What a difference a little skin in the game makes!

Thomas Paine said it more eloquently in The American Crisis Number One when he said, “What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly.”

How right he was!

You don’t have to be very old to learn the truth of Paine’s statement. We were at lunch one day and Elizabeth (then 5) noticed someone making balloon animals for the kids.

“I want a balloon” she shrieked. Her eyes glazed over with the anticipation of obtaining a quick prize.

Seeing an opportunity to teach her something of far greater value and longevity for less of an investment, I asked her a question. “Do you realize that even though the balloon is free, the artist expects you to give him at least two dollars as a tip? That is two weeks of your allowance. Are you willing to give up two weeks allowance for a balloon?”

I waited while I could see the wheels turning in her mind. After a few moments she said, “No, I can live without the balloon.” Naturally, I was pleased that she came to the desired conclusion on her own.

A few minutes later, an additional bonus was revealed. Two other children walked to the area where the balloons were being made. Shortly, they walked back to their table with a balloon while Elizabeth observed their actions. I waited to see her reaction.

Without hesitation she invoked, “Daddy, those kids wasted their money.” Needless, to say I was relieved at her ability to connect the premise that your wants may change if you have to make an investment to receive the desired item.

In business, I see similar examples of behavior differentiated by whether one has some skin in the game.

People are quick to request items to help them succeed in their jobs. If they are asked what they will deliver to the business if they are granted their request, they often develop what a friend of mine calls “jelly knees.” They are not interested in having to commit to anything, but act as if they are asking Santa Claus for a present.

Upon rejection of their request, the business is often blamed for not supplying what the individual needs to be successful.

Paine’s efforts during the Revolutionary War made a significant impact on its outcome because he communicated in plain language to the regular American the importance of each individual’s contributions to the effort to establish an independent country

His efforts let everyone know what the stakes were to each individual, what would happen if the war was won, and more importantly what would happen if the war were lost. People realized that whether they liked it or not, their lives were going to be changed by the outcome of the war. They could decide whether to commit to support the war effort and try to influence the outcome, or to set back and let others dictate their future.

In that instance many people responded to his request and joined the American cause and you know from history that the United States of America was born.

Today, our lives are composed of multiple facets. Occasionally, we take our freedom, way of life, business life, family life and other areas for granted. There are those in the world who would like to negatively impact our lives for their own benefit.

Sometimes we are involved, but not committed to one or more aspects of our lives. As the old story goes, the difference between involvement and commitment is the difference between the chicken and the hog. The chicken is involved in making the egg, but the hog is committed in making the bacon.

Regardless of our individual situation, when we have a stake, or realize that we should have a stake, in the subject at hand, we are far more likely to be committed to success than when we are merely involved.

© 2006 Richard V. Battle

With or without the secret sauce?

Answering this question when you order a hamburger is simple and has a minimal risk of adverse consequences. The same cannot be said for all of our choices.

We are blessed in America to have the liberty to make virtually all of the decisions about our life upon achieving adulthood. Where we live, what kind of work we will do, how we spend our leisure time and every facet of how we exercise our faith are among the many choices we are free to make.

It is easy to take our liberties for granted, natural to forget that others in the world have never experienced such individual freedom, and common to overlook the untold number of men and women who sacrificed much and sometimes all in order to provide us this wonderful legacy.

Many times we are encouraged to act like other countries in how we live, but it doesn’t take much to remind us that we are fortunate to live at a great time in a magnificent country.

Recently I read an article about how the government in Cuba was installing 50,000 Chinese refrigerators in homes to reduce energy consumption. On the surface, the article appeared innocent and was complimentary of the gesture.

But upon further review, the facts revealed a different picture. The Cuban citizens had NO choice whether or not that they would like a new refrigerator. The article didn’t state what would happen if someone refused the government’s apparent benevolence, but I’m sure they wouldn’t have been given an award for good citizenship.

Nor was the new refrigerator free. In fact, the government charged each home the equivalent of $ 286. Because of the standard of living in Cuba, many recipients couldn’t afford to pay cash. Never fear, the government will eagerly finance the transaction for 10 years at a nice round interest rate of 10%.

In addition, because the people had no choice in the matter, many complained the new units were smaller and inferior to their older and often American refrigerators. There was no choice of color, additional features, or an opportunity to compare prices.

Before I appear too one sided, let me say that the Cuban bureaucracy was kind enough to dispose of their existing appliance. I would imagine that retaining it would be out of the question since the stated mission of the project was to reduce electrical consumption.

Nor is Cuba the only country that takes the burden of day-to-day decisions from its citizens. In one further example, a friend who lived in Germany serving in the U. S. military cited to me how the town he lived in made the decisions about painting houses. If the appropriate agency decided that your house needed painting, they would order a crew to take care of it and send the occupant a bill. What color should be chosen? No need to worry as the government would make that choice.

Our way of life is a precious one, and as we have been told repeatedly must be preserved one generation at a time. We are living in a time where one can choose to view everything as normal and stress free.

But, we cannot allow ourselves to be fooled. There are forces that are anxious to end the world, as we know it.

We must all be educated about what is occurring in the world beyond our daily lives; prepared in body, mind and soul to face challenges as they are and not as we wish they would be; and we must be willing to contribute our share in order to pass along the gift of liberty to the next generation.

As my late friend, and former Texas attorney general, John Ben Shepperd said, “To be born a free man is an accident; to live as a free man is a responsibility, but to do die as a free man is an obligation.”

The next time you order a hamburger, remember, there is more to our freedom to choose than whether or not to add the secret sauce.

© 2006 Richard V. Battle

It's About More Than the Money

My youngest sales rep and I were in an auto dealership early in the morning preparing for a presentation. We were making small talk with the general manager when one of his young salesmen walked into his office.

The two of them talked while we continued our preparation. Without eavesdropping, I was able to catch the major points of their discussion when something was said that struck me as incredible.

The general manager asked the salesman if he had gone to the casino on the previous night. After an affirmative reply, the manager asked if he had made any money.

“No, I lost about $ 500”, the salesman replied. Wow, I thought. That is a lot of money to lose. Now I was paying attention to the conversation to see what would next unfold. “In fact, I’ve lost $ 2,500 this month” he stated without remorse. I was stunned, but had no idea that the most amazing revelation of all hadn’t yet come.

Without flinching the general manager stated, “That’s good. Keep it up because then you’ll have to sell more cars for me to pay for your casino play.” I was floored. In one sentence, the manager revealed to me, that he didn’t care about the salesman one bit, but only cared about how it could help him sell more cars. While it was clear to me, I believe the salesman was oblivious to the point.

After our presentation, I was curious to see what my young sales rep would think about the exchange we had witnessed.

Fortunately, he concurred with my assessment of the shortsightedness of losing so much money in a month. He didn’t catch the significance of the manager’s only interest being in the salesman making money for him, but that is understandable because of his lack of experience.

I believe in business that a leader has an additional responsibility beyond making money for the business. Yes, true leaders are concerned about growing their people. In addition to preparing them for expanded responsibilities within the business, there is an opportunity to lead by example in other areas also.

In the movie, Broken Trail, Prentice Ritter (played by Robert Duval) leads a trail drive. In reality, he is on a mission to right family wrongs by helping his nephew learn about life.

After another challenge on the trail, the nephew comments about how the drive is becoming less profitable everyday. Without batting an eye, Print Ritter says, “You never measure wealth using money.” How true is his statement, and how it goes against our culture that emphasizes living for the moment and the accumulation of material goods.

Prentice Ritter knew that if they survived, the education he was providing his nephew would be far more valuable than money. He knew that it was an education that could only be gained by overcoming adversity through experience. He knew that any money they might earn would be valued more than even a greater sum that he merely gave to his nephew. And he knew that the impact on his nephew’s life would influence generations that would last beyond his lifetime.

Pat Tillman was a successful professional football player for the Arizona Cardinals in the NFL. Just after he had signed a new contract that would pay him millions of dollars per year, and in the prime of his career, the attacks of 9/11/2001 occurred. In spite of his seemingly protected place in life, Pat and his brother signed up for the Army. To insure that they served their country to the utmost, they volunteered for the elite Ranger unit.

Consequently, Pat and his brother were sent to Afghanistan in different units. The whole world was saddened to learn later that Pat was killed in action. Yes, he gave up safety. Yes, he gave up a lot of money.

But, what a legacy of citizenship! What a legacy of courage and commitment he demonstrated by his action rather than his words! What a legacy of leadership by example he provided! Pat Tillman knew that living a successful life was about more than making a lot of money.

I have been fortunate to have worked with several individuals who gave me more than an education in how to make money during my career. I have an appreciation and a respect for them that is far greater than those who were merely concerned in how I could help them attain their personal goals.

I strive in the hope that my efforts will touch the individuals that I encounter in a way that will positively influence them and their families beyond the present as well. If we’re able to touch one person in a way that positively influences his or her life, there is no way to know the size of the impact we will have made based on those that he or she touches in the future.

© 2006 Richard V. Battle

Only on Television

Too often we hear stories of individuals who commit acts that end in tragedy and blame their misfortune on emulating an event they saw on television.

I had witnessed a near tragedy as a young child, and wanted to keep my young daughter, Elizabeth, from succumbing to the temptation of copying dangerous behavior she saw on television.

Before I was six, several of us were playing a game of cowboy on our street. Just like in Gunsmoke and the other shows I grew up watching, we had a bad guy who needed to be hung for justice to be served. Fortunately, the boy was able to catch a leg on a tree limb and his mother frantically rushed into the yard to extract him from the amateur noose. Everyone was ok, but there were no more realistic expressions of cowboy violence in our games.

It is especially important since the movie, Forrest Gump, came out in the mid-1990’s to view pictures with discrimination, because in that movie images were modified by computer to create unreal scenes. The adage we learned as children to believe nothing of what you hear, and half of what you see had to be amended to verify both for their truthfulness.

Because of my experience, and the stories I heard of less fortunate others I began a prevention campaign.

As we watched different shows, I would look for special effects and doctored activities that weren’t real. Each time I discovered one, I would tell Elizabeth, “That’s only on television.”

A character would have a mind numbing auto accident, and walk away from the wreckage. “That’s only on television”, I would invoke. Superman would leap off a building and fly into the sky. “That’s only on television.” In the Spy Kids movie series, the children do phenomenal things. “That’s only in the movies.”

Since I began when she was very young, I didn’t know for a long time if my efforts had made any impact. Then one day out of the blue, she piped up, “That’s only on TV”, when an unbelievable scene unfolded on the screen.

Forgetting what we were watching, I knew that the message had been received, and that she was observing programs against a baseline of what was real and what wasn’t.

While she still isn’t completely knowledgeable, she has a good foundation from which to differentiate things that appear to be real, and those that are real. She will need to continuously hone that skill as the line between unreal things that appear real, and real things that appear unreal becomes less and less clear.

© 2006 Richard V. Battle