Dad used to leave the house early, usually before 5 a.m., to begin the morning baking. He came home for lunch and took a nap, and then he went back to work until 6 p.m. when he locked up the shop for the night. And the shop was open six days a week. His staff was small (usually about three people with Mom pitching in on Saturdays). Time was important to him because baked goods are best fresh.
In all the hours I spent in the bake shop, I never saw Dad mess up a baking and have to toss it. He was careful, he was regular, he ran a clean shop and he expected the same from others.
Needless to say, it seemed oppressive to his growing boys. High expectations can bring high frustrations. Indeed, during his high school years my younger brother got expert at doing just enough to get by.
But it seems surprising that all three of us realized the message when we became adults. As someone chronically short on time, Dad had effectively modeled that knowing and achieving the goal on the first attempt isn't the only smart way to work: nothing else may work at all.
But it is a remarkably hard objective to achieve. Because it is often hard to know what is right. Running my own business, I understand how hard it was for Dad to do it for twenty years, even as retail bakers were disappearing everywhere in America. It is relatively easy to get the donuts right: use the right ingredients, measure carefully (including the dough mix and the temperature of the fryer), and know when the donut is properlyy cooked. But it is a whole lot harder to know how many donuts to make on this day and which donuts will sell. Each evening Dad would end his day with the 10:20 p.m. WKY-TV weather report, knowing that rain, snow, or hot weather would cut the demand for baked goods. Often Mom would have to wake him so he could watch before turning in for the evening. But it was his fundamental daily planning tool.
Dad was an introvert, so he deliberately decided to get more connected. He joined the Rotary Club (his dad was a Kiwanian) and took the Dale Carnegie Public Speaking course to increase his skills. A few years later he became President of the Oklahoma Retail Bakery Association, a position that led several years on to his being selected as bakery manager at Motorola Corporation. Motorola?!! Yes. At that time Motorola had over 19,000 employees at five Phoenix area plants, and they ran a three-shift cafeteria and a two-shift bakery. One year his staff turned out over 1200 pies for the annual Thanksgiving dinner.
"Doing it right" he taught us is not just about doing the routine work correctly. It is also about planning right and preparing for what is needed in the future. If you have a 60-hour workweek, why else would you ever think of enrolling for a night class?
Life is not something you get a do-over on. If you can’t do it right the first time . . . ?
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