Company Blog

If You Had to Choose

by Adam Zack — December 27, 2017

Would they choose our store?

Do you ever play out the scenario “If you had a gun to your head and you HAD to choose…” followed by something like one food to eat the rest of your life, or one album to listen to, or which kid is your favorite? Kind of like Sophie’s Choice*, but without the death consequence for the child you didn’t choose. When it comes to shopping, a loathsome chore in my book, I used to have discussions with my two daughters about shopping and my strong aversion to malls. I told them that I could be happy for the rest of my life with only two stores – Jensen’s (our grocery store) and Target (for clothes, entertainment, housewares). Home Depot might be a close third. The scenario would never play out in real life, but it got me thinking about the question that if someone had a gun to my head and I could only choose ONE grocery store to shop at for the rest of my life, what would it be? All things would have to be considered – prices, selection, quality, service. No longer would I be able to get paper towels and foil at Costco and potstickers at Trader Joes and fresh meat at Jensen’s. It would be all in one til death do us part. The more interesting part of the question would be what...

by Adam Zack — December 20, 2017

Susan was just too lazy to pass those potatoes to Pa.

Nicknames have been part of our culture forever. John Smith was called Smitty. His son, John Smith, Jr. was just called Junior, or sometimes “Little Smitty”. My brother John, who likes to play football, is Moose. I have a brother who is sometimes hard to find nicknamed 007. We used to torment my youngest brother until he’d get so ticked off at us we’d start calling him Ticker, which ticked him off more. My youngest daughter was small, so she was Teenie, and her sister was bigger, so she was Biggie. My wife is funny and weird sometimes, so she’s “Weirdo”, which I suppose are traits we both share so I am “The Weirdest”. Like most stereotypes, there’s some kind of truth or connected story with the nickname and the actual person or thing. I never really liked to have a nickname, but if I was “Ace”, “Chief”, “Boss”, “Megatron”, “The Hawk” or “Black Mamba” I suppose I’d be on board. So I got to thinking just how did the Lazy Susan get its name? I imagine a big family sitting around a table and Pa saying: “Susan, pass me the potatoes.” Susan goes: “But pa, my arms tired. It’s too far. I’m too weak. I don’t have the energy.” ...

by Adam Zack — December 13, 2017

Investing in your store requires belief in yourself

Man, investing is a commitment. It’s sometimes scary and many times risky. It’s expensive and often takes years to recoup. And sometimes you hit the jackpot, and sometimes you lose your shirt. When we were young, my dad always encouraged us to stretch our financial limits to gain assets. He told us that if we wanted to get ahead, we had to take the risk – albeit a reasonable risk with due diligence done. And it’s mostly worked – except for the times we didn’t do our homework and got caught up in things like the tech bubble or things that just seemed too good to be true. Live and learn. Remember and don’t make the same mistakes again. But don’t stop investing. Saving is not investing. Investing in your store, or your future, or your house has a big upside in terms of payback. Saving keeps your money safe, but it does nothing to reward you besides being there when you want to look at it. Like being in miserable relationship but doing nothing about it, even when the cute single girl asks you for coffee, investing in your happiness involves risk and change. Some people have no appetite for investing, and that’s OK. Some of the best people in the world are safe and stable and ha...

by Adam Zack — December 5, 2017

Preparation is the hard part.

Mike Krzyzewski (pronounced Shuh-shef-ski, if you can believe that), also known as Coach K, is one of the top college basketball coaches of all time. He has won 5 national championships and has the most wins all-time in NCAA tournament play. He’s in the conversation for greatest coach in history, not too far behind John Wooden, the best ever. I was listening to him on a radio interview this week, and he made a statement that doesn’t just apply to basketball, or sports, but to our everyday work and even our lives in general. He was talking about his players, and he said that everyone wants to play, but everyone doesn’t want to prepare to play. Preparation is the hard part. Preparation is doing the homework, hitting the gym, eating right, not partying, practicing. The fun, the glory and the adrenaline is all in playing the game, but the key to winning is doing the prep work, which is work. The game is what you play. The work is what you do to win. Everyone wants to play, but winners do the work. When we were kids it was always “Come out and play!” It was fun, it was no consequences. We did the work when we had to study for tests, and it wasn’t fun, unless you were stu...

by Adam Zack — November 29, 2017

Once funny now offensive, and for good reason.

Most people have seen the TV show “The Office.” One of Michael Scott’s (Steve Carell) famous and most frequently used responses in conversations were “That’s what she said.” A few examples: “Wow, this is really hard.” That’s what she said. “I want you to think about your future with this company. I want you to think about it long and hard.” That’s what she said. You get it – it takes a perfectly legitimate and benign statement and turns it into something sexually related and out of context. I can remember the comment being said going all the way back to the movie Wayne’s World. And it was always funny. The key word is was. Change is good. Change is necessary. Change is inevitable. And let me tell you, change in the workplace environment where jokes and innuendo like “That’s what she said” were funny and happened every single day has come. And it’s come with the publicity and awareness that is almost unprecedented. The lawyers are ready to move in with lawsuits and what might have been tolerated in the past is now on the service and making uncomfortable situations in the workplace reportable offenses. What was once funny is now offensive. And for good reason. The bo...

by Adam Zack — November 22, 2017

Free Beer

I’m thankful every single day. For the blessings, the challenges, the successes and the failures. There’s a gift in every interaction, and something learned from every thing I screw up. Free choice, free speech, free love and free beer. Wait, there’s no free beer. Thanksgiving Day is one to especially reflect on how truly great we have it in America (and Canada, for you Canucks reading along). How lucky we are that we can sit down at our computer or look at our emails on our phone and our biggest worry is that our battery might run out of charge soon or your operating system needs an update. We pretty much have it that good. So as I look forward to Thanksgiving Day with family, friends, food, wine and football, here are 10 things I am especially Thankful for this year.

I learned how to listen, and how not to be pissed when the person I am talking to doesn’t.
It’s OK not to finish books 5 through 7 of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series, even though I invested all summer reading books 1-4.
The Simpsons. 28 years and still the funniest dialogue on TV.
That I have the opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives and the insight to know it when it presents itself.
Any
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Get Out of Jail Free

by Adam Zack — November 14, 2017

Threat of failure looms large

My favorite part of Monopoly is the Get Out of Jail Free card. I could take risks with borderline crazy chances and hunches, and if they didn’t work out and I ended up in the clink I could produce that special card, and voila! No more jail. Not even probation or community service to do! I emerged a free man with a clean record, able to learn from my mistakes and forge ahead exonerated, my record expunged, a twinkle in my eye and an extra bounce in my step. Ah, if only there were such a thing in real life. There isn’t, is there? But wait, I have the power to make things happen and I want my employees to stretch for new ideas, to try different things, to use their creativity and ingenuity to make magic happen for our customers. But you know what? In a lot of companies employees are scared to death to try new creativity. Why? Because the threat of failure looms large and failure is seen by many employees as a jail sentence and they don’t have a get out of jail free card. We even set up the jail analogy by using terms like “probation period” for new workers. So what can you do about it? At your next manager meeting talk about the need for new ideas and the initiative it takes to move them forward. Like a sh...

by Adam Zack — November 8, 2017

El Jefe (Spanish for “the chief” or ”the boss”

I know this guy who owns a store and he was telling me a story about his store. He had set up a demo of a product by a vendor and committed to supply some sausage for the demo. Problem was he forgot to tell anyone at the store about it. So the demo person shows up when he’s not there and is looking for the sausage. No one at the store knew a thing about it. They are a good team, so they took care of business. When he got back to the store the next day, his maintenance supervisor told him the story, and said: “Communication, Jefe*, communication”.I grew up in an era of management and ownership where communication was non-existent to weak at best. The boss would swing through the store, declare the areas of his dissatisfaction, and move on to the next store. The departments that were spared the critiques felt a surge of relief, declaring “Whew! No news is good news!” They took it as a compliment that their department was good enough to not have any corrections pointed out. That’s terrible leadership. The boss couldn’t take the time to be like Santa and at least have a “good” and “bad” list. How hard would it be to point out something that pleased Jefe and not just...

by Adam Zack — November 1, 2017

Winning can be inspirational

“Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.” -Vince LombardiI’m in a quandary about winning. I was at the gym yesterday. We work out in small groups and start with a very brisk power walk with weights, about a mile or so. I usually finish first in the walk. (Don’t be too impressed – long legs and most of the other class is middle-aged ladies.) When the rest of the group got back the trainer said “Man, you really kicked our butts today!” I replied that it was the only thing in class that I could win at, because all of the other exercises are really hard and the middle aged ladies kick my butt. I got to thinking how much I like to win. I love to win. I hate to lose. Whether it’s playing cards, my sports teams, driving somewhere or getting the best deal on airfare – I have the need to be first. To win. The quandary comes with my recent “Leading groups effectively” class and the need to be right all the time. It’s not a good thing to have to be right. No bueno. So is the desire to win in the same boat as the desire to be right? Everyone loves a winner, so the saying goes. Everyone definitely does not love the dude who just has to be right all the time. In fa...

by Adam Zack — October 25, 2017

What have I done for you lately?

One thing we all have in common is that we are going to die. That’s sounds especially grim and Halloweenish, I know. Definitely doesn’t sound inspirational. But it’s true. I was asked the other day to help my dad write a eulogy for a dear friend of his that had recently passed. This man was one of the great family friends of our childhood. Always quick with a joke, polite as could possibly be, a great family man and humble all the way to his Irish soul. It was an honor that he’d ask me to help, and it made me think that when I die – when we all die – have we done the right thing by our friends, family, employees and customers? Will there be tears of sadness or attendance by duty only? Making the effort every single day to serve the people in our life and go to bed with the clean conscience of “I have no regrets today” helps thoughts of mortality not be so scary. If you asked your employees what they’d say at your wake and the best they can do is “He wasn’t a bastard every day” then maybe it’s time to step back and examine the everyday interactions we all have and instead of “What have you done for me lately?” ask “What have I done for you lately?” In one way, your suc...