By Ken Chapman Ken Chapman & Associates, Inc. Shortly after Booker T. Washington became President of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, he was walking past the house of a wealthy family. The woman of the house, assuming Washington was one of the yard workers her husband had hired, asked him if he would chop some wood for her. President Washington smiled, nodded, took off his coat, and chopped the wood. When he carried the armload of wood into the woman’s kitchen, a servant girl recognized him and rushed to her mistress to tell her of his identity. The next morning, the woman appeared in Washington’s office. Apologizing profusely, she said repeatedly, “I did not know it was you I put to work.” Washington replied with grace and generosity, “It’s entirely all right, madam. I like to work and I’m delighted to do favors for my friends and neighbors.” The woman…

A restaurant customer’s complaint resulted in the popularization of the potato chip. In 1853, an unhappy customer at Moon’s Lake House, in Saratoga Springs, New York, kept complaining that his potatoes were too chunky and thick. The chef, George Crum, took great offense and sliced the potatoes wafer thin, baked them until they were crunchy, and covered them in salt. When the customer was served, rather than being perturbed, he was delighted, and finished every last crumb on his plate. Chef Crum’s retaliatory concoction was the start of a resounding success. His “Saratoga Chips”, not the earliest recorded introduction of potato chips but the first well-publicized ones, became a local delicacy until an enterprising businessman named Herman Lay commercialized the product during Prohibition. More than 150 years after its invention, the potato chip is worth a third of the global snack market. Leaders know the next potato chip might well…

Leaders know the complex can be explained and understood. People are smart. People welcome the rational explanation ̶ ̶ minus condescension. Leaders make the effort to both explain and be understood. ─ Ken Chapman, Ph.D.

Leaders know courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is the judgment that something is more important than fear. ─ Ken Chapman ─ KC&A

Leaders create a good day for those around them with their positive spirit, their sense of purpose and their decisive actions. Leaders don’t leave a good day to chance; they choose to make it happen. Make today a great day for your team. ─ Deb Miller ─ Ken Chapman & Associates, Inc.

Leaders value truth. They understand that the greatest courtesy they can extend to their team is to speak the truth about performance. Leaders avoid falling into the trap of misplaced compassion — while trying to avoid hurt feelings, and thus, hurting the person by failing to be truthful. Leaders know that the human need to make sense out of things requires that they know where they stand. ─ Christy Beem ─ Ken Chapman & Associates, Inc.

It is often said that wisdom comes with age. It has been my observation that age sometimes comes alone. Not everyone grows up on the preferred timetable. An employee can be old (as in wise) when young. An employee can be young (as in immature) when old. Take the time to consider the ideas of your youngest employees. When necessary, do not hesitate to mentor the employee who is older than you. ─ Ken Chapman ─ Ken Chapman & Associates, Inc.

A basic principle of the language arts is that you cannot define a word by using the word. For example, you cannot define complacent by saying: Complacent means to be complacent. It is equally true that an employee will not accept ownership of a job if the boss will not tolerate ownership mistakes. Leaders know the best people make mistakes ── and “Monday morning quarterbacking” is not a motivational strategy. ─Ken Chapman ─ Ken Chapman & Associates, Inc.

Leaders know the experienced employee is the most “at risk” employee. It is human nature that the more you do something and the more you do it well, the more likely you place it below the level of awareness. Once complacency arrives, unsafe behaviors soon follow. Leaders know safety never gets done — it’s always getting done. ─Ken Chapman ─ Ken Chapman & Associates, Inc.

Change is hard, states an old but true cliché. Leaders know change is a present and future constant. Listening without judgment as an employee adjusts to changing circumstance and connecting them to reality (the facts of the situation) is a wise strategy. What an employee does with the considerate “ear” and “reality check” is up to them. Leaders know that giving into the temptation to do more robs the employee of an opportunity to grow— as a person and a professional. ─ Ken Chapman, Ph.D.