The Janitor

Todd Hopkins and Ray Hilbert put together this little book entitled The Janitor. It is a business parable that teaches six principles on helping you succeed while balancing your home and work lives.

It’s a story of a successful business man who is stressed out and finds help in a new relationship with the Janitor. I enjoyed it, although I’m not ranking it in my top 5 for the year.

Below are the six principles or directives that are mentioned, but unless you read the book, you will not be able to appreciate them.

1. Recharge versus discharge.
2. View family as a blessing, not a responsibility.
3. Pray; don’t pout.
4. Pass it around.
5. Don’t spend; invest.
6. Leave a legacy.

How to Become CEO

I picked up How to Become CEO by Jeffrey J. Fox the other day and thoroughly enjoyed reading this little book. I think this will become one of the those handy little books to keep by my desk and review every now and then.

The chapters are bite-sized, and although I don’t agree with everything he suggests, the book provides a great platform for ideas as a leader. He covers over 70 different areas that you can work on to be a better manager and leader.

A Happy Meal and a Sad Story

As I’ve mentioned before, my hometown of Mocksville NC, didn’t have much back in the early 80’s when I was a kid. The only major chains I can remember having was a Hardee’s, Western Auto, and a Food Lion. By the time I had entered middle school a few more major stores started popping up. It was nice living in Mocksville, because we could make it to Salisbury, Statesville, or Winston-Salem all in about 30 minutes…all of which had McDonald’s. That was back in the day when Interstate speed limits were only 55 mph.

So, because Happy Meals weren’t a common item in my town, I always looked forward to taking a trip with mom down to Salisbury. About every other week, we would load up in our old yellow Toyota Cellica hatchback, and drive down highway 601. My mother always made it point to go see her grandmother who was in a nursing home there. We called her Ma Turner. Not Ma…but Ma Turner. I was only about 3-4 at the time, but I can still remember the trips like they were yesterday. I don’t know if I grasped the concept of a great grandmother at that age or even really cared how she was related to us. I was only concerned about the fact that Ma Turner didn’t have a left leg. It had been amputated. On every trip, I’d first make sure her leg still wasn’t there, then I head down the hall to look at the huge fish tank in the nursing home lobby. After that, I was pretty bored and made mom’s life miserable until we left.

So, to make up for my misery, mom always took me by the McDonald’s in Salisbury for a happy meal. THAT, was my favorite part of the trip.

Then one evening I remember mom answering the phone. She hung up with tears streaming down her face. I remember being scared not knowing what was wrong. I never remembered mom being so upset. Soon, she regained her composure, looked at me and said, “I’m ok, but Ma Turner just died.”

Apparently, I knew and understood what death was at that age. I knew Ma Turner wasn’t coming back. I immediately started crying myself, falling under the kitchen table in sorrow. Only, I wasn’t crying about Ma Turner. I was crying because I didn’t think I’d ever get to eat another Happy Meal again in my life. Now there was no reason to go to Salisbury anymore and at that age McDonald’s was now a lifetime away.

Now today, I know Happy Meals don’t mean as much as people. But, I remembered this story this weekend, because I bought my son his first Happy Meal on Saturday morning.