Several times during the Broadway show that won the Tony Award for Best Musical in 1991, an actor seated with the audience stood up and exclaimed in a joyous voice, “We are going to blow up Will.” On stage, Keith Carradine, playing the title character in “The Will Rogers Follies,” responds, “Not yet, Wiley,” delaying the ending everyone knows is coming, in which the legendary comedian was killed in a plane crash. with aviation pioneer Wiley Post in Alaska.
Will Rogers was born on November 4, 1879, in the Indian Territory of what would become Oklahoma. From his early years as a cheater on Wild West shows, to the Vaudeville Theater and The Ziegfield Follies, to being the highest-paid actor in Hollywood, Rogers became one of the most recognizable figures in the nation. At the time of his death, his weekly column in the syndicated newspaper reached 40 million Americans, a third of the total population. Today, 70 years later, Rogers’ popular humor is still relevant:
On politics: “I’m not joking. I just look at the government and report the facts.”
In the media: “All I know is what I read in the newspapers, and that is an alibi for my ignorance.”
On celebrities: “I’m not a real movie star. I still have the same wife I started with 28 years ago.”
On public spending: “So that leaves us without any economic problems, except maybe one day to have to pay them.”
On integrity: “Long live so that you are not ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip.”
Success Manager Action: As an early investor in West Coast real estate, Rogers’ 300-acre family ranch is a California state park in what is now Pacific Palisades, Will also understood business: “Even if you’re in the right way, you will be run over if you just sit there. ” It had the wonderful characteristic of being able to simplify things, so that everyone could identify with them. Use these questions to gauge how much you are simplifying things in your small business:
~ Who on your team knows the compelling reason customers buy from you?
~ What is your main product / service? Do all the members of your team understand it?
~ Where are the gaps in your small business and what are you doing to fill them?
~ When was the last time you shared your vision and how to get there with your team?
~ How many of your procedures are written … with step-by-step instructions?
Perhaps Will Rogers’ greatest gift was using observation as a way to understand what was happening in the world around him. He took his own first-hand experiences and communicated them to mass audiences long before Headline News, 24/7 talk radio, and blogging made everyone seemingly an expert at something. By taking the time to think about what he was seeing and hearing, Rogers found clarity and then shared it.
Success Manager Action: How Often Do You Observe What Is Happening In Your Small Business? Are you stuck in the daily grind of putting out fires, or are you struggling to step back and think about how to improve your operations step by step? Here are five ways to take a look at what’s going on around you:
1. Spend one morning a month away from the office, focusing on the big picture.
2. Guide your team members, helping them identify the areas in which they need to grow.
3. Hire a professional business coach for honest feedback and guidance.
4. Write down all the ways you would “attack” your business, if it were your competition.
5. Fly above your small business, looking at it from the 10,000 foot level to gain new perspectives.
Of course, Will and Wiley eventually flew, and America lost a beloved artist. Will’s most famous epitaph and quote is: “I never met a man that I didn’t like.” That philosophy served him well throughout his life, helping him create a legacy that lives on today. Take the same approach for your small business, for your customers, employees, and vendors, and you’ll get your own legendary results.
Copyright © 2005 by Success Handler, LLC. All rights reserved.