Learning After Doing

Candor

"Candor...is a willingness to speak the unspeakable, to expose unfulfilled commitments, to air the conflicts that undermine apparent consensus. Candor means that people express their real opinions."

Ram Charan
"Conquering a Culture of Indecision"
Harvard Business Review
April 2001

Everyone's In Sales

Here is what I firmly believe. We have had some great sales numbers recently. So, I sent out an e-mail thanking folks because I believe sales is more than just the sales guys. Read to understand:

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HUGE applause to EVERYONE  - OPs, Logistics, R&D, QA - for these HUGE numbers.

Compare the past 4 weeks of sales to the same period in 2004:

RETAIL: up # lbs per week
COOKED FOWL: up # lbs per week
ROLL: up # lbs per week
FAT: up # lbs per week
BROTH: up # lbs per week
MDM: up # lbs per week

Please recall what Kyle said at the annual meeting-"We're all in sales". As the writer Tom Peters says,

"We’re all in sales! That’s one of my recurrent themes.
Or, to make it more personal:
IF YOU CARE, YOU’RE IN SALES.
That is, if your project Matters to you,
if you have a Burning Urge to get it done..."

None of these would have been possible without you and your teams' help!

Recent Photo of the Tip Top Sales Team Giving the Universal Thumbs Up

Coalition Forces

Today was a HUGE day for us... we got the go-ahead on one major equipment purchase and the go-ahead to trial a new, innovative process that will add some edge to our product offering.

I want to say it was a HUGE win for me, but I cannot. It would be too cheap. We got there together.

The consultant has often told me that the biggest part of being a salesman is being able to sell internally. OK. Check. File it away.

But, it is starting to make since for me. Finally. We have had some long discussions, some heated moments, and some seemingly insurmountable personaility obstacles in our team as we tried to improve processes and develop innovations in our operations. There were so many days I was ready to walk out the door at 2pm in frustration thinking nothing will change.

Then, it all began to fall in place. I realized that the only way we would ever move forward was if our team could agree, buy into an idea, and collectively sell it up the chain. I thought I knew the conclusion (I did), but it didn't matter. No one else was on board. It was only our (the consultant and I) driving it that even kept it alive.

So, last week I decided to spend some quality face time with the other team members. No rounds of golf or old-fashioned smoozing. Instead, I just picked up my office (laptop and cell-phone) and went to the plant where they are so I could be seen by them and so that we could find casual, informal time to talk, go to lunch, and work towards solving some issues we had been facing.

I began a slow process of allowing the other team members to sell me on what they really wanted. It took patience, time, listening, and a good dose of shutting up. They sold me. Actually, we really want the same things. Now, it is their idea, their project, and their cause.

Then, together and separately we began selling up the ladder. It wasn't just me any more. We were selling internally. Everyone who will be involved in the project is on board and working the guys on top to proceed. It was great. And it succeeded.

I've learned something, put it into practice, and enjoyed the fruit of the labor. That's a great day!

Interviews

Early on in my career in the chicken world, I never thought of talent as being so important to our organization. Certainly I understood the importance of securing live birds and increasing yields and reducing inventory levels. All of these factors produce quick changes to the bottom line and allow us to sustain profitable business.

Sustaining or maintaining is challenging, but not difficult if you are the first to market or somehow maintain a unique product line or distribution advantage. But who wants to maintain? Growth and change require intellect and passion. The pressure and speed of a growing and changing environment require discipline and horsepower to perservere through to the realization of the vision. Leaders and 'A' players are those who possess these qualities and will ultimately drive and manage an organization into and through change and growth. Any vision for growth must include leaders to achieve the vision.

Hence, the interview process.

LAD. Learning After Doing. First, treat every interaction as an interview. Second, attempt to decipher whether the interviewed has intellect, passion, discipline and horsepower.

Treat every interaction as an interview. One summer in college, my mentor (Joe Glenn Smith) told me to shave every day before I leave the house. Why? Because I never knew if I might meet my wife that day. Similarly, we've got to keep our eyes and ears open during every interaction with people because we might just be talking to an 'A' player who can lead change and growth. Don't let it dominate any interaction, but after walking away, we must ask ourselves if that person should be on our team.

During an interview, attempt to decipher whether the interviewed has intellect, passion, discipline and horsepower. A great question to ask is, 'What energizes you?' But more than questions or formulas, I've got to keep my ears open to see if the prospect has prepared for the interview, if he has attempted to learn our company and industry, if he "shaved" before coming, if he responds to my questions with logical answers, if she knows her strengths and weaknesses, if she gets energized hearing about our potential. It is hard to put my finger on any one thing, but it is a sum of them all while trying to determine if this person is the leader that will lead change and growth with us.

We must always keep our pipeline filled with young, talented leaders who will lead us in change and growth going forward. The only way to accomplish this goal is to treat every interaction as an interview.