In Blog# 123  I talked about being present in the moment. In this blog I wanted to talk about a defining moment in my career.

Nora was frustrated that our business was still tough. I was frustrated our business was still tough. She would come down with a forced smile and say “When will I be able to step foot on your floor?” I wanted that more than she could know. Business in Arden Fair was amazing. My claim to fame was I increased that store to #2 in the company, what was I missing?

I started thinking about how I did it over there. Focused on the top sellers. Listened to Rob on narrow and deep focusing on basics. Learned from Mike how to be cool under pressure. Kent coached me about details such as where’s Boardwalk. Gail taught me empathy  and how to run a different type of business.

What was missing?

Check list

Upgraded the mix.

Check…

Basics were covered.

Check…

Had Boardwalk covered.

Check…

Treated my team with empathy.

Check…

WAIT! A vision of a visit from Blake Nordstrom popped in my mind. PEOPLE! In Arden Fair I had 9 pacesetters. The most of any BP floor.

People make the difference

I felt like an idiot. Did my head get that big that I thought it was Me? I hope not…But still I neglected to work with my team to see if they were  they needed to be.

Daryl and I would stop off at this local restaurant that had amazing martinis. Daryl called them “Adult beverages”. Care to join me for an Adult beverage I asked? He said Sure! We headed over there and talked about team. It was so great to have a guy like him to bounce ideas off of and help each other think things through.

Crazy encounter

I knew what I needed to do. This was the defining moment in my career. Funny enough, and this has nothing to do with the life lesson, but it was incredible.

On the way back we were walking to our cars and we saw the biggest skunk I have ever seen in my life. It was as big as a medium size dog. Was it the effects of too many martinis? We looked at each other at the same time. Daryl said   “ if that thing sprays us, we will stink the rest of our lives”. We slowly walked backwards for a bit then ran…