As the NCAA tournament wraps up and the baseball season is in full swing, we’re sharing lessons learned by some farm equipment leaders from their sports-playing “glory days.” These stories were received in response to a blog by Mike Lessiter, who reflected on the ways youth and high school athletics teaches us much about character, perseverance and team play — all of which make a winning combination for any business.
We’re sharing a sampling of what we learned in this new spring season series. If you’ve got your own story to add, feel free to use the comment box below.
What Coach Rice Taught Me…
I definitely think being active in sports in high school or college has helped me be successful in my career and the stores that I managed.
When I was a freshman in high school, the football team was 0-24 in the previous 3 years. We only had 24 kids that went out for football and 14 of them were freshman, so several of us had to play. We were in the toughest conference in our division in the state, kind of like the SEC of the state. It was a long season, but we did break the losing streak in the first week of the season and won one more game that year. In the second to last week of the season, we played in a freezing rainstorm and our upperclassmen gave up and we got beat 75-8.
The next week was one of the longest weeks of my life. Our coach had a meeting with the freshman and sophomores before practice and said, “Sorry, but we are a team and we will be stronger after hell week.” We didn’t see a football the rest of the week (something that probably can’t be done nowadays). We played the number-one team in the state that week and hung with them for most of the game with mostly freshmen and sophomore players.
I wasn’t a big hitter and didn’t play much at all, but it was great to be a part of the team.
Fast-forward 2 years and we continued to get better and those kids that were freshman and sophomores turned the program around to where we had over 60 kids out for the team. Since I was still not great at blocking and tackling, Coach Rice came up to me and said “You are a heck of an athlete but with all of the talent we have I don’t have a spot for you on offense or defense. But I need you to learn how to kick.” He really impressed upon me how important we needed a kicker and that I’d be needed at some point of the season.
He was right. At the end of the year we needed an extra point to win the game with no time left and I made it. We went on to win State that year. The school has gone on to win several state championships, and several runner-ups in all sports in the last 30 years. Prior to our run, the school had only won two in any sport.
We discussed throughout the year that it is OK to win. It seems so easy but it is actually difficult to have that winning attitude. Every team always has their star players but it’s the role players that help you win. The coach had three rules for us:
- Be a good student.
- Be a perfect gentleman.
- Turn into a great father and husband.
I honestly disliked Coach Rice while playing for him. But when I see him today I give him the biggest hug I can and tell him how much I love him and thank him for turning me into the person I am today. As I started into management of stores, it is amazing how many days I use something that Coach Rice taught me.
I need rock stars in every department, but I also need the employees that know their role. If I have all A-Techs I have nothing but problems, because there has to be an Alpha. I need a few A, B and C techs. Then pick the ones that have the most growth possibilities to push them to grow.
When I interview people, the first or second question I ask is if they played on any sport teams in high school. If they say yes, I ask them if they liked the games, the practices or just wanted to wear the stuff. There isn’t a wrong answer but I know that for the most part they were part of a team. A team has a common goal and chances are they will be a good teammate for the people of Plains Ag.
I have used what Coach Rice has taught me to turn two stores around. In Holyoke, Colo., we went from mid-teens market share to 60-70% market share. I trained my replacement and he has continued to grow the store’s numbers. In Burlington, Colo., we’ve gone from around 10% to above 30% market share in 18 months.
There is a book called Beyond Xs and Os: What I Learned About Friendship and Success from a College Football Legend. It is about famed football coach Hayden Fry and how he built the Hawkeyes at the University of Iowa. I learned that if I can hire head coaches underneath me, it will make my life easier and our team more successful. It is OK that they are better than me and I encourage them to be better than me.
I love it when one of them tells me they are going to take my job. We had one in Burlington tell me that very thing in her review this year, so we are starting to train her to do that in 3-4 years.
If it wasn’t for sports in high school and one year of college, I feel I wouldn’t be where I am today.
—Curt Parker, Store Manager, Central Plains Equipment, Holyoke, Colo.
‘Buying in’ to the Team Concept
Simply, “It’s always about the team” and everybody has to share this value.
—Darrell Pankratz, AVE-PLP Holdings, LLC, Hutchinson, Kan.
Related Content:
- Read Part 1 and Part 3 of "Business Lessons & Winning Strategies Learned from the 'Glory Days'"
- Read Mike Lessiter's original blog at Farm-Equipment.com
