The devil is in the details!” and “It’s the little things that count!”

There are ton of experts who espouse the need to keep your eyes, mind, and approach focused on the details.  Phrases like “The devil is in the details!” and “It’s the little things that count!” are trumpeted as the answer to virtually everything.

I don’t disagree.  Let me be clear-I…DON’T…DISAGREE.

However…

If you focus solely on the details, you lack the bigger picture that gives them context.  If you have a clear vision of the big things, the details are obvious.  When I was teaching, I really wanted to be a great teacher.  That was the big picture.

Did I care about my students?  Did I prepare carefully for class?  Did I look at student work carefully?  Did I research and explore new ways of helping students?  Did I arrive early for class?  Did I listen when a student had a problem?  Did I watch students play soccer, play in the band, or perform in the school play?

Are you kidding me?   Those things were obvious.  With a clear vision of great teaching, I didn’t focus on the details.  They were the logical steps to great teaching.  That vision allowed me to see the reason for all those details, allowed me to understand instinctively that they mattered, they were necessary, and were the essential ingredients for success. 

When you focus solely on the details, the questions change.  “How much time does it take to prepare for class?”  “How many hours will I have to spend reading student work?”  “What does soccer have to do with the subject I teach?”  “What time do I have to report for school?”  “What time does the contract say I can leave?” 

See what I mean?  The tone changes, and all of the details become “have to”, not “get to”. 

Disney World is one of the cleanest places you’ll find.  Workers for Disney are very well trained, but they don’t have a hundred page manual about keeping the park clean.  You know what they have?  A single expectation:  Disney Parks are clean. 

They don’t have to have a manual covering every single possible thing that might make the park unclean.  They have a single vision that makes all the details obvious. 

It doesn’t mean they don’t have policies and procedures.  I’m sure they have schedules for cleaning bathrooms and emptying trash cans.  It’s just that they figure that stuff out from the vantage point of what produces a clean park, not from a list of “have to’s” for employees.

Next time you’re in the Magic Kingdom, just watch, because you can see it happening.  I was with a senior executive there not long ago, and he had an eagle eye for little bits of trash, from gum wrappers to Mickey Mouse stickers that had been dropped on the ground. Why?  It’s part of the Disney culture, part of the vision, and you see it modeled by virtually every employee, top to bottom.

Do you have a vision that makes the details obvious?  If you don’t, I hope you’ll stop right in your tracks and spend some time figuring out what your “big idea” is.  That will make the details crystal clear and allow you to focus your mind on the big picture in a powerful and productive way.

Are you searching for an incredible experience? Well...here it is.

Witnessing the growth of CEO over the past few years has been exhilarating.  It’s amazing to watch the number of programs increase, and next year we’ll oversee 28 CEO programs in four states.

That means hundreds of students are gaining real world experiences, doing real work, and building networks of successful business people.  Students are also starting real businesses, and they showcase them in local trade shows every spring.

It’s time to celebrate those businesses in a different way.  I’m thrilled to announce that on June 15th we’ll launch the first CEO Network Trade show in Effingham, IL.  Each CEO class will select two student businesses, and those businesses will be showcased here in Effingham.  It’s going to be great to meet students from all around the CEO network as they offer their products and services.

If you’re anywhere within traveling distance of Effingham, I promise you an incredible experience.  You’ll be impressed with the businesses you’ll see, but even more wowed by the young people you meet.  They’ll make you feel better about their generation and our future, I promise.

Here are the essential details:

CEO Network Trade Show

June 15

4-6 PM

Keller Convention Center

Effingham, IL  62401

Mark the date on your calendar!

Have you meet Willy Theisen?

EP10 is a new entrepreneurial profile assessment developed by Gallup, the internationally known research company.  They’ve identified the ten most critical entrepreneurial talents and an incredible tool that allows a person to see where they stand on those ten talents when compared to the best entrepreneurs in the world.

I was invited to learn more about the program this week in Omaha from Gallup’s Jeremy Pietrocini and Heather Wright.  I also had the pleasure of spending some time with an entrepreneur who possesses all ten of those critical talents.

from Left:  Jeremy Pietrocini, Willy Theisen, Heather Wright

Willy Theisen may or may not be a name you recognize, but I promise you know his work.  Back in 1973 he launched a company called Godfather’s Pizza.  He had simple beliefs that guided his professional life-cleanliness, honesty, hard work- and they paid off with a company that grew exponentially under his guidance.

When Willy proposed a taco pizza for Godfather’s, the other people in the meeting said he was crazy.  “What about the lettuce?  How can you put that on a pizza?”  Willy said, “We’ll throw that on, and maybe some onions and grated cheese after it comes out of the oven.  Let’s not ponder over it-let’s do it.”  Forty years later, it’s the best selling pizza at Godfather’s.

After selling the company, Willy has been at the helm of a number of successful restaurant ventures.  His latest is called “Pitch”, a coal-fired pizzeria, sits in a beautiful neighborhood in Omaha.  The coal-fired ovens cook a pizza in 2-3 minutes, and oh man, they are some pizzas!   Our group feasted on a lobster pizza and the “Mia”, Willy’s favorite. 

The restaurant is a beautiful place, carved out of a 100 year-old building that once served as a car dealership in the 1920’s.  Willy’s first step when designing the building?  The bathrooms.  Willy says, “If you wait to do those last, you’re tired, you’re out of money, and you’re probably sick of the whole design process.  Bathrooms are important to people, though, so they have to be right.  You start there and build out from there.”

When Willy came into the restaurant as we dined, guess where he went first?  To check out the bathroom.  I watched as he then worked the room, greeting guests, chatting with the staff, and generally bringing happiness to the place.  Willy is nearly 70, by the way, and to watch this man in action you’d swear he was half that age.  This was a Tuesday night, and the place was hopping.  Pitch was packed and brimming with energy.  There will be a second pitch opening soon in Omaha, twice the size of the first.

He’ll need every square foot. 

Pressure vs. Stress

Let’s be clear.  Pressure and stress are two completely different animals. 

The dictionary has several definitions for pressure, but this is my favorite:  “The exertion of force upon a surface by an object.”

Stress, though, is defined as:  “mental, emotional, or physical strain or tension”.

Stress takes a physical and emotional toll.  It makes your stomach hurt and your heart race.  Stress causes your brain to run wild with all kinds of horrible “what if’s”, all kinds of unspeakable possibilities.

Pressure is different.  Pressure is when you feel the weight and importance of what you’re doing.  When you’re under pressure, you acknowledge the potential good that can come from your work or your life.  You know it matters. 

Sometimes it matters a lot.

At the Midland Institute for Entrepreneurship, we help start and oversee CEO classes.  It’s a lot of pressure.  We’re working in more than 30 communities right now, spread across Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, and Missouri, in addition to talking with people in multiple other states.  Like any good startup, we’re creating much of this on the fly.  Our work centers on experiential learning.  It’s the most powerful kind of learning, but it’s not new-we certainly didn’t invent it.  Our model, though, is very different than school, and that means we’re navigating all kinds of new waters every day.

We’re wrestling with all the challenges that come with explosive growth and grappling with maintaining the culture and quality that makes CEO the remarkable learning experience it is.   We’re learning every day, both things that work and things that don’t, and we’re pulling together a dizzying array of resources to make sure we deliver the promise of CEO.

It’s a lot of pressure, because if we’re right, we may just revolutionize the way schools work.  Whew. 

It’s not stressful, though.

Stress is bad.  It makes you hyper aware of your weaknesses.  It exposes your darkest fears.  Stress causes you to focus primarily on the negative, on the things you don’t know, things that don’t go well, and that builds fear and worry until you just freeze in place.  You start looking for ways out of your situation, and there’s very little likelihood any of those ways will lead to success.

When you fit what you do, though, pressure is welcome.  It’s good.  It focuses your energy as you exert your force on the problem or challenge at hand.  It’s welcome, because you know it brings out the best in you.  It’s invigorating, because you know the results of your work matter.  They matter to you, and they matter to others. 

We fit what we do.   How about you?

“Now they have it together. Why can’t I be more like that?!?”

You ever look at someone and think, “Now they have it together.  Why can’t I be more like that?!?”  Someone recently shared this with me: “Never compare your inside with someone else’s outside.”  It’s credited to author Michael Palmer, and it’s brilliant.

We all do that, comparing the “me” no one but us really knows with the “them” that is on display for public consumption.  It’s a losers game, for sure.

I think we all know, down deep, there is a difference between the inside and outside, but we love to hold up our own worst traits and look at them in the light of someone else’s strengths. 

Okay, that’s not entirely true.  Some people delight in holding their best traits (such as they are) against the weaknesses of others.  That somehow makes them feel superior.  That’s the subject of a different conversation, though.

I had a revelation a few years back that changed my life.  I could take you to the exact square on the sidewalk in Cooperstown, New York, where it hit me.  I thought, “Okay, nearly everyone who knows you sees you as an easy going, confident, happy, well-adjusted person.  You’re great at appearing that way, so much so that nearly everyone is convinced you’re that way all the way through, all the way to your core.”

Then it occurred to me.  If I’m not that way on the inside, I’m the only one who knows the difference.  I’m the only one who suffers.  If I am that way all the way to my core, I’m the only one who knows the difference.  I’m the only one who benefits.  No one else would ever know one way or the other. 

It’s such a simple thing, but in that moment I realized I could be the guy most everyone perceived me to be.  I could do it immediately, and I could do it forever.  I don’t do it consistently, to be sure, but the inside and outside have been much closer since that moment, and life is much better. 

So the pertinent question is, “How does your inside match your outside?”  The closer the two are, the happier you’ll probably be.