Remember Your ABC's - The secret to your work success

Today is my Grandson’s 1st Birthday

Joe is 1. He has now had an official birthday and joins my son Marcus’s other two boys, Tyler and Brandon, as having had a birthday cake just for him. Tyler just celebrated his 8th and Brandon will be 5 in April.

Wow. How did all of that happen??? Didn’t I just take my kids to Disney World last summer. Wait, that was 1986.

As I write this I’m preparing for a keynote speech at a Delta Epsilon Chi event at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, RI at the end of this month. I’ll be speaking to a group of Millennials who will be leaving school and heading for careers soon.

I love millennials. Many baby boomers who are recruiters see them as a challenge – I see them as our solutions for the future. What a great generation – but they need to remember the ABC’s I’m about to talk to them about.

I was working on the presentation when I thought about a couple of the Christmas presents that we bought Tyler. As I mentioned he is now 8 and really into sports. So for Christmas we got him some basketball shoes and some baseball spikes.

Next my mind drifted to some of the stuff we did over the Christmas holidays. Mary Kay took a couple of golf lessons. It seems as if John, the Pro at the local club, will be a good coach for her.

So here I am thinking about golf, about Tyler, about my speech and about Joe’s birthday. If Joe could understand me I think I would make sure that he understands his ABC’s. In fact, I’ll make a mental note to make sure that Brandon knows his and for sure I’ll drill this into Tyler when I see him in April.

On January 31st I’ll drive home the ABC’s. And, I’ll make sure that my friend, Steven Rothberg – the entrepreneur and inspiration at http://www.collegerecruiter.com/ drives it home on his blogs . . . and that my friend Eric Chester, the genius at http://www.generationwhy.com/, drives it home on his blogs.

That reminds me. Ryan Healy and Ryan Paugh and all their blog-buddies at http://www.employeeevolution.com/ should know this, too. The Ryan’s are off in Madison on their new venture but employee evolution is getting better and better with more insight every day.

The ABC’s.

You are probably thinking the ABC’s that end with w. . .x. . . and. . .y. . . and. . .z – now I’ve said my ABC’s tell me what you think of me. These are different. Sure those ABC’s will help you with your spelling. But I’m talking about the ABC’s that will get your through your work life. The ones that will bring you back after a tough day and keep you humble when you’ve had your best successes.

These are the ABC’s that will help a 31-year old named “Eldrick” earn more than a $111,941,827 this year.

You might have remembered when Eldrick worked with Butch. Butch was a genius. He started working with Edrick when he was just a teen back in 1993. For 10 years he developed Eldrick. Then, Eldrick decided he still needed his ABC’s – just with someone different. So he chose Hank. Hank wasn’t a popular as Butch. Butch built a reputation as being the best.

By the time Eldrick went to Hank few of us remembered he was called Eldrick. We only knew him as Tiger. We knew Butch Harmon had the best golf school in the United States. We knew he coached Phil Mickelson, Davis Love, Fred Couples and Justin Leonard. So why would Tiger Woods switch coaches?

Hank Haney helped change Tiger’s swing. Fortunately, Haney worked with someone who epitomized the ABC’s. Tiger Woods wants to get better – every day. In the past 4 years since working with Hank, Tiger has gotten better. He was already the best. But, because of his passion, the best got better.

So what is the magic? What are those ABC’s?

Simple. Always . . . Be . . . Coachable.

It is hard to believe that something that is so simple eludes us so often. The older you get the more you realize that your toughest times in life were when you decided you didn’t need coaching.

So think about Tiger. If the best in the world believes he can improve and can do better – the rest of us might consider being more coachable. If someone who is already on top of their game with one of the best known coaches in the world believes that he can still improve with a lesser-known coach – and then does – he should be an inspiration to us.

Tyler, get ready. You are about to get the “ABC’s” speech from grandpa. Brandon – your day will come. And Joe, happy birthday. By the time you understand what coaching means I’m sure Tiger will have broken every golf record set and will still be wanting to be coached so he can get even better.

And Mary Kay, if John coaches you to get a hole in one someday I’ll be giving Butch or Hank a call – regardless of what it costs! Tiger only has 18 so far - but he did get his first hole in one when he was 6.

Hmmm. I wonder if Hank has ever coached a one year old before???