What follows is a memo I sent to our team a few days ago.
After getting several bids and checking references, we hired a company (owned by a guy called Tony) to do the landscaping for our home. It was a fairly big project since the unfinished backyard was not level, was full of dirt and stone. In less than 14 days Tony transformed our yard from a vacant lot into a very nice looking backyard. From past experience, I would have expected this project to take several months. I guess we picked the right person for the job!
He worked side by side with the workers he had hired. Everyone who saw Tony working including our neighbors were amazed. To quote my neighbor “When the owner of the business gets down on his knees, digs, cuts, installs, and works right along with his team … wow!”
He started every single day at 6:30 am and would work until 8/9 pm with very few breaks. He is so intense during work that I would hesitate to interrupt him. He was “in the zone”. It seemed that every single day he had decided (and probably visualized), even before the day had started, what he would finish for that day. Come hell or high water he was going to accomplish that one day goal, and by gosh he did.
When we got a chance to speak, he explained to me how the small bulldozer he uses is 15K more expensive than what other people in the industry use but he chose to invest in it because it allows him to work even when it rains (he does not get stuck in the mud like the others do). Last night we came home after going to the movies with the family, as we approached our home around 9:30 pm I see the whole yard is lit. As we got closer I see his entire crew was still working! He explained to me that they had to finish laying the grass and he uses projectors so he can work after dark.
So much of what he does and how he does things reminds me of us, in the first five years of Tenrox when absolutely no obstacle was too big. We had the same instinct, raw desire, and intensity he has today. Just seeing how he works has re-energized me!
The World economy in general and the United States specifically have experienced a significant almost unprecedented slowdown and huge, real losses. Many very well known companies were wiped out or had to resort to substantial layoffs to try to adjust to the new market forces of slower growth and lack of credit.
I hope more of you will remember Tony when you come to work tomorrow. Focus on results, have a specific achievable target for every single day you are present at work, get into the zone, and finish what you started instead of jumping from task to task, accomplishing very little. This kind of attitude will ensure that we (Tenrox) remain unbeatable. Who can compete with that!?
Work as if you have to.
It is surprising what a man can do when he has to, and how little most men will do when they don’t have to.
- Walter Linn
