Truths My Father Told Me

“A Calm Sea Never A Seasoned Sailor Made”

It always amazes me to see individuals who are successful to a point, and then burn out quickly. (My father offered above quote early in my business career.) In business and in life, you’ll go through hard times.

If everything was smooth sailing, you’d never know how to sail yourself out of a storm. Now, the really experienced sailors work to avoid the storms in the first place, But, once in a while, you’ll find yourself in the middle of gale-force winds (so to speak) unexpectedly.

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Tom McNall

You won’t know what to do every minute, but you need to keep your wits about you. It’s how you ride out the storms of life that make you truly successful.

If you panic and show fear, your crew (on sea or on the job) won’t trust you and end up in their own panic. How does that get you out of the storm?

The marble industry threw many a storm at me when I was but an infant crawling around in it. When I was encouraging my right-hand man to take the leap to the next step (from lead hand to manager/sales), he expressed his fear of not knowing what to do.

I assured him that I was always scared, but I could never telegraph that to either him or the customers – for if I did, they wouldn’t trust me, and we wouldn’t be successful. He found that hard to believe (and he also no longer plays poker with me) as he always admired my confidence.

Don’t get me wrong here. I’m not saying that bluffing is the key to success. I’m merely pointing out that when the storms come, you need to be cognizant of your surroundings, the mental state of your staff and customer … and of your abilities. If you take charge, others will follow.

Most ship captains (back in the old days, anyway) had some experience as a deck hand or cabin boy, or at least spent some time on a ship before they took command of a huge vessel. In all that time spent on board, they likely saw rough waters and witnessed successful handling (or else they would’ve drowned).