Category Archives: Career

Stepping out of expectations

Career, Family, Life

In life, sometimes we need to step out of expectations other people have for us. A lot of times the expectations are wholesome and uplifting, but other times they are mean spirited. Sometimes other people think we will fail and they quietly celebrate the failure. They won’t come out and say how happy they are to see you fail, but deep in their spirit they expect it and hope for it.

George Patton was an Army General in WWII and was very revered as a General, but was also a colorful, outspoken guy with a hard driving personality that got him in trouble at times. In 1940, he became the General in charge of the Second Armored Tank Division at Fort Benning, GA. He later moved on to other commands in the US and overseas as WWII continued on.

Fort Benning, GA is located in Columbus, GA and is next door and across the bridge from Phoenix City, AL. In the 1940s, most of the bars and gambling were in Phoenix City. His troops would go on leave for the weekend and go to Phoenix City to do whatever it was they did during off duty time. His troops would come back to base hurt, stabbed and sometimes shot because Phoenix City was a rough place back then. After several weekly calls to the city mayor in Phoenix City trying to get something done to keep his guys safe, he got mad one day. Being George Patton, he fired up the whole tank division and drove over the bridge to Phoenix City and surrounded the courthouse. When the mayor looked out his window at the tanks that surrounded the courthouse, all the blood drained from his face. Patton walked up to the courthouse and told the Mayor that if another one of his men was harmed in Phoenix City, he would bring the tanks back and literally level the city.

None of the soldiers were harmed again after that talk. Ha

Sometimes doing the unexpected is the right thing to do.

I was told that I would never be successful as a hotel broker; there were other brokers that actually laughed at me and how I was dressed because I didn’t have nice clothes, no formal education, and stuttered when I talked. I could have chosen to meet their expectations and slide away into some other line of work, or I could choose to not let their expectations define who I was. I choose the latter of those two options.

Sometimes you have to step out of the expectations of others and make a new path for your life. Don’t let people who are not supportive of you have control in your life and define your self-image and who you become. Most of the success stories you read involve a person with limited resources and limited expectations, yet they went on to do great things.

In summary, do not give the power of influence in your life to people that do not have your best interest in mind. Choose your friends and influences carefully. KT

15 things mentally strong people do

Career, Life

Mentally strong people come in all shapes, sizes, ages, nationalities, and religions. Regardless of any of these differences, they respond to life and adversity in similar fashion, and the following are several things I think they all do.

  1. They let the past be the past and refuse to mentally watch videos/ memories of past failures.
  2. They are bold and intimidated by no one, yet they are kind and honest.
  3. They celebrate the success of others.
  4. They are givers.
  5. They never talk bad about people behind their back.
  6. They are always honest, even in the small details.
  7. They don’t feel the world owes them anything, and they are prepared to work for what they get.
  8. They are able to see the best in people.
  9. They carry hope and love with them at all times.
  10. They choose to walk in joy and have a thankful heart.
  11. They have a boldness and an anointing about them in everything they do.
  12. In their eyes, people see honesty and trust.
  13. They are able to be fully mentally engaged, whether it is at work or home.
  14. Instead of just saying it won’t work, they present a way it can work.
  15. They are open minded, approachable and easy to get along with.

I trust your 2015 year is tremendous. KT

People leave leaders not companies

Career

Over the years, I have worked with hundreds of people in the hospitality business. While our retention rate is very high, we will on occasion lose someone. In every case, I take that as a shortcoming on my part for not having built a foundation strong enough to keep them. Since we started Hotel AG, we have lost one broker and one staff member. We moved two other staff members over to our sister company called Pipeline Social Media Solutions. The broker we lost left us in 2009 at the height of the financial crisis, and the other staff person left us to be a full-time mother.

I believe that people leave leaders and not companies. Sure, money is a factor, but I feel that money as a reason to leave is down on  the list as compared to the stability of the company, the vision of the company and the openness of its leaders. People want to be where they are valued and where their opinions matter.

I have seen some leaders that lead from a position of arrogance or fear. As far as I can tell, people do not stay long term with those kind of companies. Everyone wants to know the plan, know how to achieve the objective, and know that their leader is as committed as they are. People don’t like closed doors and locked files, or a leader that is slick with limited moral values. People like real people that have been where they are and treat them with respect.

Even children like to know where they are going and how long it will take. Ha. When my daughters were young, they wanted to know where and how long; it seemed once they knew this, that they were much more content and happy. It is like playing basketball without a goal at the end of the court. It doesn’t matter how great you pass or dribble, but it only matters how you accomplish and achieve the objective.

The college football semifinal payoffs were yesterday, and this is the first year that the BCS had a playoff between the top four teams. All other years, the national championship game was based on the opinions of the judges as to who were the two best teams. If the national championship game in two weeks was based on the “opinions” poll, neither of the teams that are going to play in the championship game would have made it. I hate sports where it is based on a judge’s opinion if you should be the winner or not as compared to sports that are based on who scored the most points and nothing else.

So in summary, I believe people stay with companies that have leaders with a vision and the ability to share that vision with the employees, brokers and partners.

Happy New Year. KT

My friend Joe

Career, Life

Joe has been my friend for many years as well as one of my clients. He is 49 years old, from New York, and you can hear him talk a block away. He is one of the funniest guys I know. Yesterday I called him to tell him I was looking through our business’ database and sorted for the word “ugly” and his file came up. We had a good laugh.

Please pray for my friend Joe. He is waiting for a heart transplant. He has been in very poor health for several years, and he has had a number of procedures to correct his heart issues. Today, he has a mechanical apparatus that keeps his heart pumping, and he told me that the power pack is about the size of a football. He will have his heart transplant in Tampa when that call comes in. He and his wife are simply waiting for the call.

When we spoke yesterday and he was telling about his status, I got real still and real quiet; I knew in that moment that we were going to talk about salvation. I ask the Lord for the words to come fluently out of my mouth and be seasoned with his grace. I asked Joe if he was a Christian, and he said yes to the best of his knowledge he was. He said he was a Catholic, but believed he was a Christian. The words that came out of my mouth at that moment had to be from God because what I told him was so simple and so true.

I told Joe that it doesn’t matter what the name on the church is or if you check this box or that box or attended this meeting, etc. All that mattered was that he believed in his heart that Jesus was, and is, the son of God and that he died on the cross and was raised up again for our salvation. I also told Joe that there is not some magic set of words that you have to say, you don’t have to meet the pastor at the front of the church, you don’t have to do anything except believe in your heart the above statement is true.

Our call together got quiet, and he thanked me. I told Joe that if he needed me at 3 o’clock in the morning, that I would be there for him and his wife Cindy.

Sometimes in life and in business, you have call or a moment that you will never forget. For me, I will remember yesterday’s call for the rest of my life. It was one of those moments that will stay with you, and you are so glad that you boldly shared your faith.

Please pray for my friend Joe because he is struggling in life and needs to be lifted up. KT

Never lead from your chair

Career

Sam Walton was the founder of Walmart, and he had many quotes over his years of leadership. One that really impressed me is “never lead from your chair.”

I believe this could be one of the greatest business success secrets of all time. It has been seen in many people from Henry Ford to Ronald Reagan to Bill Marriott.

It simply means to get up and get involved in your business; meet and speak with your people, and let them know that they are important to what you are doing and to what your company is doing. If you are in sales like me, it means making sales calls with your people and leading by example. It also means doing in front of people what you expect them to do. Leading by example is one of the most powerful leadership qualities a person can have.

We have all seen situations where a business manager or group leader will just make decisions from his chair and expect everyone to carry out his orders. Obviously, there are times when a leader does send emails and make decisions from his/her office, but what I am talking about is a metaphor of leading a group while being involved as compared to just giving orders and hope they are followed.

In our world of websites, emails, texts, it is so easy to assume that an email or a text will get the job done. Sometimes it does facilitate business, but it rarely establishes business. Over the last couple of weeks, we have had several hotel deals that needed a verbal introduction rather than an email introduction. There were five of these such calls that I made over the last several weeks. I can tell you that every one of the calls were well received and appreciated by the clients far more than if I had emailed them. People get reams of emails of which many they do not respond to, but a personal call is in my opinion “business 101.”

I think if managers, directors, and employers would go talk to their folks, hear their opinions, and ideas, many of the decisions that are made would be different. Sometimes you have to walk into the forest to actually see the trees, even though you already know what they look like.

Therefore, Sam Walton’s idea of leading a company is very on point today as well as it was in his time. His company outlasted many volume discount retailers, such as GEX, Dixiemart, Kmart, Memco, American Wholesale Club, Edwards, PriceRite, etc. It was probably because he would actually go to the stores, talk to the people, and lead from that position, rather than sit in his office and make decisions. It is also noteworthy to tell you that Sam Walton drove his same old truck to the same diner to eat breakfast with his same old friends, and this was even after he was a billionaire. His philosophy was to keep it simple, keep it real, and lead by example. KT