I’m sitting here staring at the screen wondering what, if anything, I should write about.

It isn’t that there isn’t anything to write about. There is… Too much, in fact. Especially, today. And, therein lies the problem. It’s the what, not the if!

It’s not a matter of sharing what happened at the shop or within the automotive service industry as it is a matter of how far I am willing to let you in. How much is it reasonable to share? After all, are we sure you are really interested in what’s going on behind the curtain on the other side of the service counter, or is it just a matter of making polite conversation?

For instance, today was President’s Day and we started the day with a full schedule. This is a ‘good‘ thing, something we work hard to ensure. Holidays like President’s Day allow our educators and government workers and anyone else who has the day off to get their vehicles in while they are off and we are working. In essence, a perfect plan if the work involved matches the time allotted.

But, too often, God laughs when man plans, and if today was any indication: God was hysterical!

The phones were ringing and people were coming in even as we were unlocking the doors. There were messages on the answering machine requesting call-backs for additional appointments and people waiting in the waiting room. Everything was as it should be… Or, was it?

I had already received a call from one of our technicians who was stuck out of town – Yes, car trouble!

Seems somehow poetic, doesn’t it? A professional technician stuck on the road with a broken car!

Now, our three-technician shop is a two-technician shop, at least until one o’clock in the afternoon when Javier is due to return.

In the meantime, we’re writing service, documenting client concerns, ordering parts and trying to figure out how we are going to complete twenty-four hours worth of work (3 technicians X 8 working hours = 24 tech hours) with sixteen-hours worth of technicians (2 technicians X 8 working hours = 16 tech hours).

That was before I looked up, realized it was 8:30 in the morning and Bob hadn’t come in yet. I should preface the fact that I had this revelation recognizing that just about everyone here was surviving various levels of the latest flu that was going around. Well, Bob didn’t escape it either.

Twenty-four hours worth of work: one technician: eight hours… Well, maybe, ten… Or, twelve… Or…

That’s when, as a leader, you reach for the Bosun’s Whistle and call: All Hands on Deck!

The great joy, the incredible confidence that comes from surrounding yourself with great people cannot be over emphasized. We: Bob, Frank, Javier, Steve (And, me…) have been together forever… The ‘New Guy’ has been here for over six years. That means that we know each other and know each other well. Even the porters are extremely well-trained. That kind of experience and discipline is the backbone of our shop and when trouble comes; even when it comes in buckets, we don’t panic! At least, not a lot!

We take a deep breathe, figure out what we can reasonably expect to accomplish and then get to business of getting it done. Everyone pitches in. Everyone helps out. Everyone does whatever they can do to get it done.

Sure, there is stress – It’s always stressful when you have to call a client with disappointing news: “I’m sorry. No one came in today and as a result, your car or truck won’t be ready when promised. We hope it won’t be too inconvenient. And, if it is, is there anything we can do to mitigate that inconvenience.”

The amazing thing is that between all of us pitching in we got a good chunk of those twenty-four hours done… and, done right, I might add!

But, I’m not sure I’m ready to share just exactly how we managed to do that! It’s one of those: To write… Or, not to write! issues: a Trade Secret of sorts.

Or, at the very least: a Schneider’s Automotive secret!

I like being challenged… Really, I do. And, there appears to be an infinite number of challenges to confront and overcome just about every day when you own and operate your own automotive service business.

I like multi-tasking – Yes, I’m a man who is not only capable of doing more than one thing at a time successfully; I’m someone capable of doing whatever it is I’m doing well as well, no matter how many whatevers it turns out to be!

I like hard work. I even like working hard. As a matter of fact, I prefer it. The day goes by much more quickly when you are passionately involved and deeply committed.

I really like the people I work with and the customers and clients who come to the shop and make my professional life possible as well.

I enjoy the relationships I have with our suppliers… even when I don’t enjoy them. And, I love the industry I am a part of even when I hate it: and, there are times when it feels as if I’m hating it more…  and, more often, than ever before!

In other words, I like just about everything there is to like about what I do; where I do it; who I do it with and who I do it for. That should make me a pretty happy guy! Certainly, a guy who is happy more often than not… And, I am.

Unfortunately, however, I’m willing to bet it doesn’t always seem that way… At least, not to someone looking in from the outside. Why? Because doing everything I’ve mentioned above simultaneously can be stressful!

Wait a minute! Scratch the “can” in that last sentence! Using “can” instead of “is,” can be misleading because it “IS” stressful. “Can” almost makes it seem optional and it isn’t. Consequently, there can be no “can” about it!

If I seem a little stressed at the moment it’s only because I am. I got home late after a long afternoon where even I’m not sure what I was doing beyond whatever it was I had to. And, while I think I may have gotten it all done: getting it all done within the time frame in which it had to be done did not come without a price and that price is the way I feel right now!

I’m not whining about it… It’s the path I’ve chosen. I just wish the walk wasn’t as brisk at times. That way I might be able to get a handle on where I am and where I’m headed. OK, that’s a bit of an exagerration.  I do know where I’m headed: it’s the distractions along the way – the detours, potholes and roadblocks that make me nuts! That, and the fact that you can’t see very much when you’re working that hard and moving that fast. And, that’s where loving what you’re doing and who you are doing it for becomes critical, because you couldn’t survive on a constant diet of stress; at least, not for very long. There have to be moments of quiet coupled with moments of clarity. There has to be an abundance of satisfaction. Otherwise, all the “other stuff” would eat you alive.

So, if I seem distracted at times or I begin to act erratically; if I appear tense or driven, or it seems I’m moving in too many different directions at the same time, or it looks like I’m doing too much, it’s only because I am or I have. If it looks as if I don’t know where I’m going, if only for a moment: it’s probably because I don’t… for that particular moment. But, that’s OK… if only for the moment.

I know where I’m going. I’m moving out. I’m moving forward. I’m moving up. How do I know? Because up is the only direction you can go when you like what you do, who you do it with, where you do it and who you do it for… And, I do!

Ask anyone and they’ll probably tell you the very same thing.

I’m not a big fan of acronyms. I enjoy the art of communication too much to see it abbreviated. I’m not a big fan of Text or Twitter-speak either. They’re both a kind of lazy shorthand. That’s my right.

If you’re under thirty you might not like, appreciate or understand it. But, that’s OK: I’m old.

Sometimes, however, you come across an acronym that resonates deep inside you: one that is especially meaningful depending upon where you are in your life or what you are reading; and, then consequently thinking. I read a lot… Generally, a book I’ve just started and one I am in the process of finishing: In addition, there is an intimidating stack of articles selected from the growing stack of magazines that pile up on my desk every month no matter how hard I try to muscle my way through them.

I just finished reading the preview of a new business book in one of the articles from one of the magazines in that stack (Fast Company). The book is titled Switch: How To Change Things When Change Is Hard, and it’s by Chip and Dan Heath. In it, the authors talked about a phenomenon they referred to as, TBU: True, But Useless, and the impact it can have on solving problems. I can relate to what they had to say and the arguments they made… more than I’d like to.

You see I was once asked to confront a number of the problems confronting the automotive service industry and was given reams of data to support each of the possible causes for each of the critical problems. Looking back, it was a suicide mission. But, it was a suicide mission of the best possible kind… Impossible: But, noble nonetheless.

The challenges were identified accurately. The underlying cause of each was extremely well documented and supported with the requisite charts and graphs. Conventional wisdom would have had us identify the root cause of each of these problems and then attack it. Conventional wisdom would have had us eliminate the cause so we could then eliminate the problem. The only problem with the conventional wisdom was that it didn’t work: the problems have been developing over a period of a hundred years and this approach has never worked in the past.

Why? Because all the information was TBU: True, But Useless: Because it would take too long and cost too much to do it that way: And, because despite the data: knowledge alone does not change behavior! Results change behavior!

How do you get the results you want, then? You change a person’s reality… You give them a different purpose… You influence; then, change their beliefs based upon that purpose. And, that change in purpose and beliefs will then alter a person’s behavior, and subsequently the behavior of a group.

I wish I could tell you how much of my new thinking is the result of the few paragraphs I just read, and how much of it is based upon my own knowledge and experience. But, I can’t. Like so much of what we encounter as we move through life; it’s all been blended – homogenized – into something more than the sum of each of its parts. My only regret is that I didn’t bump into this idea of TBU before I was forced to confront some of these problems, because I would certainly have approached them differently.

I would have abandoned conventional wisdom. I would have forsaken the research and the data. And, instead would have worked earnestly to articulate what we were trying to accomplish: the ideal result. I would have searched for the bright spots and the bright stars: the people within the industry who have overcome that particular challenge.

I would have tried my best to find out what was working, why it was working, how it was working, and perhaps most important; I would have looked for ways to replicate their success.

If I had it to do all over again, I would do it differently; especially, on the basis of what I just read. And, I believe with a perfect faith the results would be different. And, that someone looking at those results would say, Hey, that’s TBM not TBU – It’s True, But Meaningful, and not True, But Useless.