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.
Competition Brings Out the Best
I played high school football and basketball as well as scholarship college basketball.
I learned many life lessons from sports that have benefited me tremendously in both my personal and professional life.
I learned that a team is every player and every coach and every trainer and every equipment person all the way to the end of the bench. It takes every single person to be able to be as good as a team can be in sports and in business. Every person is important to the overall performance of the team. If a business has dirty bathrooms or unpleasant employees that is reflective of the entire “team.” Everybody in my business has business cards and is treated with respect, regardless of the role.
I learned that competitors are necessary to help me improve my athletic skills and equally necessary to make my business better. I treasure my competitors and my business strategies and, consequently, my business is better because of it.
I learned to compete like crazy on the court and to “leave it all out there.” It doesn’t necessarily equate to winning every event. Very few champions have had perfect seasons. It does mean that, even though you weren’t perfect, you’ve done your absolute best at that time.
I learned as much or more from losses than from wins. I also learned that losing is not fun, but can be done with dignity and professionalism. It’s OK to dwell and feel miserable on a loss for a few minutes or hours, but then it’s time to move on to the next “deal” and do the “next right thing” needed to be successful with the next opportunity.
—Alan Heskamp, President, Equipment Solutions, LLC, El Campo, Texas
Benchwarmers Win, Too
This old dealer was not an athlete, but did play second string on the basketball team. My boyhood friend and idol, Randy Taylor, and I were sitting on the back row behind the starters playing tic-tac-toe.
Two starters really screwed up and the coach called time and grabbed Randy and me by the jerseys and said "Report and get in there." We were clueless. I took the ball out, threw a perfect pass to Randy, and he sprinted off with fresh leg speed TO THE WRONG BASKET.
The other coach has just put in two just as clueless subs and one of them ran after and FOULED Randy shooting at the wrong goal.
One ref blew the whistle then looked at the other with a blank, equally clueless stare. After an official timeout and useless search of the rule book they shrugged their shoulders and took Randy to the other end of the court and gave US two free throws. Our coach was in what we thought was cardiac arrest but just turned out to be pent-up resolve to have us run laps 'til the rapture came, we found out.
The moral of the story we learned was:
- Even though you are not in the game directly, always know what is going on with all your players and know which way you are headed.
- When bad things happen, make the best out of it.
- When you mess up — fess up! No excuses, pay the penalty and go on.
- Finally, be gracious in victory and in defeat — you will likely play (or sell to) the same “team” again so don't burn any bridges. You can shear an old sheep once a year — you can't skin 'em but once.
—Tim Brannon, Owner, B&G Equipment, Inc., Paris, Tenn.
Related Content:
- Read Part 1 and Part 2 of "Business Lessons & Winning Strategies Learned from the 'Glory Days'"
- Read Mike Lessiter's original blog at Farm-Equipment.com
