

Therefore, I love the Starbucks pictures because they remind me that at Hotel AG when things get busy and messy, it is a sign that we are doing something and not just talking about it. KT

The five kinds of people

Career

I would love to take credit for the following, but I had lunch today with Harmon Born and this made an impression on me, and I wanted to share it with you.

In every organization, every church and every business, there are five kinds of people. They are referred to as the VPs.

VRPs – very resourceful people. These are the people that are older and have a wealth of knowledge that will share it with you only if asked. They are generally supportive of changes and are a good ally to have within any organization.

VIPs – very important people – These are the ones that once they are convinced of the cause will help you champion the changes. They will get behind and help you. You need these people very close to you.

VTPs – very trainable people – These are the new folks that are impressionable and willing to learn a new way of business. They tend to be loyal people.

VHPs – very happy people – these are the people that are happy as long as things are going the way they want them to go. They are not loyal and will leave when the next best thing comes around. They are concerned with only what they can get out of it.

VDPs – very drainable people – we all know this type. Regardless of what you say or what you do, they will not be happy and they will be talking behind your back. These are the people that are in every organization, but also the very people you need to distance yourself from.

These are good things to remember whatever the business, organization or church you are involved in. It’s been my experience that you will be dealing with these types of people wherever you go, so it’s best to learn how to navigate the waters. KT

A little scare

Family, Life

Have you ever had something happen that could have changed your life forever? An event, a wreck, a doctor’s report or a moment you looked away? We had one of those this week.

This past week, our entire family stayed at a rental house for several days near the beach. The house had a swimming pool and all the things a beach house should have. The last afternoon we were there, Elaine, Leslie, Matt, Rowan (our four-year-old granddaughter) and I were all at the pool having a good time. The pool had three steps that lead into the pool. Rowan was swimming with a float and just having a blast. When we were about ready to come in, Rowan took off her float, lost her balance, and stepped off the last step into the pool and went under the water. We were right there, and she was under the water for maybe two seconds until I grabbed her up.

The event itself was only a second of time, but after the event, I began to think about what almost happened…I could not get it out of my mind. See, life was just happening like life happens and in a flash, I realized how so very precious life is. I loved, hugged and kissed that little girl as many times as she would let me that night. It scared me. You start playing things in you your mind like what if we hadn’t been right there, etc. You just have to stop and thank God almighty for having his hand on us that day.

In life, it only takes a flash of what could have been for us to realize how precious and grateful we are for our life and our family’s life.

The message is to love often and fully and never hold back. KT

Forgiveness

Life

I recently forgave someone for events that happened a long time ago. I really didn’t even know I was still holding on to it until I met with that person. All the memories came like a flood taking me back to a very difficult time in my life. I had to wrestle it down in my spirit and say “no, I will not allow it any longer.”

Forgiveness is one of the most powerful and liberating actions you will ever take. See, I said the word “action” because forgiveness is a choice of action. The only one that can make the choice is you. These things do not correct themselves, rather they just get harder to move on from and release.

Contrary to popular advice, books and opinions, you do not have to talk to the person to forgive them. You don’t have to tell them the whole story, the whys, the wheres, blah blah blah. Forgiveness is a private thing between you and God and no one else. In fact, talking to the person can many times make it worse than before you opened your mouth. Forgiveness is about you and not about them. Let me say that again, forgiveness is about you and not about them. It robs your peace and joy and those things affect only you.

In my situation, I did not even realize that deep inside I still felt the way I felt. There have been many times in my life when I easily forgave and sometimes when it was a little harder, but I make a habit to forgive quickly and often. This one was a lot deeper because it took place when I was vulnerable, afraid and needed to be loved.

Have you ever had a conversation/argument in your mind with a person? Did you win the argument and always say the most impressive things? It’s funny how when you are talking to yourself, you can always win the arguments and really put that person in their place. Ha. It doesn’t work that way in real life.

If you wake up and have an argument with yourself and another person not present more than several times a week, you might want to think about forgiving that person.

The lesson here is that sometimes you have to guard your heart and be very vigilant to forgive and move on. Move on before it affects your life and your family’s life. KT

Goal setting

Life

I am not big into goal setting in the business and economical sense. Over in the personal areas, I think identifying where you want to go and what you want to be is a good thing and probably necessary in certain cases.

I think goal setting can also get out of control, and it can be the catalyst to making wrong decisions. Goal setting comes from our inherent desire to know what the future holds and then try to make it come true, but unfortunately we can’t see what even next week holds, much less the future.

Years ago, I used to set goals in business and work toward this or that as the goal. In 1995, I decided I would not go through the goal setting process of trying to identify and then possibly limit that year to what I thought was possible. It was the last year I ever set a business goal because that year I just decided to let God put me in the places I was supposed to be. It was a very good year for selling hotels.

Don’t get me wrong, everyone is different, and what drives me is different from what drives you. I believe everyone has to pick a path that works for them.

I do believe in goal setting for things like weight loss, cycling, running etc. When you start on a diet, it is obviously very important to know what the goal is you are trying to achieve. I think there are four very important characteristics of a successful goal.

(1)    It must be realistic

(2)    It must be achievable

(3)    It must be definable

(4)    It must be measurable

So just saying I want to be happy, wealthy, and wise is not setting a goal because it is impossible to measure that kind of a broad statement.

Twenty something years ago, I read a book by Zig Ziglar called “See you at the Top.” In the book, he stated how far he ran, his physical condition, and how much he weighed. Well, he was actually none of those things and in fact was out of shape and very overweight. So, he calculated the days and weeks until his book would be published and then calculated a measurable plan on how to weigh what his book said he weighed. Basically, it came down to him loosing 3 ounces (I think) a day and just a little over 1 pound a week. One pound is obviously 16 ounces and his goal was to lose 3 ounces a day.

As you can expect from Zig Ziglar, the day the book published he did in fact weigh what his book said he weighed, and he was in fact in the best physical shape of his career. Now, writing a book that will be published for the world to see is maybe a little too extreme way of setting a goal. Ha.

So in summary, if goal setting is helping you, then by all means it’s a good thing and keep doing it. If it is not working for you, then find a different way to stay motivated. It’s all good either way. KT