People Are More Than Numbers

People Are More Than Numbers

Greetings Golfers,

Had some time the other day to tackle a bunch of piles of paperwork.

A crazy mixture of letters, magazine articles, books, catalogs, etc … stuff that just piles up.

Found a note from a local business owner … he signed it:  “Your only friend, Bill”.

I hope he isn’t right.

Found a “swing analysis” from 1998 … with numbers under four headings:

• Address

• Top

• Impact

• Finish                                                                                                                 

One sheet was my numbers … and the other sheet was what they “should be”. My Address and Top numbers were not good … however, my Impact and Finish numbers were good. That made the instructor furious. He complained that I was “lucky” … and that if he had my Impact and Finish numbers that he would be a Tour player (because his Address and Top numbers were “perfect").

Read a blog last night about Colonel Parker - the guy who managed Elvis. Here’s how the blogger opens it:

“If you’re going to business school … you’ll learn more in this book than you will in class. Class will teach you the mechanics, the elements of publishing, how to put on a show … you will be taught how to be a worker bee. But all the money is in controlling talent, being on top, and most people do not possess the skills to do so.

How do you manage relationships … I haven’t seen this taught in any course. But that is what Colonel Tom Parker specialized in. Fun used to be a core element of the music business - up until about 20 years ago - then it all became too corporatized, too institutionalized, too bottom line oriented … to its detriment.”

How good was that?

Oh … running it by the numbers doesn’t work? Oh … running your golf swing by the numbers doesn’t work? Really? How about managing a baseball team? My wife and I went to a Twins game a few weeks ago … wasn’t watchable.

How is this happening?

Well … looking through my piles … I found the Business Plan that I built 30 years ago with consultant Dave Watrud. Dave’s plan started with who we wanted to be. Either a/or:

• Commodity

• Innovative

A commodity is just a basic good. Obviously we need basic stuff … and that’s important. But we wanted to be more than just a basic golf course.

So the business plan for a basic golf course is different from one that wants to be unique.

However, this commodity mindset is taking over everything.

You can’t manage a major league baseball team with a commodity mindset. Well, you can … but I think it’s crazy. These are unique players - the best in the world.

Are you being smart by dumbing everything down?

People are not commodities. I suppose you can look at people that way … but I sure don’t recommend it. Especially managing people.

As I always say, “You can fake a lot of things … but you can’t fake vibe”. And a service industry business needs a good vibe. And you won’t get that if you view human beings as a commodity.

Well … I’ve got to get back to my paperwork … but never at the expense of my relationships.

Cheers!

Tom Abts
GM/Head PGA Professional
tabts@deerrungolf.com