Lessons Learned Series... The Fender.
I recently sold my digital marketing agency, On Target. After owning, operating, and being the CEO/President for a full service agency, I’ve learned MANY lessons on how not to lead a business, how not to hire, and who NOT to take on as a client.
My next few posts will be dedicated to the lessons I’ve learned over those 16 years, and hopefully, you’ll gain a tiny tidbit here or there that will help you along your way. Oh, by the way, I’m not retired. I’m not semi-retired. I’m looking for that next big thing, so if you’re looking for an innovator, a strategist, a think on his feet kind of leader, I’d love to treat you to some exceptional coffee and have a chat.
Ok, enough with the shameless Pure Grind Coffee promotions, let’s get to it.
Arrogance will get you nowhere. Confidence will get you everywhere.
Over the years I’ve met all kinds of characters. Creative folks, businessy type folks, natural leaders, hyper-intelligent individuals, dorks, jerks, amazing humans, sheepish people, you name it. I learned how to quickly size people up and make a determination on whether or not I thought that we (the On Target team) should take them on as a client. The type of individual that ALWAYS turned me off, that ALWAYS made me turn around and run the other way were arrogant folks. THEY believe that they are indeed the smartest person in the room, that their degree earns them a certain place in the world, that they can push people around, walk all over them and give zero Fs about any of the other human beings around them. They often exclaim that they are just direct, or that they call em’ like they see em. There’s a time and a place for being direct, I get that, but if every sentence out of your mouth is a complete insult to the other people around you, you’re arrogant.
Enter The Fender.
At the On Target offices, there is still a fender attached to the wall. Yes. A Fender. It was sent to us by a past client that refurbished some classic trucks. A client that I was so allured to simply because of their product. A client that, back in the day, I HAD to win. I’ll never forget my first sales call with this gentleman, he drilled me like I was a rich oil field. Question after question, only to tell me just how intelligent HE was for grilling me like he was. He was proud of the way he was treating me. He had worked with agencies in the past and found them ALL to be dumb asses (his words.) I persisted, he hired us, he treated us like absolute garbage DAILY. Constantly raising the bar as we’d meet the sales goals, sometimes to ridiculous levels, but we won every time. I understand the whole concept of pushing a team, but to be honest, I don’t need to be pushed, nor does the On Target team. They thrive on winning already, it was part of our DNA. I waited too long to fire them, in fact, I lost a highly valued team member because she couldn’t take his abuse any longer. Lesson learned.
That fender remained, even after an office remodel as a constant reminder that my job was to always protect my team. Every time I walked past that fender, I remembered.
To help you spot arrogance before it infects your organization, here’s the definition:
1 : exaggerating or disposed to exaggerate one's own worth or importance often by an overbearing manner an arrogant official. 2 : showing an offensive attitude of superiority : proceeding from or characterized by arrogance an arrogant reply.
I found that in my 16 years of doing business, of doing sales, of onboarding new clients, that I tended to gravitate towards nice human beings. I didn’t want to close bullies. I didn’t want to be in the same room as some guy/gal who thought that the entire planet revolved around them. I adopted and lived by the Golden Rule, treat others as you’d have them treat you. It’s pretty simple thinking actually and it made my team so much more inclined to go the extra mile for our clients.
My two cents, find customers that aren’t jack-wagons. Keep doing that. Your team and your sanity will thank you.
Peace-
Tom