Monday, November 25, 2024

“Always start with Gratitude!” Redux

 

 

It is important during this week of Thanksgiving to once again return to this ageless, and difficult idea…. To “always start with gratitude.”  My long-term friend and partner in business Cathy would push to remind me of this often… not only this week of the year.  She and I have known each other and worked closely together since 1996… partnering together during our years at Coke, and most recently at Bolthouse Farms.  Over the years (literally decades) we have dealt with numerous challenging moments and regardless of topic or season, Cathy would often remind me to “start with gratitude.”  In many of those moments it seemed that “gratitude” was the LAST place to start… you know, anger and denial (and maybe some yelling/venting) usually come first but Cathy was and is so correct.  Regardless of the circumstance, the emotions of the moment, or the seeming enormity of the challenges, I have learned that starting with appreciation, humility and “gratitude” are ALWAYS the best first moves.

 

In my life I am grateful for so many things and they begin and end with my family.  I am so fortunate to have a great marriage with Jennie, and two outstanding kids (now young adults in their 20’s) Bryson & Marie.  That clear and strong foundation is beyond important in my life, and I work hard to not take it for granted.  I am fortunate to have deep and close friends that have literally spanned my life, and while tempted to detail all the names (beyond Cathy of course), I want to share a few vignettes that brings this to life.

 

It was literally a month ago when I went back to my hometown of Murrysville Pa. to visit two of my oldest and closest friends… Jimmy and Dave.  A few hours after I arrived, Dave started suffering terrific abdominal pain and we headed to the emergency room.  After a long night of scans and tests, he needed to be admitted to the hospital and have gall bladder surgery on a following day.  It was a scary time, but the surgery was successful, and Dave is home and doing very well… and I am very grateful!  I am thankful that Jimmy and I were there physically to get him to the hospital and to be with him during those scary and painful early hours.  I am thankful for a talented surgeon that did his work well, and thankful for incredible nurses that took care of our friend Dave until he could come home. While scary in hindsight, I am deeply “grateful” on so many fronts!

 

Another moment happened literally a week or so ago when three close friends from my Bolthouse Farms world, Todd, Phil and David all found their way east for a quick trip to the cabin.  While there were a lot of laughs and stories,( and a few card games by the fire) it was nourishing to MY spirit to have that time with the three of them… all at different places in their lives and careers, all facing different challenges/issues, yet I was so deeply grateful that they are actively in my life and that we had that special time together!  I know that we will stay close for years (hopefully decades) to come and again I am deeply “grateful” for those deep friendships.

 

A final vignette literally occurred yesterday, as I was dropping off Chicken Noodle Soup to my father-in-law Don.  I often cook on Sundays and usually make a bit extra to share with my 87-year-old father-in-law who lives around the corner.  I stopped by late in the afternoon and as I went into his home, I realized that my father-in-law (who is an incredible musician) was not alone and I was introduced to a violinist standing nearby with his instrument.  Don suggested that I drop the soup in the kitchen and take a seat as they “sight read” a Mozart suite for piano and violin.  It was INCREDIBLE… the beauty of the music, the talent of these two musicians, the brilliance of Mozart all in the living room of Don’s townhouse down the street… what a grateful surprise!!  At 87, I don’t know how many more years we will have the treasure of Don in our lives, but I am deeply “grateful” that we have it now!

 

As I close, I reflect that coming out of the recent elections, in such a divided country, we have large communities struggling to find this a season of “gratitude.”  With a Harris/Walz 2024” sign in our front yard, I am part of that community challenged by the road ahead.  Regardless of those challenges… or maybe amplified by them…. It’s possibly time to be more “grateful” than ever!  The road ahead will certainly have its issues and challenges, and it will REQUIRE all of us to WORK hard on a wide range of topics… and with a “grateful” headset, we can all get to work more effectively, stay hopeful and optimistic more consistently, and to always be reminded while we can’t affect the past, we have an infinite ability to make tomorrow better than yesterday…. all fueled by a “grateful” spirit!!

 

Happy Thanksgiving to all!


p.s. over the 15+ years that I have been writing this blog, I have touched on the theme of "Gratitude" in numerous essays.... maybe a theme that needs constant reinforcement!  

The first essay on this topic was from 2013, take a look if you want to see more:  https://fylegacy.blogspot.com/2013/05/gratitude-key-to-happiness.html




 

Thursday, November 7, 2024

Lessons from Venus!

 

I had the chance recently to attend the annual general meeting held by Butterfly Equity, the PE firm that I have worked closely with over the past 5+ years when we bought Bolthouse Farms back from Campbell’s.  I am proud of the Butterfly team and their incredible growth and am very proud to serve on the board of the Butterfly Equity Foundation whose focus is to support non-profits in greater Los Angeles in nutrition security, food as medicine, and increasing healthy food access in underserved communities.  To see more about Butterfly Equity or the foundation, see: https://www.bfly.com)


 

While the meeting this year was primarily focused on the growth and success of Butterfly Equity broadly, and the specific performance of its companies, it was a real treat to get to see the guest speaker, Venus Williams, share her thoughts and learning from across her incredible career in Tennis and in life.  Venus was very gracious and candidly very humble as she spoke to the crowd and as she answered questions that came from the audience.  Here are few specific Q&A “moments” that struck me as deeply true and incredibly applicable in business and life today:

 

Ø  “Challenges”: An early question had to do with the incredible amount and breadth of “challenges” that Venus had to deal with across her youth, her playing career, and today as an entrepreneur.  How did she handle them and what advice would she give for those facing challenges in their businesses today.

 

o   Venus responded, ” you don’t want to ask for fewer challenges… you ask for and work on building more skills.”  She NEVER stopped trying to get better at Tennis, and she worked on that objective every day for decades!  That I idea that we all should focus ourselves and our teams on “building skills” every day for decades is a powerful inspiration!  Our businesses and our companies WILL face more challenges ahead, and we can’t just wish them away.  

 

Ø  “Pressure” : a  question from the audience had to do with how she and her sister Serena handled the pressure of growing up and training so hard from very early ages to excel at tennis and what does she think about the pressure facing on kids today.

 

o   Venus responded that “pressure was a privilege” in her mind and that “kids without pressure won’t be ready for life.”  I won’t focus on the parenting lesson in this comment (though I deeply agree with Venus on this one!!) but we must convert our thinking and the headsets of the key leaders in our organizations to take this idea on… how to think that “pressure is a privilege.”  Every business I know is facing a wide array of pressures every day, and rarely (ok, never!) have I thought about them as a “privilege” personally… but the power of building the strength and grit of an organization is built on that simple idea…and ALL organizations would benefit from building “grit!”

 

 

Ø  “Legacy”: Now this topic is close to home for yours truly… having written a blog

 (“Find Your Legacy”) on this topic since 2009 and have been speaking about this topic since the time my grandmother died in 1998!  

 

o   As Venus was wrapping up her comments, she shared her thoughts about where she was in her life today and what she thought her “Legacy” was as of today.   She commented that “Legacy was about what you can give… not what you take” in life and that she wasn’t done “giving.”  I loved the response to remind all of us that we aren’t done leaving an impact in life … leaving a legacy… and whether you are a world renowned Tennis star, a business leader, or a simple attendee at a great meeting in Southern California ( referring to yours truly) we all have the chance to haven an impact, leave a legacy, on those we connect with today or in the days to come!

 

 

I hope that a few of these ideas/inspirations from Venus’s talk connect with you personally and that you can see ways to apply them in your work ahead.  Work to think about how they may apply to your personally, and then think of applications for your team/teams broadly.