Drapery Hooks and Tape Measures

As you have aged, do you occasionally feel you don't remember things as well as you used to? I am here to tell you with almost certainty this is not the truth. You forgot as many things when you were younger as you do now. The difference is you now have more things in your head to keep track of. When you were young and forgot something, you didn't even think about asking if you were forgetting because of your age.

I think a story is in order here. I graduated from high school in 1975. I was raised in a house where knowledge and intellect were important, but some of the more everyday things were less critical. For example, my mom believed dust on top of a piece of furniture didn't count unless someone made a mark in it. So, writing your name in the dust on the top of the console TV had consequences. And ... writing my sister, Jaye's, name brought comedy.

Anyway, I convinced mom it would be appropriate to have some type of graduation party. I didn't want a "cake and mints" type of event, I wanted something with real food people would come to after they went to all the other parties. We started the plans and process of getting ready.

One of the things mom wanted to do as part of the preparation was to clean all the drapery in the house. This was a big undertaking, but it was important to mom, so we dug in. We took all the drapery off the rods and took the drapery hooks out of the drapes. We put the hooks in a bag as we would need them when the drapes came back from the dry cleaner. This process took several days, so there was the period of time when we were living in a house with almost no window coverings. It was just part of the fun. Finally, the drapes were cleaned and picked up. We were ready to reverse the process. Obviously, the first thing we needed were the drapery hooks. They were nowhere to be found. We looked in all every single place you would expect to find them. We knew they had been put in a place "we would all remember." Eventually, mom had to drive to Ottumwa to buy new drapery hooks, a time and money drain we hadn't expected. All ended well as the house looked great and the party went off without a a hitch.  We never found the drapery hooks.

We lost mom in early 1988, so in the middle of that year we started cleaning out the house. One of us, Jaye or myself, cleaned out the junk drawer in the kitchen. Clear in the back corner of the drawer was a bag full of drapery hooks. Yes, they were exactly where we would have expected them to be, exactly where we had looked for them in 1975. Why had we not been able to see them then? I have no answer to this question, but I will tell you with certainty they had much more value in 1988 than they had in 1975. In 1988 they brought laughter to a couple of kids who really needed some relief. We didn't agonize over how it had happened. We didn't ask ourselves if we were getting old. We howled at the situation and thought about how funny Mom would have thought this was. We didn't question ourselves, we just lived the moment.

In my workshop, I have six tape measures. There are times I can not find a single one of them. Frustrating, yes, but I know at this point it is part of my process. I tend to walk around with a tape in my hands and then I'll set it down to work on a piece of the process and don't think about it until the next time I need it. When I need it, I expect it will be "right there" and if it isn't, I start searching the eight hundred square feet of my shop. Typically, I find multiples. It always makes me laugh, especially when I remember Mom and the drapery hooks. When I worked for Payless, on a very regular basis, I'd take a tape measure home on my belt and always forget it the next morning. That usually meant I would take a bunch of them back to work one day.

Long and short, give yourself a break. Just because you do something differently now than you did in the past, or sometimes you think it may take you longer, be okay with it. It is part of the journey we are on and part of the tapestry making up our lives.  I hope you enjoy today, and find a little quiet way to laugh at yourself, just a bit.

Smaller Town

I never expected to type the word "pandemic" but we experience the oddities of a lifetime, one at a time. I think of events in just my lifetime like: the Vietnam war, the oil embargo, various housing crashes, Y2K, 9-11, avian flu, swine flu. economic crashes, and probably several I haven't remembered. The one absolute similarity of all these is that I am still here today, and can look back on each of these events. When we were going through them, nobody was sure what the end looked like, and yet, here we are. I am confident that as a society, we will be here after the Pandemic of 2020.

When we are past this, looking back, we will recognize we learned some things and changed some things which may have been needing to change for a long time. One thing I've been watching is how we are interacting with each other. Sure, I miss going out for dinner or meeting friends as much as the next person, but what I am talking about is bigger. When I drive out to the Toybox, I see more people walking with their family. I see families taking bike rides together and I know we are figuring out ways to connect like never before. One friend talked about playing Yahtzee with his wife, and for the first time, I've had a couple of conference calls with my grand-kids in the last month. These are all different from the way we behaved only a few months ago. Some of this will go away over time, but I think some of it will stick for years, maybe decades to come.

I believe in small ways this is taking us back to a time of smaller towns. Not in actual square footage, but in the way we behave with each other. When I grew up, I was like many of us. Looking back, we did not have an excess of much. In fact, there were many ways we were really challenged. But in the middle of the situation, the communities we lived in took care of us, and we took care of others.

Let me provide a couple of examples. The house I grew up in had chain-link fence around half the yard, and picket fence around the rest. Why? Because mom and dad knew someone in need of work and he couldn't do chain-link fencing. So, the half he did was wooden picket. The same thing happened when they got the ceiling of the shop/garage finished. They had no intention of finishing it, but someone needed work, so they created a job. In the same way, our local grocer took care of my family. He was willing to carry what we owed for almost a year until mom hit tax season and she could catch up. The other thing he did was he gave mom credit for every coupon she brought into the store, whether she bought the item or not. So, even through college, I took our local newspaper and clipped every single ad and sent them home to Mom. I didn't think about how wonderful this was of them to do for us until years later. Finally, my friends in college LOVED the cheese I brought from home. It was great for burgers and grilled cheese sandwiches. I never really considered it was "government" cheese and what it really meant that we were receiving it. Part of what I see us doing now is moving to a new time where people are more engaged and more helpful to each other. We have to have each other's backs.

What I really want you to take away from this is that half or more of where we are in any situation is in our head.  Makes me think of the following story.

ABOUT ATTITUDE (author unknown)
It all depends on the way you look at things.  One day a father and his rich family took his son to a trip to the country with the firm purpose to show him how poor people can be.  They spent a day and a night at the farm of a very poor family.

When they got back from their trip the father asked his son, "How was the trip?"

"Very good Dad!"

"Did you see how poor people can be?" the father asked.

"Yeah!"

"And what did you learn?"

The son answered, "I saw that we have a dog at home, and they have four.  We have a pool that reaches to the middle of the garden, and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lamps in the garden, and they have the stars.  Our patio reaches to the front yard, and they have a whole horizon."

When the little boy was finishing, his father was speechless.  His son added, "Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are!"

Isn't it true that it all depends on the way you look at things?  If you have love, friends, family, health, good humor and a positive attitude toward life -- you've got everything!  You can't buy any of these things, but still you can have all the material possessions you can imagine, provisions for the future, etc., but if you are poor of spirit, you have nothing.

We need to look at this time from the perspective of the son in this story. I remember a dear friend who talked about a period of time he and his family had to live in the hayloft on an uncle's farm. He talked about it as being the best time of his life. I know I need to look at all this odd event in 2020 with a different attitude. When I look back at my childhood, I would tell you without question I had the fullest, most wonderful of years, with family, friends, and community. We didn't have much, but we had that.

Keep looking for the wonderful stories and opportunities in the midst of what we are going through. The good/wonderful is there, you just have to be on the lookout for it.

Time Well Used

Are you spending more time at home than usual? Yes, that's a ridiculous question. I know you are, just like the rest of the world. We are all trying to decide how to stay sane ... and fair with those who are now around us all the time. But if there is a question about what's important these days, this is the answer. We have to keep each other safe and sane until we find out where the other end of this tunnel is.

Have you taken up a new hobby? I know of people using this time to latch-hook a rug, something they have never done before. Some are knitting again, or sewing, anything to help make the time go by. When all is said and done, we will look back at Christmas 2020 and realize there were more personally-made gifts than ever before or after.

All right, if not a hobby, have you attacked a long-overdue project? I will tell you without question my shop is cleaner than it has been in years. I honestly don't know if this is a plus or a minus. I should use the time to make things, but for some reason, cleaning and organizing has been more reassuring than actually working on projects. This has to change and it needs to happen quickly. I still have a long list of projects to tackle and not moving forward on them is not good. But my shop is beautiful.

What about improving communications with friends and family? People who are committing to stay in touch with others better than usual. Sara has a friend she now calls on Thursday every week so they can check on each other. This isn't a bad plan, and here's a hint from my old Payless days. It really is all right to use a calendar app to help you remember. The member of our group of managers who had the reputation for being the most outgoing and communicative with the rest of us did this. It took us a while to figure it out (I was Wednesday every other week), but even after we figured it out, we were good with it because whatever the tool, we stayed in touch. Maybe you could take more time to talk to those in your circle (figurative circle of course). I've talked to my son and sister more lately than usual and it's been wonderful.

Below is a quote from Seth Godin's Friday the 13th blog post last September.

A useful definition of art

Art is a human activity. It is the creation of something new, something that might not work, something that causes a viewer to be influenced.

Art uses context and culture to send a message. Instead of only a contribution of beauty or craft, art adds intent. The artist works to create something generous, something that will change us.

Art isn’t painting or canvas or prettiness. Art is work that matters.

It’s entirely possible that you’re an artist.

Everyone can be, if we choose.

Maybe now is the time for all of us to be a little more of an artist. Maybe now is when we create something new, or as Godin says above, "something that will change us." In my attempt to do this, I have gone back to work on my Etsy page and added several things. Go take a look and see what I'm doing. Let me know what you think of the things I've been working on. The link is  https://www.etsy.com/shop/ToyboxWoodworking

If you have "art" you've been spending time on, please share it. I would love to see how you are spending this extra time we have all found ourselves with lately.

Have a great weekend, and please, do your best to stay safe and sane.

Change 2020

First, I hope this finds you well and safe in these turbulent times.

Next, as is typically the case, I've been thinking about this situation in the light of my past.  In doing this, there are a couple of things which present themselves. The first is about change in and of itself.

Through years of managing and leading people and organizations, I discovered an undeniable truth about change. It isn't the old situation people have issue with, and it isn't the new. The problem period is always during the actual change as people don't like uncertainty. As a leader, I always knew my primary job through transitions was to inform everyone as best I could, and then make the change occur as quickly as possible. You know, get people to the "new" place.

A large fear in the current situation for is that we have no idea what the new normal looks like, or when it will get here. If we had an answer to either piece of this question, we'd be better equipped to handle the current environment. And (my opinion totally), we worry that the people who know how bad this will get and what we need to prepare for it aren't telling the entire truth. Again, circle back to my original comments about managing through change. It is important to inform people as well as possible. I'm not sure our leadership is accomplishing this.

Last Friday evening I had the opportunity to attend a virtual cocktail party with several people I have professional, and personal relationships with. We talked about business and our personal lives. One of the biggest things I noticed was there was more conversation about family and pets than I ever remember. Many of the people on the call are working from home, and family/pets are now part of the daily landscape. I don't think this is a bad thing, and I hope it is one of the items we keep as we come out of on the other side. Another was how easily we had transformed to a "work from home" environment. Some people on the call were incredibly well prepared and had this situation included in their disaster recovery documentation. For those not so well prepared, the speed that this had come together to get people isolated was amazing. I can't even imagine what this would have been like ten years ago, when working from home was more of an idea than a reality.

One other thing we need to consider at this time is what our businesses will look like going forward. I once worked for a manager who asked us to look at the entire organization as though we were building it from scratch whenever we had a personnel opening. I hated that exercise, but also knew that at the end of the task, we would have a stronger, more agile organization than before. As I speak with folks, I've been told that with the removal of travel and meetings, some of the most senior folks in organizations are wondering if they add value to their company. This is a powerful question and now might be a good time to think about how your company would look, given today's business, if you built it today. Then comes the question of how close you are able to get to the ideal structure. This is where you add the humanity to the program and get as close as you can while helping as many of your employees as you can.

One final note. Go for a walk and look around. It is amazing at how many homes suddenly have a chair outside the front door, or how many neighbors are going for walks in the evening. My household has started riding bikes again. In some type of twisted way, this emergency could be helping us to get back to a simpler, more family-based time. This is absolutely not the way any of us would have done this, but there it is, it might be part of the new normal when we finally get there.

Lift Up

In August 2019, Seth Godin wrote, "Take it seriously. Of course. That’s required. But you don’t have to take it personally. In fact, if you want to be a professional, it’s impossible to do both at the same time."

I can't even put enough words around how important I think this is at the moment. The times we find ourselves in require us to be more professional and better leaders than at any time in the years I have been a manager. People need us to be the voice of reason as well as a voice that helps to identify the path we should follow. I have a couple of examples.

I got an email from Bob Tursi at the Latin King. The Latin King is a generations-old restaurant on the east side of Des Moines, and yes, before you ask, I am on their distribution list as what Bob referred to as "longtime and loyal clientele." For those of you who know me, get over your laughter before we move on. He told us that Latin King would close to dine-in patrons. The thing most impressive to me was the Tursi family decided to do this before the Iowa's governor made a similar decision for the state. Bob saw it as his ethical responsibility to take a leadership role and make the hard decisions.

This morning I received an email from Kyle Krause from Kum & Go. Yes, another food vendor. Go ahead and laugh again, it's okay. He wrote that they were working to protect the community and take care of their employees. The note even went on to say in the event one of their employees needed testing, the company would cover the cost. If people had to self-quarantine, their jobs were safe and they would receive their regular pay.

I find this type of message amazing in the times we find ourselves. And, interestingly enough, I find these behaviors tremendously forward-looking.

I went to work for Payless Cashways in the eighties. There had already been several housing crisis, but one of the worst was in the early eighties. It came on the heels of the 1973 and 1979 energy crises and the Fed deciding to tighten the money supply. This crisis was tough on home-builders with many of them unable to weather the storm. The only way some of the big builders made it through was that their lumberyards carried them for months and even years. Many years later, I worked for a different company here in Des Moines. One of the first stories I heard was how they'd carried their largest customer through a particularly difficult time. In both cases, when those companies came out on the other end of the crisis, they were incredibly loyal to the supplier who cared for them. This was, and I think still is, the kind of loyalty which does not go away over time.

So, what am I thinking about today? I wonder when this is all over, and it will end, will the leaders of companies making the right decisions today? Sometimes we are so short-sighted that we forget people and companies who do the right things for each of us. My hope is this is not the case here. We need to recognize those who take care of us in this uncertain time. When normal returns, we must remember and recognize them. All we have to do is to continue doing business with them and continue to expect to be taken care of the way we always have.

I don't know about you, but I find this amazing. Companies are doing incredible work right now to make sure we stay safe and continue to have items we need in our homes. On top of this, the companies doing this for us aren't even talking to us about it. They are doing the right thing because it is just what they do. They hope we will remain loyal when we come out on the other side. So simple.

If you can do anything to help any others, I encourage you to do it. Even if you can't, recognize those doing the extra and when we're back to normal, remember them. I will tell you with certainty there were home-builders who remembered lumberyards. Trying to sell to one of them from a different supplier was impossible; their loyalty ran deep. I can only hope I can remember that for those who are caring for me right now.

Krulak's Law

Krulak’s Law states that the "future of an organization is in the hands of the privates in the field, not the generals back home."

Some time ago I was in a conversation about excellent customer service. I didn't know this law at the time. Part of the discussion was a challenge to think of the most customer focused organization you could think of, and then ask yourself whether the CEO of the organization woke up every morning, wondering if customers were being taken care of.

Obviously, the answer to this has to be "No." If the leader of an organization has to ask if the most basic of activities is happening on a regular basis, they are doomed to fail.

The basics of the job have to be hard-wired, part of the DNA of the organization. There are some examples which come to mind. In Kansas City, if you enter a Gate's Barbecue, you will be immediately be welcomed with a round of "How may I help you." If you stop into a QT, at least the ones here in Iowa, someone will say "Good Morning" and if you pay in cash, I would virtually guarantee they have the change ready almost before you place the cash on the counter.

New employees are trained for these the types of behavior, but this is bigger. It has become part of the culture. Not behaving in the manner expected is a failure to the culture. In one way, it becomes almost magical.

When I was running lumberyards, we used to talk about teaching "perfect." Many times, the people you were training had never seen "perfect." So, you started improving things with the crew you had. The yard would come to a better place than ever before and everyone was proud. You knew there was still a higher standard. You knew it because you had seen it and managed it before. So you pushed the next level, talking about changes and behaviors and the yard became even better. And you hit a new level. Then, rinse and repeat.

When the yard was finally the way you wanted it, the challenge became keeping it at the level your team had achieved. And then, at some magical moment, it became easier to maintain that level. Why? Because the team saw and understood the level of execution you expected. It became part of the DNA of the organization. As difficult as it was to achieve, it was just as difficult to destroy. With a little effort and occasional maintenance the standard stayed in place and was the new norm.

I've made this sound much easier than it really is. There are so many things pulling us in so many ways every day, it is hard to stay focused. But when you do, the end is something you can be proud of.

I am fortunate to manage a great group of people. They work every single day to achieve/maintain excellence. I have had the good fortune in the last couple of days to be around many of them. It has been a joy. I have the right people in the field and they work every day to differentiate us from the competitors. This will continue to set us apart. And I know we have each others backs. I will look out for them and they will look out for me. This is a good feeling to have, from either side.

Okay, coronavirus. If you are at all like me, I'm not sure what to think about it. I know the extremes of the situation. I have people in my life doing the shopping and the work to be prepared for weeks of being locked in their homes. On the other side, I know people believing it is a complete hoax. I don't land at either of those extremes. I am much more pragmatic.

It looks as though my sister may well cancel her trip to come to Iowa over Easter because travel has been made so much more difficult with the virus. As you know, I was looking forward to her seeing the Teardrop and making plans to pull it all the way home. Not only will I miss seeing her, but it makes this all so much more ... difficult. More to come on this front.

Hope all is good and you are all healthy. Wash your hands and be smart about this thing.

Campfire

When I used to camp with Andrew, we sat around the fire and shared thoughts and opinions about everything in the world. We talked about family and friends, ancestors and what brought us to the day. We were generally with a group of friends at the campfire sharing what was on our collective minds . Do you remember the season on NCIS when Gibbs was gone for a while and Tony was running the show? He'd call for a "campfire" which was his way of bringing the members of the team together to discuss the situation at hand.

These thoughts caused me to consider tribal councils of old. The elders of the group gathered to discuss issues and history, and to share the collective intelligence of the group with the next generation. Why don't we do this anymore? I don't mean exactly like the early tribal councils, but more like the "campfire" in NCIS. Why do we not gather to share things we know and have learned with the next generation to make their lives easier? As I thought about this, I came back to the family reunions my grandfather's side used to have. They were on the second Saturday in July (I think) and I looked forward to them like I look forward to going to the dentist. Even going to the event with such a mindset, I will tell you I always learned something. Sometimes it was very specific, but often it was just about being a part of something much bigger, a family.

So, in thinking about what I've provided for my children, and now for my grandchildren, I wonder if change caused me to miss some of this. Have I been so busy with the pieces of life that I wasn't good at showing my kids they were part of something bigger, and teaching them the way the universe connects, giving them power to reach out to friends, family, and acquaintances to solve problems or open opportunities? Some groups get this and it has always been part of who they are. But some of us get so busy with the day-to-day, we lose track of that bigger picture.

A week or so ago I was part of a conversation about how we balance work and life. I will tell you without question, I fell into the group thinking if I were home, even if I was working, I was there with my kids. From this perspective, I know I should have left work at work and gone home and rolled on the floor with the kids and told them how much I loved them. If you have an opportunity to change up how you are doing this at present, I would suggest you make every effort.

As for campfires, to circle back, I told you I would catch you up on the teardrop trailer. I'm including pictures so you know what I have created and how very proud I am of it. I know it will look good sitting in a campsite close, but not too close, to a campfire. I've been working on this project for about three years now, and it has been a labor of love.

I began with a Harbor Freight flat trailer.

The build started from there, adding walls and roof. Then I went to work on the rest of the structure.

From there I moved on to the inside and finishing the galley.

Finally, I learned a bunch about working with aluminum - shaping and sealing to ensure the trailer is watertight and will stand up to the unexpected bumps it will take. I also learned a lot about twelve volt direct current power and how to get it to work.

As I approach the end of this project, I am proud and a little surprised at what I have been able to accomplish. I have created a home to be taken with them when they travel, giving J & K more freedom than they had without it. I also caused them to add a larger vehicle to their fleet to be able to take care of pulling the teardrop. I hope I will remember to take pictures to share when they come to pick it up.

Over the next few weeks, I will add windows in the doors and a box to the tongue to hold what is needed for the electrical system. I don't know what else I will add, but I'm so close I can feel it. Also, the timing is perfect as it looks as though there may be another library project in the future and I suggested a way for Sara to make her sewing room work more effectively. She's still thinking about it. We will see.

I hope all is good for you today. Take care of yourself, and your family.