Demand Drives Price

It was my first day in Professor Galster’s Micro- Economics class; I remember walking into the classroom and seeing two things on the chalkboard (yes chalk, no “whiteboards” in those days). First was the professor’s name and the name of the class; simple enough. The second was a quote that has stayed with me over the years and seems more relevant today than ever; “ Demand Drives Price.” At that moment I had no idea at all what those three words meant, or why they were up on the board on our first day of class; yet today I often quote them to my team and to friends as a simple yet profound concept that is often forgotten in business and in life.


An easy way to jump into this idea is to consider a familiar pitfall. When someone asks the price of something they often use the phrase “what does it cost?” Totally understandable from the consumers’ point of view, wanting to know what they would be charged for an item is fundamental. My point is that phrase should NEVER be used in a business context in trying to determine the “price” of an item/product/service. While relevant in the overall economic mix, the “cost” of an item/product/service is almost in-material to the decision of the market price for that said item. This simple example is a good reminder: imagine a moment (hypothetical of course) when you could have at your fingertip three editions of the NY Times, one from last week, one from today, and one from next week. Each edition would have “cost” about the same amount to produce BUT their relative worth would be dramatically different. Today’s edition would bear a market price of $2.00 (it’s actually printed on the paper). Last week’s edition might be used to line the cat-pan, or to light a fire, but you wouldn’t pay anything near $2.00 for last week’s news today. Now next week’s edition is another thing altogether; with all the political/economic/social news that will occur over the next week, if you could buy that edition today it would be invaluable! (Certainly more than the $2.00 printed on the paper) As you can see the actual “cost” of the paper doesn’t impact the relative “price” one would pay, it is entirely driven by the relative “demand” of each edition.


It’s good to take a moment and explore a few of these concepts a little deeper. Let’s start with the definition of “Demand”: An economic principle that describes a consumer’s desire and willingness to pay a price for a specific good or service.


This concept is rooted in the idea of the “consumer’s desire and willingness to pay.” Just as it’s often said that “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, so it is true that “Demand” is in the “eye” of the consumer. Recently my wife and I bought a new vehicle and the salesman was extolling the “Navigation system” and how much that feature was worth and why we needed to add the luxury package to the vehicle we were choosing. My wife was so turned off by the NAV system (too much technology is not always a good thing) that we weren’t willing to pay ANYTHING to add it to our vehicle. I am sure that the “Nav System” cost something to produce and install, but it was worthless to us. Our lack of “demand” drove the “price” of that item to zero.


Next let’s look at the definition of “Price”:
The quantity of one thing that is exchanged or demanded in barter or sale for another thing


While we often think of “price” defined by dollars and cents, it’s important to remind ourselves of the definition highlighted above. “Price” is the agreed on payment for the goods and services that one would receive in a transaction. Traditionally it is thought of as the “list price” or the “dead net price” of an item/good/ or service. “Price “, though can take different forms; imagine a college football star that has a breakout senior season. Rather than going undrafted into the NFL, he now is a contender for a first round draft pick that will affect his opportunities, his salary, and potentially his life-long earning potential. “Demand” was increased by his performance and thus the “price” for his future services to a NFL team rose dramatically.


Well by now I am sure that you get the idea that as you think about the marketplace; starts with “demand.” What level of “demand” does your item/good/service generate the marketplace and what “price” are your consumers/customers will to “pay? Then and only then should you look hard at your costs to understand if you have an acceptable profit margin for an ongoing enterprise, or if you need to go back to the drawing board and continue to iterate… Remember, regardless of the market, the era, or the industry, “Demand Drives Price.”


p.s. as I finish this essay a day before the thanksgiving holiday, I want to pass along a somewhat related theorem. If indeed,”Demand Drives Price” as I posit above, a corollary must also be that “those with less should be helped by those with more.” While this wasn’t taught in my Micro-Economics class, it is a profound learning of my adult life. So many of us (and many of the readers of this blog!) have enough to take care of our families AND the ability to help other families in need. My hope this Thanksgiving is that as we sit down for a meal with our families and friends, we can take a moment to be thankful for all that we have AND to turn our attention to the families in need all across the world, the country, and in each of our communities. Whether it’s sending aid to families affected by Hurricane Sandy, or to families impacted by the violence in Syria or Gaza, or possibly the homeless families that live in each of our communities, let us all commit ourselves to take action to help, and to take action NOW, partly because there is so much “need” and partly because we have so much ability to “help”!

Never Borrow Money For A Depreciating Asset

Well “Never” is a rather big and finite adverb. As you can tell from my previous essays, I am more of a believer in the possible, the whole “practice makes better” notion of life, usually steering away from absolutes like “Always” or “Never”. Well this story come from my childhood and at the time didn’t make much sense to a boy of about 6 to 8 years old. Now 40+ years later this idea continues to ring true, both professionally and personally.

My mom was a true New Yorker, born and raised in the Bayridge neighborhood of Brooklyn. At about the time of my birth, her childhood home was demolished as part of the construction of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. In 1960 or 61, her parents and her sister, (the now famous Aunt Lorraine!) moved from Brooklyn to a new home on Long Island in the village of Baldwin. I grew up spending a few weeks each summer visiting our relatives on Long Island, enjoying trips to Jones Beach, the local amusement park (Nunnally’s), train rides into “The City”, and many other exotic destinations. My memories are filled with so many great women, my mother Arline, my Aunt Lorraine, their mother (my grandmother) Kunigunda, her sister Katherine and her sister-in-law Emma. What a treasure of caring, capable, kind and lovely individuals. I still remember playing cards on the screened porch after dinner on hot summer evenings, trying to master “Crazy 8’s” and the rest of the family just enjoying the rare chance to be together. While I have many memories and stories from these impactful women, this story emanates from my maternal grandfather, Fred Wark.

Grandpa Wark was a businessman and a long time employee of J.C. Penney (I actually never remember entering a Sears store as a child). I remember him as a slightly intimidating figure, pretty serious most of the time, but always glad to see his daughter visiting from Pennsylvania with his three grandchildren. As was common most mornings, he would get up early and before the day really got started, he would head down to the local deli for “the paper”, some rolls, and maybe some cold cuts and German potato salad for lunch. Well most mornings he would call for my older brother Mark to come along to be ‘his navigator,” and they would head out in the big Buick to the store. Well one morning, somehow I was asked to come along, probably from the encouragement of my mother, and I hopped into the back seat to keep a low profile. I have no recollection how the topic came up, whether it was shared to Mark or me, but somehow we were talking about his new car. In the haze of history I remember almost none of the conversation except one fragment of a sentence from my grandfather … “remember boys; never borrow money for a depreciating asset.”


As I said, I might have been 8 years old at the time, which would make Mark the wise old age of 13, but there was very little of that phrase that made any sense to this young boy. What was an asset? Depreciating??? No clue! I kind of understood borrowing money, even at that age my little sister Alice was lending me money at the amusement park for one more pinball game or at the beach for an Italian Ice; but how did any of these ideas go together? At the time I had absolutely no idea and it took years before I connected ay of the dots.

I studied Economics during undergrad and went straight onto grad school to earn my MBA. Through those academic experiences, I started learning more about assets, appreciation, depreciation, loan structures, etc. As is often the case, practical application brings many “academic” lessons into sharper focus. The same was true for me when I set off to buy my first new car soon after taking my first professional job after business school. It was the fall of 1986 and I was moving up to Wisconsin to take my first role as a Marketing Assistant for Kimberly Clark Corp, to go to work for Bruce Paynter as my first boss. (You can read more about Bruce in this blog by clicking on “Inspirations of Bruce” in the archive on the left.) Well I had my eye on a new 1986 Honda Civic (still one of my favorite cars I have ever owned) and went to the dealership to negotiate a “deal”. After a bit of back and forth we had settled in on a car and a price, to this day remembering that the car was just about $12,000 tax, tag title, etc. That was a lot of money for one newly minted graduate! The good news was with my new job, I qualified for a car loan with a nominal down payment. Good news, that gold 1986 Honda Civic was almost mine! At that time the car loan interest rates were about 12%, and I borrowed almost all of the $12,000 over 48 months. Pretty standard stuff!

I can still remember sitting in an open cube of the car salesman’s “office”, signing the papers and preparing to drive my prize off the lot. I am not sure if it was in the required paperwork, or an innocent question, but I asked after the 48 months had passed, how much would I have paid? With a $316 monthly payment, the calculation was pretty simple…. Just north of $15,000. I added a second question of how much would the car be worth after those same 48 months? After lots of hemming and hawing, depending on mileage, maintenance, and care, etc…. the salesman said about half the sales price. So wait a minute, after 4 years I would have paid $15,000 for a car that would be worth $6,000 the day I finished my payments! The words of my grandfather rang out in the night …. “never borrow money for a depreciating asset!!!” Well I did indeed buy the gold Civic that night, borrowing the $12,000, and I took all of the 48 months to pay it off (though we owned it for 8 years and over 125k miles).

I share this story as a bit of a lesson, deep from my youth, that has served me well over the past few decades in a time when access to available and seemingly “cheap” credit has had a tremendous impact (negatively) on our economy and our country. On a personal basis, it has reinforced the idea that every individual and family needs to be clear about what they can truly “afford”. We have heard a lot in this election cycle about our country’s deficit, and the burden it is for us today and for the future generations of our country. The same holds true personally. What is your personal “deficit”, and how much do you pay to support that amount of debt every month? Remembering Grandpa Wark, is your “deficit” primarily made up of a mortgage on a home/property that might have a chance to appreciate over time? Is it made up of college/education loans that you are paying off after graduation? If so, maybe not a bad idea since borrowing money for an appreciating asset is can actually be a great idea. Or is your “deficit” made up of credit card debt which is the accumulation of purchases/expenses for a myriad of depreciating purchases (maybe including a few depreciating assets)?

This same idea applies professionally. Regardless of the size and nature of a business, it’s critical to carefully review where and how you are spending your money. If you can borrow money to support the growth of a business, looking for ways to invest in “appreciating assets” then you are probably on the right track. On the other hand, if you are taking your valuable resources and spending them on wasteful expenses, lavish offices, self congratulatory entertainment, etc. then it’s time to rethink your priorities.

Keep Grandpa Wark in mind as you review monthly bills at home or as you review your next monthly/quarterly budget review at work. Are you aware of how you are spending your money? Are you using your resources wisely? Is your personal “deficit” a large burden for you and your family? Is your “deficit” devoted to appreciating assets (education, mortgages, etc) or is it primarily focused on daily expenses and depreciating assets. My encouragement is to take small steps at first, first become aware of where you are then take steps towards reducing your debt, your personal “deficit” and work hard to “never borrow money for a depreciating asset.”

Post Script: In a related vein, I needed to make a quick comment on the idea on the role of “depreciating assets” (namely cars) to define oneself. Too often I hear friends talk about what their cars “say” about them, their families, their politics, etc. As I mentioned in a recent essay (“An Inspiring August”), we should strive to be valued by the quality of our thoughts and the kindness and generosity of our actions to those in need or with less, NOT by what brand/model of car we choose to drive!

Do Fewer Things Better

Regardless of your view of our current economic dynamic, whether you see us in a slow but progressing recovery, or in a stagnant high unemployment malaise, I think it’s broadly true that many of us are terribly busy! When you combine the tempo of work activity with enabling technologies, we are all multi-tasking more than ever. I am a living example of that reality at this precise moment. I am on a flight cross-country, connected to Wi-Fi, reviewing upcoming customer deals, re-working my travel schedule for October, drafting succession planning guidelines for key roles in my organization AND drafting this essay. I think I better get another cup of coffee!
Well it is inside of this multi-tasking reality that I want to share a story that struck me deeply over the past few weeks. I constantly feel very fortunate to be in my current role. I have had the chance to be part of a very dynamic, high growth company, working closely with a group of very inspired, motivated, and talented individuals. One reality of a high growth environment is that the scale and challenges of the business are often out-stripping the capabilities and capacities of the organization. Unlike many big companies that go through their every 2-3 year “reorganization” cycles, looking to cut costs when they can’t find/create real top line growth, we are constantly feeling the need to have the organization “catch-up” to the changing needs/challenges/size of the business. Because of this growth dynamic, individuals and teams are often stretched as their markets/customers/brands accelerate. This reality spans functions and departments all across our company, and mine is no exception.

It was in this context that a conversation from a few weeks ago has continued to reverberate in my mind. I was talking with two of my talented leaders and we were working through the facts that there seemed to be just too many priorities for them and their teams, and at that moment certain things seemed to be falling through the cracks. It wasn’t a matter of skills or motivation; it was clearly an issue of prioritization. I asked them how MANY of the projects/initiatives they thought were getting accomplished, and they said maybe 80-85%. Additionally I asked them to grade their work on how WELL they thought they were accomplishing the projects, A to F. They both thought that maybe a B or B+ would be the right score. I suggested that is if we were getting a B+ of 85% of the work, then our “score” wasn’t an overall B+/85%, but rather a 72 ( 85 x 85 = 72.3) We needed to combine how MANY of the projects were being accomplished with how WELL they were being done. Were we really working so hard just to do average work? Does the business need/require just “average” work to accomplish “exceptional” results??? It was at the end of this conversation that the three of us came to the point of view that we needed to do more A+ work even if it meant us prioritizing the work even more dramatically.

It’s tempting to try to “pull it all off”, to multi-task our brains out, to accomplish as many initiatives/projects/meetings/etc as we physically can. We fool ourselves into thinking that the true measure of success is that amount (how MANY) or output of work we can produce. I am challenging myself and my team (and I guess the readers of this essay) to think more deeply on this subject and to consider doing fewer things better. Ask yourself the hard question, when was the last time that your work/ output was truly exceptional, not just adequate to get the assignment accomplished? It’s hard to prioritize, it takes time to organize the work at hand, but that step is vital. Once we have done a better/stronger job prioritizing the work at hand (for the week/quarter/year/etc), then we must commit ourselves to strive for excellent work on the initiatives that we’ve prioritized. I know it will never be perfect. I don’t believe in”perfect,” nor do I believe that “practice makes perfect.” I DO believe that “practice makes better” and that we all can work hard on making tomorrow better than yesterday. My focus is on working to do “fewer things better”, maybe even taking a few initiatives/priorities off the plate so that we as an organization can improve our focus, and improve our “grades” on the quality not just quantity, of our work.

An Inspiring August

Like many of you, this summer has absolutely blown by for me. Just this week my kids went back to school, marking the end of another summer and a start to another school year. I hear myself saying those clichéd lines, “where did the summer go”, “time is just blowing by”, etc, etc. Well as I think back on the past few months, I will certainly remember the summer of 2012 as a time of intense work, with the successful completion of the sale of our company. While certainly significant, I will also remember this summer for some extraordinary moments with my family across the month of August.

It was earlier this month, when as a family we drove from Atlanta to Rehoboth Beach Delaware to visit friends that had gathered for a few days at the beach. It was right in the midst of the London Olympics, so every night we would get back to the hotel, climb into the beds and watch the coverage of the evening. It didn’t matter whether it was the swimming finals, synchronized diving, or water polo; we just enjoyed being together and sharing the moments as a family. It was the day after one of these “Olympic Moments” where I found myself down at the beach in the surf with my son Bryson. We somehow got into the unlikely conversation about the “medal counts” comparing the U.S. vs. the other countries, especially China. Bryson was questioning the whole media coverage of this element, and why was there so much focus on America “beating” the other countries, vs. just reporting on the success of the athletes more broadly. This lead to us talking about how at times it’s easy/typical (and maybe unfortunate) to think that a country should be “measured” by how much they “win” (in athletics, business, wars, etc) vs. thinking about measuring a county’s success by other metrics. I suggested that an age old idea was to assess societies not by how they treat their strongest, but how they treat their weakest. Most entities (cultures, businesses, families, teams, etc) do just fine when things are going well; usually a truer “test” of an entity is how they handle their tough times, the breakdowns, the tragedies, the “losses”. Bobbing in the Atlantic Ocean, having a very “real” conversation with my 14 year old son, totally inspiring!


Well a week or so later, we found ourselves visiting my sister and her family in Seattle. My brother-in-law works for the Gates Foundation, and he hosted us for a visit to their offices and a tour of their visitor center. Jennie, Marie and Bryson and I were blown away by the needs/issues globally and the audacious aspirations of the foundation to make a significant impact on a variety of major global issues. One of the brochures at the visitor center had this simple quote on the front that has stayed with me since our visit, “Every person deserves the chance to live a healthy productive life.” Seems simple, seems obvious, yet for billions of individuals across the globe, well out of reach! This visit and that simple quote has pushed us as a family, all four of us, to talk more about what we are doing to “give back.” We have been so fortunate, what can we do to have a greater impact, obviously not on the scale of the Gates Foundation, but on our scale, in our town, in our neighborhood? That simple quote,” Every person deserves the chance to live a healthy productive life,” pertains equally to families and kids growing up without adequate water, sanitation and health care in Dhaka Bangladesh as it does to families and kids with those same challenges in Atlanta Georgia.


While it is true that the summer has flown by, I have been deeply inspired by the last few weeks. I feel so fortunate to be part of a wonderful family, and am proud that we can not only enjoy “vacation time” together, but have these marvelous moments that will leave an impact on me for the rest of my life. So often we absolutely “blow through” life, the work days and the “fun” days all just flying by in a blur. I know for certain that I need to do a better job to stay “present” in the moments I have that are just family time. I know I need to abolish the idea of “multi-tasking” my family with my blackberry, and work on staying 100% focused on what we are doing together, what we might be learning about together. You never know,with a little bit of work, I might just have a few more inspiring months like this August!

Big Leaguers Don't Add Sugar To Their Tea

Just to make things clear from the start, this essay has nothing specifically to do with whether major league baseball players should or should not put sugar in their iced tea; or in fact whether they should or should not drink iced tea at all.  This essay is in fact a tribute in a way to the marvelous, high performing company I have the pleasure to be part of and some recent learnings / stories that illuminate some drivers of that success.

As I mentioned above, I deeply feel fortunate to be part of the leadership team of my current company.  Broadly the organization is talented, focused, hard working and motivated by our mission to help people lead healthy vibrant lives …. a mission we call “Inspiring the Fresh Revolution” (more on that later.)  I always feel challenged and motivated by the team to push myself to “execute, excel and build skills” (see the previous essay by that title) and after 2 ½ years, my energy to do so continues.  One of my pleasures is the chance to work closely with a set of very talented peers and direct reports whom I learn from constantly. 

I was recently working late on a key project with one of my peers when somehow we got into a conversation about our hometowns and our times growing up.  We are both from small towns in western Pennsylvania (Go Steelers), and have been surprised by how many similar experiences we have shared over our education and careers.  One experience that I did not share was the same level of athletic success.  It turns out that this fellow was a very accomplished pitcher, having played Div. 1 baseball in college, and having been scouted hard by big league clubs.  He shared a story of from his youth that a major league scout (I think form our hometown Pittsburgh Pirates) had come to see him pitch in high school and had taken him and his family out to dinner after the game.  As they were sitting down, my friend reaches over to add sugar to his iced tea; the scout looks up and says “son, big leaguers don’t put sugar in their iced tea.”  He and I were sitting together late one night, here in the summer of 2012, and that one line of wisdom rang out from a dinner maybe 30 years ago.

As I mentioned above, my lesson from this story has nothing to do about the “sugar” or the “iced tea” explicitly.  It DOES remind me though that to be excellent, to achieve superior results, you need to stay focused on the big things AND the little things that will account for that success.  I am sure that that baseball scout had some things to say that night about pitching or about the expectations of a big league club, or a wide variety of topics on the “big things.”  What’s important to note is the power of that story about one of the “little things.”  I think he was saying that to be a success, sure you need a blistering fastball, a wicked curveball, a great move to first, etc….., but that’s not enough.  You also need to watch the little things, like getting to the ballpark early, taking batting/fielding practice every time you have a chance, helping the other young guys coming up, or maybe just passing on the sugar in your iced tea.

This idea resonates in the workplace dramatically to me.  Sure the big customer presentations, the new product rollouts, the board meetings, or any other “high profile” moment are important to handle well and to prepare for diligently.  What I am connecting to are the hundreds of”little things” that happen every day, all having a big impact.  I think about not just being on time for work, or a conference call, or a meeting, but working to be a few minutes early (rather than always a few minutes late.)  Or maybe it’s how you take care of your work vehicle, is it always ready to go, well stocked and cleaned and ready to roll at a moment’s notice?  Or maybe it’s taking an extra moment to check your work, or check your calculations, to insure that your efforts speak for themselves and doesn’t need anyone having to do a review for “clerical/analytical” errors.  This list could go on and on, but the point is simple.  Keep an eye on the “little things” of work and life, don’t reach for the sugar bowl for your iced tea, and your likelihood of success on the “big things” will rise automatically!

A moment of “Truth & Beauty” in the West Economy Parking Lot

To say that things have been a bit busy lately is a massive understatement, (maybe a downright lie!)  The business is thriving but of course takes a lot of focus and effort; customers always have needs/issues/opportunities that require attention, often immediately, often in person.  The months of May and June have been an absolute blur with a travel schedule that has hit new highs (or lows based on your perspective.)  To add a bit of mania into it all, we are in the process of buying a new home in Atlanta and actually moved yesterday.  I know I know, obviously we are gluttons for punishment!

With everything going on, to say the least I have found myself a bit stressed over the past weeks/months.  My “wick” is shorter than usual, and what were normal challenges / “bumps in the road” now seem to be major issues.  I am constantly reminding myself of two concepts/principles form previous essays: “PBR: Pause/Breath/& Reconnect”, and the ever favorite “Aunt Lorraine’s Law: take Small Bites and Chew Thoroughly.”  It’s a little scary and telling when you have to work hard to reminding YOURSELF of lessons/stories that YOU wrote over the past few years.

Well this week has been a crescendo of sorts.  This past Sunday (father’s day of course) I had to fly west in order to meet with customers coming to visit us at our plant in Bakersfield California.  The meetings Sunday night and Monday went very well, and I flew out of Bakersfield Monday night to make it back to Atlanta Tuesday morning to meet the folks from the moving company packing up our old house.  (All I have to say is thank God for Jennie!)  The big crew came back on Wednesday to do the actual move, and by 8pm last night, every piece of furniture, every box, every bike, everything had made it to the new house!  What’s totally crazy is that I woke up this morning at 5:20am to get on a flight back to LA for key meetings today, returning on the red-eye late tonight.  OUCH!

 

To say that I was a bit groggy this morning is an understatement.  With blurry eyes and a sore back, I walked out in the dark humid Atlanta morning, got in my car and headed to the airport candidly feeling pretty sorry for myself.  Like many travelers I am a creature of habit and as is my way, I pulled into the west economy parking lot (Aisle 14, section A of course) and parked my car in my regular area just as the sky was brightening with the rising sun.  As I was pulling my bag from the car, I was “assaulted” by the energized “chirps” of a small bird perched in a tree above my car.  I couldn’t tell what I had done wrong, or was doing wrong, or at first what the small bird was trying to “say” with its “chirps.”  As I paused for a moment I realized that the bird wasn’t alone, but was sitting right above a nest of twigs filled with tiny baby birds.  Here I was quietly standing in an airport parking lot, having another “parent” tell me something about her/his kids. Unbelievable and beautiful all in the same scene; standing in an airport parking lot at the break of dawn in a moment of “Truth & Beauty.”

The “Truth” is that while it is a busy time, that little bird reminded me to “join the club!”  Could I imagine trying to raise my kids in a parking lot tree at the Atlanta airport?  I know it’s a bit wild now in my work and business life but I am lucky to have the problems that I am dealing with.  The “Truth” also is that family, whether in a nest or a new home, must come first.  The “Beauty” is that in the most unexpected moments, like the west economy parking lot, we can experience truly beautiful things.  In a previous essay from last summer titled “Unexpected Beauty”, I wrote about our family being blown away by a musical “experience” in a Paris metro station.  While it’s true that one can find beauty and inspiration in Art Museums, Cathedrals, or in a myriad of “expected” environments, work to find ways to be open and receptive to movements of “Truth & Beauty” where you may least expect them!

The way back to the trail

As many of you know, I have a tradition of leading unusual (I like to think memorable and impactful) team meetings.  Last week was another example of a great meeting that included a learning experience centered on Dr. Seuss’s “Oh the Places You’ll Go!” I’ll save that one for another essay, but to say the least it got people thinking in a very different mode.

This story is from more than 5 years ago, in a different team setting, at a different company, but with some lessons that I find very applicable today.  It was in the fall of 2006, and I was leading a very diverse team who were facing tremendous challenges both organizationally and competitively.  The business was behind plan, competitive pressures were high and there was talk of future reorganizations.  I decided to bring the team (of about 15 folks) together up in the mountains in North Carolina, and include a variety of readings/exercises & experiences centered on overcoming challenges and obstacles.  One of these experiences was a 5-6 mile hike along the Bartram trail (accompanied by readings from William Bartram’s journal from 1774) up Scaly Mountain.  It’s a hike I had done a number of times with my family, challenging but beautiful.  It normally takes 3-4 hours with magnificent views of the southern Appalachians from the top.

We got off to a bit of a late start, only arriving at the base of the mountain at 1:30 or so that afternoon.  What also added to the challenge ahead was that it was about 48 degrees and it had started to rain.  Not to miss a metaphoric moment, it seemed that it was all adding up to an even greater set of examples/experiences to reinforce our ability to face challenges/overcome obstacles/ and create success. The hike began in earnest!

The real problems didn’t manifest themselves on the way to the top.  We worked as a team, helping the slower folks make their way, stopping appropriately for water and snack breaks on the way up.  It took a bit more than 2 hours but we made it to the top and had a talk about the challenges we were facing in the business and in the company.  The discussion was excellent and I could feel the team starting to break down the issues into smaller pieces (see the previous essay “Aunt Lorraine’s Law”), everything seemed to be going so well!  As I paused I realized it was not almost 4pm, the rain was increasing a bit, temps were starting to come down and it dawned on me that if we didn’t move quickly, we wouldn’t make it down the mountain in the light of day.

We moved out and started back down the trail.  The momentum down was a bit better than the way up and we were making good time, not feeling the need for too many breaks.  About half way down the clouds started to settle down onto Scaly Mountain.  The base is at about 3800 ft, with the peak a bit above 5000 ft above sea level.  I was amazed how thick the clouds were and how much our visibility was limited.  After just a few minutes, we were actually in the clouds and could only see a few feet ahead.  As the leader (and the only one with any experience on Scaly Mountain) I was at the head of the team, leading the way on the trail.  I don’t know what triggered me but at some point I realized that we were not on the trail anymore; somehow we had drifted off the path and were walking somewhat randomly in a very cloud rainy chilly forest.  Time for immediate action and NOT a leadership freak-out moment!  I immediately stopped and shouted for everyone to freeze, not to move a muscle.  Luckily the team actually thought it was one of Bill’s crazy team exercises and everyone immediately stopped in their places.  I walked down the line, finding the last person and put my back to their back so I was facing 180 degrees away from where we had been heading.  Quietly and calmly I explained that we were off the trail, not sure by how far, and that if everyone just turned around to face my back, we would simply retrace our steps to regain the trail. No one said a word as they did an “about face” and started following me back the way we had come.

We were all so relieved when we regained the Bartram trail in less than 10 minutes, though those minutes were some of the longest I can remember.  All kinds of images had begun to race through my mind, all of them negative/all of them critical; but I kept reminding myself that the best thing I could do was to keep working our way back to the trail and that’s indeed what we did.  With a lot more care, and everyone keeping an eye for the color blazes on the trees marking the trail, we worked our way all the way down, back to the cars in the parking area and gladly made our way back to a warm fire, fresh clothes, a delicious dinner, and a night of stories indeed!

What makes this story come back to mind is that we all face challenges every day and always will.  Even after a tremendous success, challenges and obstacles will find their way into everyone’s path, some expected and many not.  Just like the drift off the path, many times we aren’t sure how we got into some type of challenging situation, though a core lesson is to recognize the issue quickly and work to take IMMEDIATE action.  As was the case on the Bartram trail that fall afternoon, ignoring the problem/hoping that it would handle itself/being paralyzed by fear/ or a host of other possible responses are disastrous options.  Work to recognize problems faster and faster, take action with similar alacrity and I am confident that it will help you find your way “back to the trail!”