#75 CHOOSING THE MANAGER * (revised 6/3) the formula for compensation

#76 CHOOSING THE MANAGER “the formula for compensation”

“Our store managers make more than our office people. Some of our office people, especially some with MBA degrees or CPA certificates sometimes wonder about this. But I have warned them, don’t bitch to me because this is the way that I want it. If you want to go out, start at the bottom changing tires and work into a manager job, then hop right to it. If it weren’t for those men in the stores working their butts off in all kinds of weather, missing meals. God awful hours, etc, you would not even have a job.

Les Schwab

Les Schwab Tire Centers

From his book

“Pride in Performance”

We believe, at green garden gates, that our store managers are the most valuable employees of our company. We just would not have a business if it were not for their hard work and commitment. Here is the compensation package that we have developed for them.

1. Base Pay

The base pay for a store manager is 32,000.00 per year, regardless of whether the store is in operation or has closed for the season for that year. After three years, the base compensation moves to 40,000.00

This base never changes, after three years, no matter how long the manager is with the company. We believe that as the store develops and becomes more profitable, other compensations will increase dramatically.

2. Residential compensation

The store manager is required to occupy the residence at the site for three consecutive garden seasons. The furnished residence is provided to them rent free for this period. In addition, water, garbage service, internet access is provided free of charge. The manager is only required to pay for gas, electric utilities, and television cable at the residence. The value of this package is estimated at 12,000.00 per year. When the manager leaves the residence after the three seasons, moves elsewhere, but still is manager of the store, a sum of 10,000.00 per year will be added to the compensation package. The furnishings of the residence provided by green garden gates will stay with the residence

This 10,000.00 allowance is only fair to the manager, since an other residence will have to be purchased or rented that would drain the base salary if it were not in place.

3. Moving Allowance

A moving allowance (which includes all related on the road expenses) is provided for the manager. If the distance is less than 500 miles, the allowance is 1000.00, If the allowance is greater than 500 miles, the allowance is 1500.00. If the manager does not use all the allowance, 50% of the retained money is returned to green garden gates. The remaining 50% can be retained by the manager for personal income. If the moved is from out of the country, an amount will be determined on each individual circumstance. All receipts for the move are the property of green garden gates. Estimated value of this compensation is 1200.00

We encourage the manager to economize on the moving expenses and we reward the manager for doing so.

4. Vacation Pay

The manager is given two weeks vacation pay starting at the beginning of the employment. The two week vacation is never increased no matter how long the manager is with green garden gates. The vacation days can only be taken from July 4^th to March 1^st of the next year. Estimated compensation: 1200.00.

This store manager cannot be away for vacation and absent from the store during the gardening season. We know that some companies increase vacation pay with length of service. Since our manager is compensated during a long off season and her hours of service required by us is reduced, she is able to vacation during this period.

5. Medical, Dental, Vision, Prescription Compensation.

A single comprehensive policy is provided to the manager, of which 80% or a determined amount of money is paid by green garden gates. Direct family dependents are allowed on the policy but that part of the premium is the responsibility of the manager. Children under 18 years if age and under the direct care of the manager must have health insurance while the manager is employed with the company. Green garden gates will compensate for these dependants by paying 50% or a determined amount of money of their premiums. After three years with the company in the capacity of manager of a larger position, that 80% contribution is reduced to 40% of the premium. The dependent premiums remain at 50% or a determined amount of money paid by green garden gates. The policy provided for the manager and dependants is the general policy of all green garden gates employees. If the manager chooses other health insurance program outside the company program, the premium contribution by the company is a matter for negotiation. Estimated compensation: 6000.00

It is vital that our managers and their direct children dependents have a good health insurance program. The worry over paying for illnesses and accidents causes undue stress on the manager and will interfere with his or her focus on the success of the store.

Why do we reduce our percentage of compensation to the manager as the years progress? We believe that the manager, as she receives more compensation, is in a better position to contribute more to her health insurance. We need to use this money for the other employees who are not so fortunate as the manager.


Note on insurance compensation: This is a financial trap for owners of all businesses. The rising costs of health care makes it difficult to predict. It may happen that a company is not able to afford a fixed percentage of the premium. Give yourself some wiggle room here. DON'T OFFER JUST PERCENTAGES! Always leave the option of contributing a dollar amount to health insurance.

6. Personal Time Days

We give to the manager a bank of 10 personal time days each year that can be used for any reason; illness, death in the family, required personal events or other emergencies. If there are any unused days after December 31^st of each year, 50% of those days are paid directly to the manager and 50% of the days are relinquished back to green garden gates. The time is not accumulated each year. Estimated compensation: 1100.00

We encourage of managers to attend to necessary personal issues if the need arises. We do not, however, want these days to be “banked” and accumulated year after year. We invite our managers to be vigilant with these personal days and reward the manager if the days are not used.

7. Use of a company vehicle.

The manager has the use of the company vehicle for personal use for a reasonable period during the three year period while the manager is in residence at the site. Care must be taken to avoid overuse of this privilege. Fuel for personal use must be compensated back to green garden gates. All licensing and insurance and upkeep will be paid by the company. Estimated compensation: 1000.00

There are just some times when the company van will be quite helpful to the manager in his or her personal chores or travel. We want the manager to use this vehicle in a reasonable fashion. Commuting the child back and forth continuously to a soccer game is not reasonable. Using the van to move furniture is reasonable. A ten day trip to Disneyland is not reasonable.

8. Product Discounts

The manager is allowed a 40% discount from the regular retail price of all products in the store or cost plus freight whichever is the lesser amount. The discount is for the manager but can be for others. However this privilege is limited to immediate family members, brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers. Estimated compensation: 500.00

9. Bonus Fund

There is a bonus to all employees if the store is profitable. The bonus is paid to all employees in two installments. The first is 60% of the earned bonus during the third week after the closing of the store at the end of the season, usually in mid November depending on the geographical location of the store. The remaining 40% is held and paid out in July of the following season. This bonus compensation is about 25% of the remaining net profits of the store after all other employee programs have been funded and the retained earnings for the company. ( see entry # 120 for details) The estimated compensation for the store manager each year for the first three years is estimated at about 10,000.00 per year. A breakdown on this formula is in entry #119.

This bonus can make a huge difference in the morale of the manager and the employees. The tough times of springtime gardening selling just don’t seem so bad with that big July check for their remaining previous season bonus is in their pockets.

We hold out 40% of the bonus for a couple of reasons. First, if the employee decides not to return the next season, the premiums the company has paid during the months the store is closed, will be deducted from their final bonus check.

Second, employees are required to notify green garden gates if they are not returning the next season by January 31st following the season closure in November. If the employee does not notify ggg on or before that date, The employee forfeits all claims to the remaining bonus from the previous season. We have a firm date on notification because we need to recruit early for the upcoming season.

Under no circumstances will the employee be denied the remaining bonus dollars if they our employment. The money belongs to them, they earned it for their work the previous season. We will deduct the medical premiums we have paid during the down time and award them the bonus money regardless if they left our employment.

A. Long term retirement/ investment compensation.

The ggg trust fund

Green garden gates contributes to a trust fund for each employee and the manager of the store at the rate of about 15% of the employee’s monthly salary. The employees and manager are not required to match any money given by the company. This fund, called the ggg fund, is the property of the employees. However, no draws can be taken by the manager from his or her contribution to the fund until the value of the fund exceeds the yearly operational costs of that store. Owners of green garden gates use the fund money for property investment in store expansion. Upon retirement and resignation from green garden gates, the company pays the fund balance to the manager in yearly payments over a five year period. For the first 10 years of employment, there is a substantial penalty in the amount of the accumulated fund if the manager or employee has been found to be dishonest in his or her position with green garden gates. Potential compensation: 5000.00 per year, first three years

“The most forgotten man in any business is the man who works, does his job day after day, doesn’t cause any problems, seldom misses work, and doesn’t demand or ask for unreasonable things. He is not only the most forgotten man. He is the most abused. We are going to make it possible for a man to work 30 years on the hourly job, and still be a successful man. We need these men; they are often times the backbone of our company”

Les Schwab

“Pride in Performance”

B. Elective Compensation

B1. Christmas business ownership

We, at green garden gates, are not interested in developing a Christmas business. It is our intention to close the store in the late fall and resume operations in the early spring to prepare for the gardening season.

The manager has the opportunity to sell Christmas related products and services at our store. We will charge the manager a reasonable fee for the use of the facilities during that period of time. The manager is responsible for all other expenses and financial exposures related to this Christmas business, purchase of inventory and equipment, employee hiring, taxes and payroll expenses, advertising, any lines of credit, insurance for that period, and clean up of the facility. The salary of the manager continues during this period of time. The business is to have a separate federal and state tax numbers. All billing is to be tied to those tax numbers. All of the profits from the Christmas business belong to the manager. We have an understanding with the manager that customer service and customer relations are to have the same standard as green garden gates. The manager is allowed to use the “green garden gates” logo for this Christmas business. The manager cannot expand the Christmas business in other locations and cannot be a party in any way to a Christmas business other than at the store location. Green garden gates management has the right to inspect the business operation to insure that the company standard is in keeping with green garden gates formula. Potential compensation: 10,000.00 to 20,000.00 annually.

We believe that this is the opportunity for the manager to earn additional income during the off season of the store. It is a great learning experience for the manager in understanding the challenges of business ownership that will give them more skills in managing green garden gates.

B2. Off season part time employment

The manager of green garden gates has the opportunity, when the store is closed for the season, to be employed in an outside part time job to gain further income. The part time work can be a maximum of 20 hours per week or 4 hours per day. We, at green garden gates, expect the remaining work day or work week, a minimum of 20 hours per week, to be devoted to preparation of the store for the upcoming season. Under no circumstances can this part time work interfere with the operations of green garden gates and cannot conflict with the interests of green garden gates. Potential additional income: 2000.00

B3. Educational advancement

The manager has the option to pursue educational advancement that directly relates to skills needed for his or her position at green garden gates. This may include seminars, college courses, and special programs offered by the industry and approved by green garden gates. The company will reimburse the manager for expenses for this training, travel, tuition, meals, and lodging. Potential compensation: 3000.00

We believe that there is personal and professional value to the manager for this training while employed by the company and after his or her career with green garden gates.

First 3 years of employment

Immediate estimated yearly compensation 63,000.00

Elective yearly compensation 15,000.00

Total compensation package per year 83,000.00

Estimated yearly long term accumulated ggg fund 5,000.00

Total Compensation package 87,000.00

After 3 years of employment

Immediate estimated yearly compensation 75,000.00

Elective yearly compensation 25,000.00

Total compensation package per year 100,000.00

Estimated yearly long term accumulated ggg fund 15,000.00

Total Compensation Package 115,000.00

Future Compensation

The manager may elect to have a long term 20 year career with green garden gates. He or she may be chosen to move to a larger higher volume, higher profit store in the network or expand the present store to a much higher level or performance. Here are some estimated numbers for future compensation of that manager.

Long term employment with green garden gates

Immediate estimated yearly compensation 86,800.00

Elective yearly compensation 25,000.00

Total compensation package per year 111,800.00

Estimated yearly long term accumulated ggg fund 100,000.00

Total Compensation Package 211,000.00

#74 CHOOSING THE MANAGER * (revised 6/3) "watching for the right combination"

At green garden gates, there are many qualities we look for in choosing our managers. We observe the candidate in his or her present workplace, we, both anonymously and at the interviews placing the candidate in situations and evaluate their responses. We closely examine their backgrounds. Here are some of the qualities that have been gathered from consultants and garden store owners, as well as the thoughts of Bill Gates of Microsoft that help form a template for choosing these managers.

Will the candidate like our industry?

It is hard to imagine that a chemist who spent a career in a quiet lab will be happy in the retail garden store business. We need some clue, some background in their work history that they enjoyed retailing as a whole, an outdoor working environment, the interaction of people and fellow employees and the sale of gardening plants and products. It is difficult for a manager to be productive without enthusiasm.

Can the candidate hire employees effectively and terminate employees skillfully?

Green garden gates is a strong team of employees, sharing, communicating and committed. If an employee cannot measure up, will the candidate spot the problem and deal with the issue quickly and decisively? Many employees just do not have this attribute when they are chosen to move up to a management role. They are miserable and often afraid to pull the trigger with an employee.

In almost every case, the manager must recognize unhappy employees and plot a strategy to either rescue them or terminate them quickly and efficiently.

“One of my employees was a checker for several years. She was wonderful at her work, but she grew unhappy in her job. She came to me at the end of the spring season and wanted more challenge and opportunity. We talked about what she would like to do in my garden store and we settled on a new job as a florist in that department. She took to the job like a duck to water and stayed with me sixteen years, happy and content. I would have lost her if we did not move her to meet her skills.

Garden store owner
Nevada

Will the candidate see the attributes of an employee, focus on the positive and use their skills at green garden gates or will the candidate just write off a perfectly good but badly directed person?

Can the candidate create a positive and productive environment?

Our goal at green garden gates is to provide an atmosphere for our employees to want to come to work each morning and enjoy the satisfaction of an important contribution to our stores each day.

Can our candidate make it interesting for the employees? Does our candidate have the skills to fashion a combination of approaches to achieve this? We are looking for the light in our employees eyes. We are a failure if all we see is a robotic movement of “children of the corn”. It may mean a flexible work area, job assignment or hours of work. It may mean a program of financial incentives for particular products purchased or tasks completed. It may be as simple as providing a more equipped lunch area or recreational options on their lunch hour.

Can the candidate define “success” to the garden store staff and motivate them to work toward that success?

Success to green garden gates is not the first sale of a new customer to our stores. It is the second, third and continuous visits that make us win. To get our customers back to our doors requires a comprehensive plan with a “bottom up” contribution of the garden store staff, defining achievable goals and setting realistic standards. Why did this customer walk away and bought petunias at another store? Did our customer get enough information to feel comfortable in choosing our products? The garden store staff, in the trenches, day in and day out, will know the answers to these questions and in most cases will know how to solve them. Can our candidate listen, understand and act by correcting and adjusting?

Does the candidate like people and communicate with people well?

This is very hard to fake. If you do not enjoy interaction with people, it will be hard to manage them well. Good managers need relationships with a fair number and wide range of people, including the employees of the manager. A manager must encourage these people to tell him or her what is going on in the store and how he or she is doing.

Can the candidate build morale?

Make it clear there is plenty of goodwill to go around and that it is not just you, the hotshot manager who is going to look good if things go well. Can this person give his or her employees a sense of importance of what they are working on-its importance to the company and its importance to our customers of green garden gates? The retail garden industry is full of very high highs and very low lows during the season and beyond. Is the candidate able to keep morale as the highest possible level through good times and bad?

Will the candidate sometimes take on the nasty projects?

A manager must do more than communicate. The last thing employees want is a boss who just doles out stuff. The manager needs to get in there and take some of those crappy little jobs.

The following are the five P’s of leadership by a consultant, Wally Bock. We use this model also in deciding on our first manager of green garden gates



1. Pay attention to what is important

The job of a leader and a manager is to concentrate on what is important so that it gets take care of. Then let the rest of the stuff take care of itself. If the manager is a perfectionist, that is going to be very hard to do. We realize at green garden gates that there are limited resources of time, energy, people and money. Go for the big stuff, the most important stuff first. The trick is finding that 20% that gives the most bang for the buck. Once is it found, pay attention to it.

2. Praise what you want to continue

Praise is a reward for something done right. Use praise to continue in this path. Praise is most effective when it is used inconsistently. If praise is routine and canned, it loses its force. Most people have come up in the world where they did not hear praise enough. Seek out the opportunities to praise.

3. Punish what you want to stop

This is the tool used to get people to stop stuff. If something is harmful to the business, there needs to be a consequence. Be careful with punishment. Remember the hot stove guideline; “A cat who sits on a hot stove will never sit on the hot stove again. But, he won’t sit on a cold stove either!”

If you zap people too much with negative consequences, the just don’t quit doing the bad stuff, they quit doing pretty much everything. That is why “rule by fear” companies have a devil of a time getting people to take initiative. Employees been zapped so often they are not willing to risk it.

4. Pay for the results you want

Pay and praise are the things that get the engine of progress going. Don’t limit your thinking about pay to just money. Pay people with time off, recognition, choice assignments, small gifts, and special bonuses to encourage positive behavior. One client carried a pocketful of gift certificates as he wandered around his trucking company. When he found an employee doing something that he wanted to encourage, he would whip out a gift certificate and hand it to the employee on the spot. That action created even and drama that makes for good communication and a positive workplace.

“The owner of the garden store where I work is pretty cool. Every year around Mother’s Day when we are working are butts off, he slips a hundred dollar bill in our hand and says thank you for all the hard work.”

Garden store employee
Maryland

5. Promote people who deliver the results for the store

Many companies forget about the people who really turn the wheel. They stick to the old behavior of promoting people who “go along to get along” or knows somebody. Go into any company, Listen to the stories the employees tell about who gets promoted. That will tell you about everything you need to know about what the real organizational priorities are. We want those stories at green garden gates to be positive about the great things bosses and managers do. If most of the stories are negative, buddy, we have a problem.

#73 CHOOSING A MANAGER// (revised 6/3) "sarah's questions"

Sarah Lindsey-Banks, in her job re-organizing and bringing Harley-Davidson stores into the world of modern retailing, developed a formula for choosing qualities most needed for the position of a store manager.

1. Will the prospect be a good shopkeeper?

She discovered that good managers were truly small store shopkeepers. Often, she found, career oriented corporate trained men and women saw this position only as a temporary assignment on the way to the corner office of the big mother ship of headquarters. Yes, they would be accountable. Yes, their stores would make progress and yes, they would be acceptable managers . But what was not there was the light in their eyes, the excitement and spirit of ownership that successful small store shopkeepers carry with them each and every day. For some, managing a store is only a step along the way. For the best managers, they are shopkeepers who are proud of who they are and what their store provides for the local gardeners. They like their little store. They enjoy the business.

2. Does the candidate have a “warm heart?”

The most important trait of a manager is that he or she is “human” and not a corporate machine. Each day, experiences with customers, suppliers, and employees require that the manager understands and solves issues from, above all, a human perspective. Most of the solutions are not found in any company manual. They are found with a coming to terms with face to face understanding and empathy. The candidate must use good judgment in balancing the business perspective of green garden gates with the human perspective of the people who are connected with us.

There is a 5 ½ inch by 7 ½ inch card, The Nordstrom Employee Handbook, which says “Our only rule…Use Good Judgment in All Situations”

New employee orientation

“The Nordstrom Way to Customer Service Excellence”

By Robert Spector and Patrick McCarthy

3. Will the candidate learn, teach and delegate?

The world is full of managers who fall into their desks in the morning and follow the same old patterns. They stopped learning a long time ago. They open the faded moth eaten pages of their minds and do it all over again. Green garden gates is a fast moving ever changing palette of colors. Is the candidate ready and eager to learn? Does the life of the candidate indicate that learning is of absolute importance? And with this learning, can the candidate freely teach others to be as good as or more effective as he or she? Or is the candidate afraid to teach and to share knowledge, fearing the lost of power, position or worth? After the teaching, can this person delegate the task or does he or she hold the task not allowing the student to put this knowledge to good use for green garden gates?

"Develop your people to do their job better than you can. Transfer your skills to them. This is an exciting goal, but it can be threatening to a manager who worries that he is training his replacement. If you are concerned, ask your boss: "If I develop somebody who can do my job super well, does the company have some other challenge for me or not?' Many smart managers like to see their employees increase their responsibilities because it frees the managers to tackle new or undone tasks. There is no shortage of jobs for good managers. The world has an infinite amount of work to be done."

Bill Gates

Microsoft

4. Is the candidate an adventurer?

This journey is full of adventure and excitement. Does the professional and personal history of the candidate point to an adventurer of life or an observer of life? Where have they traveled? Has the candidate been involved in exciting groundbreaking projects? Has the candidate’s life been a squiggly line of discovery or has he or she followed a gradual arc of safety on the journey?

5. Is there energy there?

Green garden gates is all about energy and enthusiasm. Is the candidate a postal carrier for the government, who does the route and goes home to sleep or is the candidate the person who has been humping up and down a UPS truck in the middle of the night? What does the candidate do during the after work and weekends? What projects does the candidate work on?

6. Does the candidate watch the pennies?

The financial health of green garden gates depends largely on the ability of the manager to watch the money entering and leaving the business. Is the candidate fiscally responsible? How does this person manage his own checkbook? Can the candidate determine if an expense is profitable to green garden gates or a silly outlay of money that just causes a drop in the bottom line?

7. Can the candidate sell and close?

This is our business, moving products and services to the customers. Do we have a manager who sells or a manager who observes? Can the candidate close the deal? Do we have a candidate with a job history of boxing up the perfume or someone who sells the perfume? If there is no ability to sell effectively, there is no room for this person as a manager.

8. Does the candidate have “pride in ownership”?

Green garden gates is a place of beauty. Will this person manage the business with a pride or beauty and orderliness? Or is this store just “good enough”. How does the candidate take care of his personal possessions? How does he or she present themselves in day to day living?

9. Is this person a “problem solver?” Does the candidate do what it takes to finish the job?

Can the candidate see the problem, find a solution and pull the trigger to solve the issue quickly and efficiently? Or does the person need endless time to make the choice allowing the problem fester and grow worse?

"Don't make the same decision twice. Spend the time and thought to make a solid decision the first time so that you do not revisit the issue unnecessarily. If you are too willing to reopen issues, if interferes not only with your execution but also with your motivation to make a decision in the first place. People hate indecisive leadership; However, that does not mean you have to decide everything the moment is comes to your attention. Nor that you can't ever reconsider a decision."

Bill Gates

Microsoft

The Blab Off

My grandmother and grandfather got their first television set in the 1950’s. They bought the television trays and ate their dinner in front of the set each evening laughing at “I love Lucy”. Soon they grew tired and annoyed at all those commercials.

Grandma called Johnny, the repair guy to our house. He connected a long electrical cord to the back of the set, put a light switch on the end of it and ran it over to her chair. One flick of the switch and the sound was muted. No more commercials! She called it her "blab off".

It wasn’t some fancy engineer that invented the first remote. It was my grandmother sitting in her living room in her Nebraska home, switching off and on her “blab off”. She solved the problem and got the job done!

We found this "country gate in rural Vermont. No need to buy a gate, just drag a wrecked car over there.

That's getting the job done!! I think that we will invest in a gate lol

10. Is the candidate an artist with a creative soul?

A monkey can be trained to put together a “plan o gram” from the head office. It is the artist, the creative person who can embellish the product, make it more appealing, giving light to the feature. Do we have just a bean counter as a manager or do we have an artist?

11. Does the candidate have flexibility and patience? Is the person a good listener?

There are twists and turns in the excitement of green garden gates. Changes of tasks occur sometimes hourly. But it is important to be flexible with this team of employees, giving them the ability to decide what is best to execute the task and the patience to allow the job to get done successfully. Will the candidate take the attitude that he or she is the boss and only knows the right answers or will this person be flexible and patient?

12. Will the candidate break the rules?

Funny Question right?

The answer the candidate gives has profound impact on how every employee in our store will conduct themselves and how every customer is handled in the sale. If a manager follows THE RULES, blindly and rigidly, we are in big trouble.

“Gordon Bethune became Chairman and CEO of Continental Airlines in 1994. He soon discovered that the Continental employee manual was a compilation of maddingly specific rules and regulations that ranged from the shade of a pencil that had to be used to mark boarding passes to the type of meals that could be served to delayed passengers.

The manual also specifically described job responsibilities that employees were unable to deviate from them for fear of punishment. The gate agent was forbidden from clearing up problems because the previous management preferred that agents just stand there and feel the wrath of frustrated customers.

To dramatically make the point that things were going to be different from now on, Bethune needed to come up with a sensational symbol of changing times. One day he assembled a number of employees, gave them copies of the manual and led them on a parade out to the parking lot. There, the employees summarily set the manuals on fire, a task they thoroughly enjoyed!

And he sent word into the field that henceforth we wanted our employees to use their judgment, to consider the interests of both the company and the customer.”

From “The Nordstrom Way”

By Spector and McCarthy

13. Is this person honest and forthright?

Honest with him or herself, honest with his or her capabilities and honest with his or her personal shortcomings? We, at green garden gates, have no tolerance for shading of the truth. We want to hear the bad news now, unvarnished and raw and we want to hear it the first of a conversation, not the last of the discussion.

"Mr. Corleone is a man who insists on hearing bad new immediately"

Tom Hagen to Woltz

The Godfather

#14. Does the candidate have a “mentor” in his or her personal and professional life?

“After twenty-five years in the garden store business, I wish I would have had a me around when I was young and just starting”

Brad Teeform

Garden store owner

Nevada

This is question that gives real insight into the candidate. Does the person place great value in the lesson learned from someone who has been down the path before. That trial and error history can save countless hours of problem solving and tons of money. Often, young managers are so determined to blaze the trail themselves that they resent the opinions and conclusions of others who have been there. What are some specific examples where the mentor has helped with the success of a problem or project?

When I was a young guy, I worked in San Francisco for a man who sold used refrigeration display cases for those tiny corner grocery stores all over the city. One day we got a call to delivery a large case. As we were unloading this big hulky thing off the truck, I saw an old man and woman inside the store holding on to each other tightly and weeping. A young man opened the door for us and ordered us to place the case in the center of the store between the narrow aisles. It seems that this young man was the son of the old couple and was taking over the store from his parents.

We set the case down, straightened and leveled it. The large case had completely blocked the only two aisles in the store. No one could get past the case on either side to shop. The mother started crying and the father started yelling. The young man just stood there. He refused our offer to take it back. He was going to show his father that he knew better. He was smarter. He was in charge now. The case was his with no place to put it except right there blocking the aisles. That case was destined to ruin this old family business.

Don’t you think that over fifty years of walking up and down that store, the couple did not think about a larger case to increase their business? Don’t you think that they had measured that space many many times trying to think of ways to fit a new case there and that they told their son over and over that it would not work? The son didn’t care what they thought. He just wanted that new case and he was going to fit the thing in there.

We drove off that day with everybody yelling at each other. The old couple watched their customers now unable to get even a loaf of bread at the back of their store!

Listen to Experience. Listen to others who have walked that path before you. Understand that experience matters.

Shut up and listen!

#15. Does the candidate see the vision and have the perseverance to move toward success no matter what obstacles are in the path?

It is difficult in those lonely early cold spring weeks; to keep plodding along, get the displays built and the plants ready for sale. It’s easy to put off the work and wait for some warm days for that nasty work. But, when the warm days come in a garden store, time is up. There is nothing left for preparation. It is just strap yourself in and ride the roller coaster of spring planting. Can the candidate overcome the obstacles and meet the deadlines for success at green garden gates?

"When I was a young boy, I lived in a small farming town in Nebraska. One evening, I watched a college guy on television pole vaulting in a national track meet. How much fun that would be, holding that pole high up into the air and swinging my body over that steel bar and falling to earth!

Next to our house was an old vacant weedy lot that was on the crest of the hill. I paced it back and forth and decided that I had just enough room to run the length of it. I cut away the brush and made a crude little pathway. I found some old boards in my dad’s garage, sawed and hammered together a couple of supports and carefully measured and placed long nails at intervals on the supports to hold a crosspiece between them.

My dad and I talked about my big plan. He went to the hardware store and bought me a huge long thick wooden curtain rod for my “pole”. I got out the paint and candy striped it red and white. My dad asked of his buddies from the mill to dump a load of sawdust at the lot and I shoveled the next three days moving that pile into my pit to make a soft landing. I gathered thin little pieces of long wood, put one of them across the supports on the nails, walked back to the end of my path, faced my creation, ran down the path and hurled myself over the crosspiece, falling onto the soft sawdust. I was hooked! All that hot summer, I was at the lot, alone in that little patch of weeds, just me and my candy striped pole, staring down the line at that strip of wood hanging high in the air.

But, I soon ran out of those little wood crosspieces. One miss and they would break in two. I looked way down over the hill into the backyard of a house. There they were, a treasure of hundreds of those little strips of wood in a pile! I would climb down the steep hill and across the meadow and carefully sneak into the backyard, grab an bunch of them and run back up to my pole and my sawdust pile. Every time, I missed and broke the wood, I thought of that long climb back over that hill. I learned fast how to get over that bar without breaking the wood!

That autumn, I went to a large school in a big city. I was the all city high jump and pole vault champion. The other boys laughed with me. The pretty girls smiled at me. It all was because of that vacant lot, my candy striped pole, and a pile of sawdust.