call – Fast:Forward Farther

September 24, 2012September 24, 2012

Peaceful Surroundings

For 15 years, I traveled to Houston to produce games at the Astrodome, Rice Stadium and other venues. My journeys consisted of landing at Hobby Airport, renting a car and driving toward the Medical Center. To me, Houston was a lot of concrete, traffic and tall buildings. So when I received a call in 1998 to come to Houston to meet a man who wrote a book about his business, I recall thinking, “Great, another trip to the asphalt jungle.”

Little did I know there is a hidden gem within Houston’s 600 spacious square miles – 30 minutes from the better known Bush Intercontinental Airport – that has pine trees and not a high-rise in sight. That author, Bud Hadfield, discovered this special place off Hwy. 290 on Telge Road about three decades ago. Enthralled with its beauty, Bud moved the franchising company he started to a scenic 100-acre creekside tract and started converting low-lying woods into a secluded campus for housing and training franchisees. Eventually, he came up with the idea for a resort on the property to host business meetings, weddings and all sorts of gatherings.

Northwest Forest Conference Center is a peaceful oasis within the hectic pace of the nation’s fourth largest city. With meeting facilities – including a ‘can’t tell it from the original’ replica of the Alamo – and comfortable sleeping rooms where the only noise you’ll hear is the sound of nature in its nocturnal splendor, Northwest Forest is serenity defined.

I arrived for that meeting with Bud not fully aware of why he invited me to spend a day with him. Seems he wanted to offer me a job. I said yes… and we relocated. For more than six years, I had an office that looked out over the expanse of Northwest Forest. Suffice it to say, I didn’t need any extra motivation to get up in the morning. Whenever my extended family and friends would see it for the first time, they were struck by its uniqueness.

I still hold meetings at Northwest Forest Conference Center – and turning into the long driveway and seeing the gorgeous trees always fills me with energy. I know there isn’t a more serene setting in Houston… and you have to drive many miles to try and find another place like it in Texas.

December 22, 2011December 20, 2011

Lessons Learned – #10

Each year the last issue of our e-newsletter focuses on some of my lessons learned. May you find inspiration among the Top 10 things that touched me during 2011.

Dropped Call – One of my clients is a service center manager for the large wireless company that until yesterday looked like it would be combining with another industry giant. When news broke last spring of that proposed union, her team found out as people called in with questions about how it would effect their service. “We miss productivity numbers and they hold an emergency meeting,” she said. “But we have a damn merger and they don’t say a word, so we hear it from our customers watching CNBC.” That’s a big ‘oops’ leaders could have avoided by simply pausing to ask, “Who do we need to tell right away?”

February 8, 2011February 3, 2011

Good Questions

When our youngest daughter was four, we were visiting friends out of town. She and their four-year-old were upstairs putting on dress-up clothes. The doorbell rang, and the police officer standing on the front porch explained there had been an emergency call from a child at the residence. Mystified as to what was going on, we asked the girls to explain, and ours said: “Daddy told me if I ever need help to dial 9-1-1. I didn’t know which dress to wear, so I called to ask.”

Fast-forward eight years… our soon-to-be teenager is having some challenges with a couple of girls at her junior high. She asks us what to do, and I say, “Be nice, and eventually they’ll be nice to you.” She tries. Things don’t improve. She seeks a different answer. This time she doesn’t call 911; she e-mails one of the counselors at the camp she attended last summer. Seems that young woman told all the campers: “If you ever need advice, feel free to contact me.”

There is wonderful beauty in my precocious child’s inherent trait to take things at face value. More importantly, she’s unafraid to ask anyone anything. That should serve her well eight years from now when she’s finishing college and starting to look for a job. You’ll be a better leader by utilizing her approach when you’re looking for answers. Ask questions. Then ask some more. I’ve seen it work firsthand.