Parting Words
The Power to Choose
Jim Lee, LPC Executive Editor
A
person in control of their life should have only to make two decisions a day: ■ Morning—Scrambled or fried ■ Afternoon—Walk or ride This is a quote that I have hanging in my office, and for any of you scratching your head, it refers to making choices on breakfast and golf. Choices begin once we wake up in the morning and don’t stop until we fall asleep at night. Regardless of whether it is our business or personal schedule, we have choices or alternatives. Think about this. You wake up and have to decide to go to work or not. If you go to work, you have to decide what to do, and then decide to give it your A-game or just go through the motions. The choices and decisions we have to make every day never stop. It can really get confusing. Never are there more choices to make than when you attend a national conference, whether it is FMI, RILA, NRF, ASIS, or NFSSC. The most recent conference I attended was the NRF LP show in San Diego. The choices start when you first arrive in town. Do I play golf today or
The recently passed country singer George Jones had a big hit song called “Choices” where he said, “I’ve had choices since the day that I was born. There were voices that told me right from wrong.” Choose wisely. not? In this case the golf is a charity event for missing kids made possible by the USS Foundation. Giving is optional, so you have to choose to support the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Many over the years have made the giving choice, and in the past ten years over a million dollars have been given by the LP community. This was indeed another record-setting year for this event. Most all conferences begin with an easy choice—the keynote speaker. It was an easy choice to hear Rorke Denver of the U.S. Navy SEALs speak about leadership, preparation, and teamwork. It was an outstanding choice for a keynote and outstanding presentation.
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Then the choices get harder as you have to make a choice from five sessions. How do you do that? The exhibit hall and lunch require little decision making—just go eat, complain if you will about the food, walk around the hall and speak to vendors...or not. The hall is really a great place to network with friends, peers, and meet new people. This can be discouraging as some don’t choose to want to meet new people—a bad choice in my opinion, but a choice nonetheless. After the hall you have to make a choice again among five sessions before the day closes with a general session; finally an easy choice again. That session was presented by a favorite of many of us—Larry Barton, one of the real leaders on violence in the workplace and crisis management. Days two and three bring about the same types of choices. From what I chose to see and from what I heard from others, this was a conference with lots of good choices. So, kudos to Rich Mellor and the retail LP leadership team who work so hard in developing the agendas. One last special session deserves special recognition. That is the awards session led by Melissa Mitchell of LifeWay Christian Stores. The NRF presented the Ring of Excellence award to George Luciano for his lifetime of contributions to the industry. This was way overdue and a superb choice. Since I am writing about choices, I must say that San Diego is special and an excellent choice. I vote for a conference in San Diego every year. It has great golf, the ocean, boat rides, restaurants, a zoo, big league baseball, Sea World, old San Diego town, and the best weather in the U.S. How do you fit all of that in with the sessions? You have to make choices. This column is entitled “The Power to Choose,” with the emphasis on the word “Power.” Determining the best course of action to take, evaluating your alternatives, and making a choice when you are at the fork of the road is individually powerful. The recently passed country singer George Jones had a big hit song called “Choices” where he said, “I’ve had choices since the day that I was born. There were voices that told me right from wrong.” Choose wisely.
TEXT RICH BLACK 80/80/80/100
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