Yes, I’m emailing on my day off (my birthday) but my husband gave me a gift this morning that made me think of both of you and Drexel. A hand carved wood bowl that came with quite the inspiring letter from the creator. See the attached pictures. We sell lumber for a living but it’s so much more than just that. We take a simple thing (a piece of wood, piece of siding, etc.) and help to turn it into a thing of beauty. Someone’s home. Someone’s happiness.
We come across people that aren’t always the most fun to deal with, may scream and holler some days but at the end of the day they are people too. It’s always easier to write these people off and move on to the next. May each of us look for the beauty within each contractor, client and team member and always remember each person has a hidden beauty inside that shouldn’t be overlooked.
As leaders we should always remember to give each person we encounter a chance and look for that uniqueness they posses.
Thanks for the day and allowing me to be a part of Team Blue. — ALICIA SCHIESS
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— – Joel Fleischman. Joel is Head Coach of the solution providers for Drexel Building Supply. (drexelteam). You can follow him on twitter: @JoelmFleischman. Our mission is to be a supplier of others happiness. I hope this little post did just that.
After attending the National LBM Journal 2016 strategies conference in Charlotte with Doug and Caitlin- where Caitlin and I both spoke… I’ve got a lot to share with you. You always get a new perspective on things when you talk to other dealers and the perspectives you get traveling.
Team,
We are known nationally for what we are doing. I had people come up to me from Florida, Iowa, California, Texas, Louisiana and more and all said basically the same thing. We watch you guys, you are an inspiration to us, and keep doing what you are doing!
However, I also felt we are getting fat and lazy. Things are working pretty good. We are busy, we are making money, we laugh more than we used to. What a dangerous position to be in. We must continue to get 1% better. In every way. One thing I’ve noticed from my perspective is our standing operating procedures (as they say in the military) can be compromised quickly when we make EXCUSES because we are busy. One example, we have builders that one a full house delivered, the next day… that’s nuts right? Yet, we love to make miracles happen so we allow it. Why? Will the builder leave if we explain we just can’t do that, that is takes up to 6 hours to pull a house start. I don’t think so. Or are we simply not being organized on their behalf as we promised? Hmm… I wonder. I do know it’s certainly not a healthy situation. Or in one store we had 28, 28 DWI’s in one week. What’s a DWI? Deliver when in. It’s lazy at worse, careless at best. Just because an item is in doesn’t necessarily mean GET IT TO THE JOBSITE SOON AS WE CAN. Yet, 28 is the reality. We can certainly improve in many ways. That’s my job to make sure we are.
And really it’s not about CHANGING TO CHANGE OR ANYTHING NUTS AND STRESSFUL… JUST 1% BETTER EACH DAY… THAT WORKS AND WE CAN ALL DO THAT.
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Here’s a neat thing. On the movie “Finding Nemo” there is popular scene which I quote often, “Just keep swimming, just keep swimming…” What does that mean? That in the act of believing, and in the act of doing you will figure it out. Going FORWARD is the MOST IMPORTANT thing. The rest happens along the way. Dory does end up finding her way.
In another scene fish stuck in an aquarium are encouraged to find a happy place. See they are stuck and afraid and never leave the confines of the glass. They are stuck. So they get frightened and retreat.
Are we Dory or the star fish?
What is the best version of who you want to be?
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One thing I learned at the conference…
Brands.
Baby boomers buy from a person. Or a product.
Baby boomers say I buy from Jason. Younger folks say I buy from Drexel, they buy from a team.
How true that is… I can think of many examples of this at Drexel.
Also and to me more interesting baby boomers buy brands of products. I always buy Levis, Dodge. I always have Miller Lite. Younger generations buy from places and trust they have good products.
Amazon prime is a great example for me. I buy online at Amazon prime. If it is rated good there I trust it. Same for zappos shoes. I buy my shoes online, if it’s good enough for zappos, it’s good enough for me. Costco is the same. If it’s good enough for Costco, I’m not judging, actually I’d prefer it. Really even the same for beers. Younger generations go to local bars and ask what do you have on tap, what’s the local flavor around here. They trust that restaurant not the product.
And that is HUGE for what we do at Drexel. Less is more. More trusted products, our builders trust our expertise to pick great products for their homes. Not vice versa like it used to be. Good stuff right there…
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Interesting one supply company there,,, when they guaranteed a list THEY SIMPLY WILL NOT EVER, give them the list. You want one guaranteed amount, we will meet your specs after review, but no list. That way they can’t compare or cherry pick. I like it. Up to your world if that makes sense, just info here.
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“Chooses to Cheat”
My favorite speaker Glen from U.S. Lumber says he challenges his people to cheat. Time is your #1 thing in life. So you are either cheating your family or cheating your work. Cheat work more. I agree. He asks people daily, “Are you cheating enough?” Makes sense. We will continue to work on balance going forward here at Drexel.
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Two truths about late fees: 1. People pay them. 2. People know about them. Credit isn’t free and unlimited. Be sure you take that seriously with our clients.
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CLIENTS. Never customers, let’s start calling everyone CLIENTS.
I’d rather be a client than a customer. Little stuff like that is important!
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False sense of stability in the marketplace. Watch your slow paying customers and fire them before they take our money!
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Bigger isn’t Better. Better is Better.
That’s a well said statement.
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Charlotte is a cool town. I don’t know how to help homeless people. Like many things in life, it’s just easier to ignore, but certainly not the right thing. We are all very blessed. I like where I am at.
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— – Joel Fleischman. Joel is Head Coach of the solution providers for Drexel Building Supply. (drexelteam). You can follow him on twitter: @JoelmFleischman. Our mission is to be a supplier of others happiness. I hope this little post did just that.
Are you trying to mimic the person next to you, or someone else?
Are you worried you aren’t smart enough, have enough experience, or having trouble adapting?
These two things are the key ingredient to making your career a blooming success.
And they are so easy, you won’t even believe it.
JOY AND AUTHENTICITY.
JOY. People want to be around people that are happy. But be beyond happy, joyful. From your phone interactions to your demeanor in a casual hello, the best people are the most joyful. Joyful means no matter what storm is thrown at them, they realize life is a gift. Be joyful. People will be attracted to you like fish to water. Joyful is not only being happy, but expressing it. Oh, and if you have to… fake it. Soon you will fall into the groove. Which wolf will you feed?
AUTHENTIC. Be yourself. Don’t fake it. No not everyone will love you, we are all different, but everyone will appreciate you. YOU were made for a reason, every part of you, every piece of hair, or what’s left of your hair, and because of that, embrace that. People will appreciate that. They want the piece of you that they aren’t. They need you to be better themselves. BE REAL.
Think about it. Your favorite coach, your favorite teacher, your favorite relative. I bet they were JOYFUL AND AUTHENTIC. We tend to forget the rest.
— – Joel Fleischman. Joel is Head Coach of the solution providers for Drexel Building Supply. (drexelteam). You can follow him on twitter: @JoelmFleischman. Our mission is to be a supplier of others happiness. I hope this little post did just tha
The world is going to end when Hillary or Trump are elected.
Your town is going to forever suck because you have no good place to eat in town.
There are earthquakes in a country you never heard of, a mass murderer in a state you have never been, and a theft in a part of the city you will never enter. So you feel the world is scary, horrible, and worse.
A few years ago I quit watching the news.
Chaos sells. Drama sells. Good acts and deeds do not.
Same at the local bar or wherever you hang out.
Don’t get caught up in it.
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I’ve been told my entire adult life from Rush Limbaugh that we are on the brink of UTTER DISASTER. I’m still here. So is Drexel. Not much has changed.
Obama did not make my life worse or better.
There are so many GOOD STORIES if you look for them. God doesn’t promote his good works on the nightly news. But the devil does!
I don’t care what Kim Kardashian is doing, but I do care what our little Kim needs at our local schools.
If we focus on the good and beauty in the world we see it. If we focus on the bad we see it too. Are dandelions flowers or weeds? Really it is your choice isn’t it?
Don’t watch the news. Don’t sit by the guy in the bar that always bitches. Quit following people on facebook that think life sucks. They will just bring you down. And for gosh sakes VOTE, but don’t get too caught up in it…
All the worrying you have done because of whats on the news and who is your current political leader, how has that ever helped you?
Ecclesiastes 8:14-16
— – Joel Fleischman. Joel is Head Coach of the solution providers for Drexel Building Supply. (drexelteam). You can follow him on twitter: @JoelmFleischman. Our mission is to be a supplier of others happiness. I hope this little post did just that.
The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.
Proverbs 11:25
Make a difference today and be generous towards others. One of the best ways to be generous is by giving words of encouragement. Encourage people around you today, and you’ll see that you yourself will be refreshed! There’s nothing like the feeling you get from bringing a genuine smile to someone’s face. Try thoughtfully encouraging and you will receive enrichment from your generous words.
Team,
This has NOTHING to do if you are a coach, store leader, or a veteran here. ANYONE SHOULD ENCOURAGE OTHERS. THAT’S not a job duty of a few, but of all.
— – Joel Fleischman. Joel is Head Coach of the solution providers for Drexel Building Supply. (drexelteam). You can follow him on twitter: @JoelmFleischman. Our mission is to be a supplier of others happiness. I hope this little post did just that.
A few years ago I believe PRIDE in our company was a key ingredient to who we were. If we are proud of what we do I thought, surely we are doing something right. And yes that is better than “not giving a shit” but it’s not enough. Pride as key ingreedient was wrong. Dead wrong.
Pride kills good companies, it helps bad companies, but destroys good ones. Destroys it from the inside out. Eats away at change, success and true happiness for your team and our customers.
Pride makes major issues to our customers seem small or insignificant to us:
Examples:
“Hey that guy has to realize we are awesome usually, just this one time we did something sort of wrong, but it was his fault too, he’s a poor communicator.”
“It was just a little problem and we put our superhero cape on and fixed it right away. I’m sure she’s happy now.”
“People know how good we are. I am sure they will buy from us.”
“Customers should thank us, not them, because you know we do a lot for them.”
“I didn’t have time to talk to the person so I just emailed them. I mean they already know how much I care.”
“No one else in the company sells product X, but I do, my customers love it. I’m smarter than the whole company and darn it I’ll show them!”
OH REALLY????
How arrogant we can be!
PRIDE also makes us not embrace change. Or fix mistakes. We’d rather say, but hey WE ARE DREXEL, WE ARE AWESOME, WHY CHANGE? … until it’s too late…
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Team,
Our OTIF is 96%. We do about 300 deliveries some days. Each day we disappoint 12 customers with loads that are wrong.
We have billing errors, estimate errors, all of us can make a mistake and often do!
We have issues.
Are we forever fixing the real problem or just moving on to the next sale? PRIDE LOVES THE NEXT SALE, and hates making that 1% improvement each day. Check your ego at the door and get your shit together first!
It’s not that we have the problems, it’s how we fix them. Fall seven, RISE EIGHT!
Don’t ignore the problems because of pride, make that extra call to apologize profusely. Send them a hat with a next load and tell them we are sorry we added stress to their busy day.
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PRIDE.
I had a WOW-BULANCE.
I found a deal on craiglist for $5,000.
I had it fixed up sweet.
I spent 10,000 on repairs.
I spent $5,000 on a full wrap.
I promoted and it and thought, man this thing rocks.
I spent $5,000 more after intial repairs as it broke down.
I was so PRIDEFUL of MY IDEA.
I, I, I, I, I.
I thought I had all the answers. I, was wrong.
The wowbulance is beyond repair and is now just an expensive billboard. It’s a big fat $25,000 mistake, Mr. Pride got in the way.
I learned from it. I’m not a vehicle guy, WE HAVE A TEAM IN PLACE FOR THAT.
WE > I.
I SCREWED UP, WE WILL RISE!
How can you humble up today and HELP SOMEONE, JUST BECAUSE… YOU KNOW IT’S THE RIGHT THING TO DO… ?
— – Joel Fleischman. Joel is Head Coach of the solution providers for Drexel Building Supply. (drexelteam). You can follow him on twitter: @JoelmFleischman. Our mission is to be a supplier of others happiness. I hope this little post did just that.
When you wear the blue, and bleed the blue blood… you take on the responsibility of competing. Competing is NOT winning or losing!
It’s earliest definition in Latin, says nothing about winning or losing. It’s simply to “contend or strive for something.”
It’s the effort to do your best to win and pushing your teammates to give their best also. It’s continually improving. It’s competing for the love of it.
And when you are on the Drexel family… you never, ever, ever give up.
RISE.
fall 1.
RISE 2.
fall 2.
RISE 3.
fall 3.
RISE 4.
fall 4.
RISE 5.
fall 5.
RISE 6.
fall 6.
RISE 7.
fall 7.
RISE 8.
“FALL 7, RISE 8.”
— – Joel Fleischman. Joel is Head Coach of the solution providers for Drexel Building Supply. (drexelteam). You can follow him on twitter: @JoelmFleischman. Our mission is to be a supplier of others happiness. I hope this little post did just that.
This time of year… you want to enjoy summer in Wisconsin and you also need to work your tail off. Oh man…
Team,
I want you to know Drexel is FLEXIBLE. Your coach or leader may never tell you… take the afternoon off and go swimming. Go see your child practice. Go spend time with your wife on your anniversary. The fish are biting… come in a little late. Take a walk this afternoon and enjoy the day… I need to go to mass this morning…
WE WILL NEVER TELL YOU THAT, BUT WANT YOU TO DO THAT!
WHAT? WHY? HUH?
WE DON’T KNOW YOU HAVE THESE THINGS GOING ON, WE DON’T KNOW WHAT YOUR SOUL NEEDS…BUT YOU DO. AND WE WANT YOU TO ENJOY LIFE WHENEVER YOU CAN!
SO PLEASE WORK WITH YOUR TEAM WHEN YOU FEEL LIKE YOU NEED TO BREAK AWAY… PLANNING AND COMMUNICATION IS THE KEY.
We also know… a player refreshed is better than than a player distracted, tired and stressed.
BALANCE. A KEY CORE VALUE THAT YOU CONTROL.
Discuss with your coach and store leader if you need some time off…
a tired superhero …
is not nearly as good as one filled with so much energy it overflows to everyone they meet. That is when you are at your best. It’s when you have found your calling: to supply happiness.
And we saw this while shopping yesterday… too good not to share…
— – Joel Fleischman. Joel is Head Coach of the solution providers for Drexel Building Supply. (drexelteam). You can follow him on twitter: @JoelmFleischman. Our mission is to be a supplier of others happiness. I hope this little post did just that.
Why not every day? Why can’t we treat our family like we do on Christmas? Why can’t we treat our veterans like we do on veterans day? Our moms and dads on their day? Why can’t we love our nation like we do on July 4th? Why can’t we be thankful like we are on Thanksgiving? Why can’t we love our Lord like we do on Easter? It’s a choice. We CHOOSE to do these things on “special” days. Make every day special!
This is really amazing. The best coaches in the world, and Pat Summit was certainly one of them, seem to figure it out along the way. It’s about sports but so much more. Coach Summit recently past away; she was the Tennessee Volunteer basketball coach for decades. Her player Sheila Collins saved a letter the coach wrote to her just prior to her first game in 1982 for the Vols. Sheila shared it with Sally Jenkins and that letter was posted in the Washington Post recently.
Shelia, This is your first game. I hope you win for your sake, not mine. Because winning’s nice. It’s a good feeling. Like the whole world is yours. But it passes, this feeling. And what lasts is what you’ve learned. And what you’ve learned about is — life. That’s what sport is all about — life!
The whole thing is played out in an afternoon. The happiness of life, the miseries, the joys, the heartbreaks. There’s no telling what will turn up. There’s no telling how you’ll do. You might be a hero. Or you might be absolutely nothing.
There’s just no telling. Too much depends on chance, on how the ball bounces.
I’m not talking about the game. I’m talking about life. But it’s life that the game is all about. Just as I said, every game is life, and life is a game. A serious one. Dead serious. But here’s what you do with serious things. You do your best. You take what comes.
You take what comes and you run with it.
Winning is fun . . . Sure.
But winning is not the point.
Wanting to win is the point.
Not giving up is the point.
Never letting up is the point.
Never being satisfied with what you’ve done is the point.
The game is never over. No matter what the scoreboard reads, or what the referee says, it doesn’t end when you come off the court.
The secret of the game is in doing your best. To persist and endure, “to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”
I’m proud to be your Coach,
Pat Head Summitt
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A Jon Gordonism to focus on this week:
Positive leaders:
-Are optimistic about the future
-Believe in their team
-Embrace challenges
-Grow from failure
-Keep moving forward
— – Joel Fleischman. Joel is Head Coach of the solution providers for Drexel Building Supply. (drexelteam). You can follow him on twitter: @JoelmFleischman. Our mission is to be a supplier of others happiness. I hope this little post did just that.
A coach told him you can do anything if you believe in yourself.
She then said to the player doubting himself.
“Go, move that rock.”
It was a huge boulder.
He tried and tried and couldn’t move it.
He gave up. He said it was impossible.
She went over and helped him.
She said, “Son, you didn’t try your best, you didn’t ask someone for help. Often you see you can’t do it yourself, but you can encourage your team to help. Nothing is impossible.”
TEAM.
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Don’t wait for your life to start. Get on the ride. Hit the gas and go for it.
No one was ever created to be normal. Use your skills that you uniquely have.
— – Joel Fleischman. Joel is Head Coach of the solution providers for Drexel Building Supply. (drexelteam). You can follow him on twitter: @JoelmFleischman. Our mission is to be a supplier of others happiness. I hope this little post did just that.
Joel Fleischman's Blog 
