My Favorite All Time Rick Reilly Article

CRUNCH TIME FOR DAD - June 6th, 2005
Dad?
Yeah, son?
What's that on the TV?
Oh, well, pal, that's, uh, that's the volume control. But we usually just use the remote. Like this.
No, Dad. The commercial. What's Viagrow?

Via-GRA. Well, that's, see, that's nothing you really need to know about until you're on, like, your third hip.

Mom said I was supposed to ask you. Viagra, See Alice and Lavoris--she said to ask you about all of them.

Cialis and Levitra. She did?
Yeah.

Pal, have you ever really looked at our ceiling down here? Because if you look at the ceiling tiles, you can make out animal shapes. Like, look right there, I see an elephant!

What?
Hey, look, the game's back on! Let's just sit here and watch the game, want to?
(Pause.)
Hey! There it is again, behind home plate! It says Viagra.
Jeez, that's some amazing coincidence, huh?
What's it mean, on the Cialis ads, when they say you should call your doctor if you get a four-hour--

Hey! I just found a nickel in the couch! You want to look for more? You can keep anything you find!
Dad, does Levitra help you throw the football straighter? Because the guy in the commercial uses Levitra, and then he can throw spirals right through the swinging tire. Because that might help me make starting quarterback next year.
No, no, it's really not about football, buddy.
Well, how come Mike Dinka was always on TV talking about Levitra? He played football.

DIT-ka. I can't imagine how broke he had to be to do that ad, to be honest.

Doesn't Viagra help you hit home runs? Because the guy for the Orioles, Rafael Palmerror, he did ads for it. And he's got more than 500 homers!
Palmei-RO. Well, no, I don't think it helps you hit home runs. But you know what? I think SpongeBob SquarePants might be coming on!
Is it illegal or something? Is it like when Sammy Sosa corked his bat?

Is it like corking your bat? Well, kinda yes, but kinda no.
Did baseball players advertise Viagra when you were a kid, Dad?
No! I mean, I can't see Mickey Mantle doing a Viagra ad. "Hi, I'm Mickey Mantle! And whenever I have trouble becoming...." Ah, never mind.

When we watch NASCAR, I see it on Mark Martin's car. VIAGRA. He got the pole position in the last race. Does Viagra help him get the pole position?
Psheesh! Really, son, don't worry about these ads for Viagra and all that, because a bill was just introduced in Congress to keep those commercials off our TV until after 10 p.m. So, you know, soon you probably won't be seeing them anymore.
Neither will you, Dad. You go to bed at 9:30.
Good point.

Justin says that somebody buys a Viagra nine times a second. Who's he talking about?
I don't know, but I'll bet he could really use a date.
What?
Nothing. Hey, I know, grab one of those copies of Sports Illustrated in that pile. You wanna go through it with me?
Sure! (Pause.) Dad, do all these girls in swimsuits play sports?
Well, some do. I--
How come this one's holding her swimsuit instead of wearing it? Does that make her swim faster?
O.K., forget that--
Wait! Here's an ad for Viagra, too!

Son, let's just drop this whole--
Might as well tell me, Dad. I can always go on the Internet.
(Sigh.) Well, uh, son, Viagra helps guys who--. See, Viagra is something that dads take when they're with moms and things aren't really happening--. See, uh, have I ever told you the story of Jack and the Magic Beans?
Where the magic beans make a huge beanstalk?
Yeah, it works kinda like that. Hey! It's time for SportsCenter! You wanna change the channel quick?

O.K.
Perfect! Let's just sit here quietly and check out what's going on in sports news.
(Pause.)
Dad, what's a Whizzinator?

No Yah-Yah

Recently I took our Y Executive team on a bench marking trip to visit DAXKO in Birmingham, AL. DAXKO is a fast growing tech company that is one of our key partners. (Thanks to CEO, David Gray and VP of People, Kris Dunn for their time.)

One of the funny things that we learned about their culture is they have this principle rule around the office called “No Yah-Yah.” It doesn’t sound like the Yah-Yah from the Sisterhood but more nasaly. (Sounds like ant) Say it to yourself……More nasal….perfect…No Yah-Yah!

It just means that you don’t complain and whine all the time. I recently shared in our staff training to “leave the drama with your mama!” It is the same principle.

We all have those people in our lives that are just negative. They are the naysayers. They sound like Charlie Brown in that everything that happens in their lives is bad. And when you have a story, they always trump it with a negative comment. They kill culture in your office. They destroy family gatherings, dinner parties, Sunday school, PTA, youth sports, yard work, nap time, car rides…you name it they stomp it into the ground. They create what a recent article in Men’s Health magazine calls “the Bitch Spiral.”

The people that bother me the most are the ones that can come up with 10 ways and idea want work instead of just one way that it can. Can’t never could and won’t never will!

Have you ever noticed that those people are never successful? I mean, the leaders in our world are never the cynics. Oh, you will get the occasional complaint or back to reality comment, but for the most part, great leaders are positive people. Think about it. Name a successful person that is negative all of the time. You can’t do it. Great leaders have to have the belief that they will succeed no matter the circumstances and that usually inspires other leaders around them.

Men’s Health references people like New York Yankee Derek Jeter, Bono, Steve Jobs, George Bush and Barack Obama as leaders who have passion for their jobs and an undeniable belief in themselves and the mission of their work. That is what inspires and motivates our peers, the people we lead and even those that lead us.

Make a pact that tomorrow at work, at home, at school or even in the back yard talking to your neighbor, whenever they start the bitch spiral, you spiral back. Be the better person and above the fray!

Remember, We “No Yah-Yah” around here!

Strategic Leadership

It seems that we constantly go faster and faster toward the future. Getting their faster is only making us anxious.

What if as leaders, we realize we cannot create the future we want by increasing the speed of change, by increasing the rush and the chaos? At some point it's up to us to say, "We must take time to think. We must take time to reflect." I think this is one of the most courageous acts a servant leader can do right now, is to attempt to slow things down, so that people can think about what they’re doing.

POISE

Have you ever just lost your cool? What would it take for you to just go “postal” on someone? In my job, I often have to “bite my tongue” or distract myself in some way just so I want put my foot in my mouth or cause more damage by saying or doing something stupid.

Last spring, at my son’s little league baseball game a mom came up to me and just read me the riot act. Right in front of my 15 year old daughter, she was verbally killing me over something like the chalk lines were not fresh. Of course she was breathing probably about 6 beers on me as she screamed. And she didn’t just make her point and quietly go away. She kept saying the same thing over and over again. I was doing my best listen first skills, but actually in my mind I was envisioning shoving her down the hill and seeing if her 1.7 blood alcohol level could keep her balance.

After about 10 minutes, I finally got her calm and over to her seat in the bleachers. Another mom came over and said she appreciated how poised I was during that altercation. While I appreciated her comments, I am not sure that biting my tongue and day dreaming of shoving her down a hill is necessarily poise under pressure.

Poise is really when you are just being your natural self without any show or pretense. When I think of poise I think of Mother Teresa, John Wooden, Grace Kelly, my grandfather.

The man in me often likes to organize things but not offer details. Some of my staff, (let’s be honest it’s some of the females) they need details. I always get questions like what should I wear, who is going to be there, what kind of food is being served, should I wear flats or heels, hair up or down, glasses or no glasses, and does this skirt make my butt look big! ARRRGGGGHH….just be yourself!

I digress….Poise is a combination of self control and confidence. It is hard to have that true aura of poise, but it is a culmination of being a dedicated worker, being enthusiastic, being friendly to everyone, being loyal, cooperative and alert. Poise is not being afraid to fail while realizing that we are human and we fail on occasion. Poise is trusting that God is in control!

Pray this week that God gives you the poise that comes from a spirit controlled life.