Ambassadors,
Many of you have expressed a lot of concern and curiosity about how we are doing and that means so much to us. All things considered we are doing well. Many of you have also been so kind with compliments on how we banded together and pivoted quickly to the situation we faced. How did we do that amidst the most harrowing period of our business career? We applied some valuable lessons learned first hand during the last fifteen years of business and mostly during the Great Recession. We knew going in that the only thing truly in our control as leaders and an organization was our mindset. We held a mandatory all staff meeting five weeks ago on Friday 3/13 to discuss the operational changes we had to make inside our restaurants but I spent most of the time candidly talking about the mindset we all needed to maintain as we faced the uncertainty of what was to come.We felt the strong winds approaching on that day but we had no idea the bottom was going to fall out. Were we all anxious and scared? Of course! But courage is never void of fear. It is about feeling it and then choosing to face it.
I hope these insights below might assist you or someone you care about process the period we are in now and forge ahead into the future.
Insights To Consider For Life & Business
Embrace the Suck
When you are in the thick of difficulties, adversity or even tragedy find a way to pull yourself out of the emotional storm to acknowledge you are in the crucible of life. Do everything you can to stay in this crucible and deal with whatever it is head on. Don’t allow yourself to be a victim. Trust there is a purpose behind everything and there will be silver linings relative to your growth that you could not previously see. You will not know when you will emerge, and that is hard, but eventually you will shoot out the other side of the crucible at a higher horizon of wisdom and strength that will serve you well. Study the most influential leaders throughout history and you will find a common theme amongst them. Their greatness was born from being able to overcome one or two critical events that was not anticipated nor planned for.
Always Good To Know Where You Really Stand
Adversity exposes true character, grit and motive of you and everyone around you. It is a painful but very beneficial audit on the health of our leadership, culture and strength of relationships. We knew the reservoir of trust with all of our stakeholders was already built or not over the last fifteen years and we were about to find out how much was in there.
The Balance That Matters Most
The value of Relationship Capital is not about who you know, it sits securely in how those you know really feel about you. It is the accumulation of all the deposits or withdrawals you create with the people you connect with day to day, moment to moment. It is an intangible accounting mechanism but a very real thing and you never know what the balance is until tragedy or crisis hits. Of all the forms of wealth I believe this is the most powerful. Furthermore, based on how you respond to crisis you can actually increase the balance of relationship capital while also tapping into it during your time of need. We experienced this for the first time during the recession and big time with the rally around Ryan and Jen Hidinger and what has come of that. Relationship capital fueled, funded and built The Giving Kitchen back in 2013 and still does today. In just 7 years, 4440 people helped and over $3.4 million in financial assistance. Powerful.
Lift and Look Under The Rocks
When the tide is high it covers up what is lurking below. When it goes out it is invaluable for you to see what is really going on. Don’t be mad if the water has left your shores momentarily. You will be able to see and look under all the rocks. Trust that the tide will come back and take advantage of the opportunity to reset, retool or rearrange your way of life or business. If you have the courage to lift and look what you may discover might be affirming or alarming and both could serve you a lifetime.
Adapt or Die
Natural Selection is always at play in the business world. It is not the strongest or smartest who will evolve and survive. It is those who have the traits that enable them to adapt to the environment they live in as it changes.
Bark or Bricks
Forest fires can be very damaging and its effects can certainly scar a once flourishing environment but forest fires can also prove to be beneficial for the long term health of ecosystems. The deadwood burns to never come back, but those trees that are healthy and over time developed thick enough bark can survive and thrive once again. Refer to The Three Little Pigs fable for another angle on this concept.
As crazy as it may sound, we could not feel more fortunate than we do right now. Much of that is because of your belief, care, trust and confidence in us!
With deep gratitude,
Ryan
PS- Thank you for reading to the end. Bagels for your belly on sale now> One more week offered to Ambassadors only. Muss is baking off 30 orders for this week. Online orders only. Pick up at MTH Pizza Saturday between 4- 8pm.
PSS- MTH Pizza will now be open on Sundays going forward starting this week.
