Lanier Young, executive director, and Whitney Strickland, chairman, of The Wheelhouse, discuss the benefits and purpose of The Wheelhouse.

The Wheelhouse partners with donors and volunteers to provide a supportive environment and recovery tools where men can free themselves from the grip of alcohol and drug addiction to return to society as functional, useful and responsible members.

SINCE 1952, The Wheelhouse has taken in men who need one more chance…men who have nowhere else to go…men who have no hope. What started as simply one man, a recovered alcoholic, helping another alcoholic, has expanded into a life-changing model that has seen hundreds of men recover from the disease of alcoholism. This model is focused on building authentic relationships that help bring relational, physical, and spiritual healing and restoration to those served.

For more information please visit: www.thewheelhouse.org.

Step Seven: Humility

In step six , I identified character defects such as one’s bad or destructive habits.

We learned these habits can not only be bad for us and our business, but also for those around us. By identifying bad or harmful habits, we learned they can keep us from having real success.

Listing defects — actually naming them — does psychological magic. It helps remove roadblocks and allows us to be ready to let destructive habits go. This requires help from our faith and trusted mentors. At the end of step six, we ask for all of these defects to be removed by utilizing a higher power.

Step seven is all about humility. By successfully completing steps one through six, a degree of humility has already been introduced. Actually, it is the basis of the entire 12-step process. Asking for help and utilizing a higher power while exploring and defining one’s defects are all acts of humility. One must be humble in order to maintain an even keel and remain committed to the process. One cannot be truly happy without some level of humility. “Humility” is a confusing word, and its meaning is often misunderstood. It is not synonymous with the word “humiliation.”

Humiliation means losing one’s dignity and self-respect, while humility means having a “modest opinion of one’s own importance.” Humility is the opposite of arrogance, assumption and personal pride. The arrogant know-it-all who thinks only of himself or herself is not a healthy business leader. On the other hand, humiliation can lead to humility. Inappropriate behavior and actions that you are ashamed of can lead to humility. Humility can serve us well, while egotistical thinking can get us in trouble.

Unfortunately, our society often encourages arrogance and celebrates those egocentric people who acquire vast wealth, power, popularity and material goods. Those same people who idolize the ones they’ve “anointed” are often the first to express glee when the very people they’ve told us to admire fall from grace, and their personal failings are uncovered. Once a person’s weaknesses are exposed, admirers admonish or demonize that person and move on to anoint another.

I’ll never forget when a friend of mine held a meeting to sell a real estate deal. Upon his return from the meeting, he described his presentation, stating he was really “on the mark” as the group of potential investors listened intently to his every word. He then said, “I was so good that I started to believe my own bullsh*t.”

Building up a false image of one’s self can lead to a number of psychological and relationship problems. Being real with yourself is key; it requires being humble and knowing you are a unique creation of nature, but not superior to other creations of your type and species.

We must always ask ourselves questions like, “When I’m starting my new business, do I really need a new, expensive company car? Is that practicing humility and fiscal responsibility? Do we need the office in the high-rent district, or will a nice facility in a modest location do just as well?” Locating to a high-rent district may be good for your ego, but it also tells customers that they are paying for the high rent when they buy from you.

“Do I listen to my employees’ ideas without completely dismissing them? Do I really know it all? How well do I know this business, and how can my employees contribute to its success?”

It is critical to hear out employees’ ideas and discuss reasons action could or could not be taken on those ideas. It’s just as important to listen to our customers and suppliers. It requires practicing humility, as do most thoughts and actions you will take during a business day or on the weekends with family.

Humility is not just a step to be taken and then forgotten. Rather, it is a lifelong process. Humility needs to be practiced on a daily basis. Today, I promise to take my own advice. Like many, I am still working on “that humility thing.”

Also published in BIC magazine.

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Step Six: Remove Character Defects

In my article on step five, I advised how to take a moral inventory of yourself and your business. That moral inventory was actually an exercise designed to lead us to the realization that our troubles are partly of our own making, thus removing the “blame game” from others or outside forces. It demonstrated that we are complicit in creating our own problems. That is something we all need to admit before going forward and turning our businesses around. Step five also asked us to share what we learned with a mentor, and that always requires a leap of faith. We must use our faith again in step six.

Step six requires us to let go of the moral failings and character defects we uncovered in step five. These character defects are huge handicaps to our lives and businesses. The list of defects may be long, or the list may boil down to one glaring item that disrupts our success in everything we do.

I have met many people with serious character defects during my 30 years in the downstream refining business — and I was one of them. I have since corrected some of my own defects, and I am still working on others. One of my most serious flaws was my ego. I thought I was better than others, that I could do their jobs better and was a hotshot at my job as well. How many people want to work with someone like that? This can be a huge negative in trying to pull a team together, and it can cause underlying resentment that undermines the effectiveness of the entire group. I was only fooling myself.

Ego and self-righteousness are destructive attitudes. They represent self-interests and are the opposite of self-confidence. They are also often accompanied by anger. How many chairs have you seen thrown across a trailer during a turnaround maintenance meeting? I’ve seen plenty. Intimidating others through anger is not the best way to get a cooperative response. Being overly ambitious is another flaw. Think about it: Isn’t being overly ambitious really a veiled form of greed?

Letting go of character flaws is not easy, and you may be tempted to say, “I can’t or won’t give this up. It’s who I am, and I will not change.” But an unwillingness to recognize our flaws and work on changing them stifles our thoughts and actions, and they will become roadblocks to success. Even though we may think we are going forward, in reality, we are not. The roadblocks (our flaws) will rear their ugly heads again and again.

It is helpful to ask a higher power to assist us, and that is a daily, sometimes hourly, task. But if you do so continually and recognize the instant you are becoming angry, egotistic and self-righteous, then you are on the road to freeing yourself of these demons.

While taking this step, one of my goals was to treat every person in my life exactly the same. I have not been able to achieve this goal. But the goal is not about achieving perfection. No human is perfect, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t strive for perfection. Our goal is to remove roadblocks so we can work around our imperfections and achieve the ultimate goal, which is success.

Success comes in many forms. A successful business also comes in many forms. The one thing all businesses have in common is that they are made up of people who are motivated in one way or another to provide a product or service to others. These are products or services people want or need. A healthy business needs people with healthy attitudes. A healthy business needs a leader who is healthy as well. If we, as business leaders, are constantly striving to overcome pride, envy, greed and other defects in our personal and professional lives, then roadblocks will disappear, and the road to success will lie ahead. It is a road that will have occasional detours and a speed bump or two, but the results will be well worth the effort for us, our families and employees, and the customers we serve. You will be prepared to accept opportunity when it arises. While perfection remains elusive, success is very achievable.

Also published in BIC magazine.

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Step five: Let someone else know

In my article on step four, I advised how to take a moral inventory of yourself and your business. That step dealt with admitting inner truths to discover what is blocking you from your full potential and the full potential of your business. You and your business are “hand in glove.”

Step five goes further because it requires you to share this moral inventory with a trusted mentor. If you recall, the first step to “turnaround” your business is finding a trusted mentor.

This is not a negative exercise. It is quite the opposite, as it guides you to explore, in great detail, the strengths and weaknesses of your business and discover areas of improvement or possible new directions. This exercise helps reveal self-destructive behaviors. Yes, some businesses have created self-destructive or defeatist cultures.

The moral inventory should be in an easily understandable format and contain basic elements of who or what you are blaming for your personal or business failures. The “who” or “what” can be a person, place, thing or even an idea.

Before doing this exercise, I had a lot of absolutes in my mind, such as, “I absolutely won’t do business with certain people” or “We should absolutely go after this portion of the market and do it my way.” I confess now that was all wrong. I eventually saw that people doing things differently were gaining ground and becoming successful. I realized the positions I took were the wrong positions.

When assessing or owning the “cause” or “blame” behind problems, it usually involves a particular incident or moment like, “The banker wouldn’t give me the loan I needed, and that’s why my business suffered” or “Those clients did not pay and that’s the reason I’m in debt.” The list grows with the amount of time spent in business because, like the stock market, business is a “W.” This means it has its ups and downs; it is not a straight line from the bottom to the top. That’s why not everyone is cut out to start, own or manage a business.

One’s emotions related to the person, place, thing or idea should also be expressed on the list. The emotions are usually related to one of the following: self-esteem, pride, money, emotional security, ambitions or personal relationships. Each cause or incident should be categorized by selecting one of these emotions.

The last thing to do is complete the exercise by filling out the column that explores the question, “What was my part in this?” It is here that one comes to realize it isn’t always about who is to blame or what the cause of the problem is. The fact that you played a role in the problem can be quite revealing as well. For example, you might say, “I extended too much credit to the customer who failed to pay,” “I knew I shouldn’t have altered the terms of the deal” or “I thought I needed their business in order to succeed.” There can be any number of scenarios, but it is important we each explore our — or our company’s — role in the cause or incident and make changes accordingly.

Step five is probably the hardest step for turning your business around and keeping it on track, but this step is the most important because it takes insight and sharing. It involves owning up to your mistakes while also letting another person know about them. It all comes down to trust. Trust yourself enough to know and admit your mistakes (we all make them), and then trust someone else with that knowledge. If you choose the right mentor, that information will be used not as a weapon against you, but as a learning tool for yourself and your mentor.

It’s easy to seek the comfort of vic-timhood. Many do it all of their lives. Nothing is ever their fault. They had no role in the outcome. It was the authorities, their parents, the environment, friends, the government, the times, etc. But the freedom that can be found by taking personal responsibility for the decisions we make and the actions we take cannot be overstated — especially when it comes to finding success in life and business.

Also published in BIC magazine.

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Step three: Open-mindedness

Willingness is the third step in my series of 12 suggestions on how to “turnaround” your business. These steps can also serve as reminders for business owners and their employees who want to make their businesses run more smoothly and successfully.

In step two (April 2020, pg. 89), I advised on finding a mentor – someone trustworthy and successful in business who can listen intently and provide positive suggestions for change. 

Seeking counsel with someone who can present a second opinion helps us realize we cannot always solve every problem, and it means we have surrendered our egos and are able to look outside of ourselves. In the 12 steps of the Alcoholics Anonymous program, this calls for appealing to a higher power. In business, it involves looking to a mentor or a group of mentors – a hand-picked advisory council of other business owners or consultants – to help find solutions.

To explain the open-mindedness this requires, I advised giving up the “my way or the highway” mentality. One of the biggest mistakes I see is owners spending more time working “in” the business rather than “on” the business. This is especially true of underfunded startup companies.

Step three is about admitting change is needed and implementing the heretofore “talked about” changes. Steps one and two require a change in long-held beliefs, but step three marks the point where one agrees to enact the needed changes. It involves the willingness to overcome our own egos and the human tendency to have control and start having faith in people other than ourselves.

When you are really honest with yourself, you realize that none of us has total control over much of anything. We cannot control the weather, the marketplace, the world economy or the universe. We are not immune from everything life throws at us, like accidents, viruses, terrorist attacks, competitors or anything else you can conjure up. But it is helpful to talk to trustworthy mentors or advisers who can give fair and impartial advice.

In a life crisis, one must have the willingness to change. Everyone can tell you that you need to make changes, but you will not be successful if you are not willing to change. In the business world, willingness can be explained as the readiness, desire or inclination to change. In order to change, we must be prepared to change and institute the changes we have sought counsel to make. We always value our employees’ willingness to learn new skills and to grow and change as our company grows and changes. It’s no different for the owner or administrators. Changing the way we bring our products or services to market, realizing and accepting new technologies, and utilizing those technologies as well as our employees’ skills and talents to generate optimum value are all important steps in our personal as well as corporate growth.

The other part of step three is listening to your heart instead of your head. The most dangerous place in the world is usually inside one’s own head. Fear and our own (often unfounded) projection of events keep us from working in the “here and now.” If you just wait, things will usually work out satisfactorily. This is better than getting in the middle of the storm and possibly making matters worse due to your own anxiety.

But how does one listen to one’s heart instead of one’s head? Prayer is one way, and even the most cynical business owner has probably prayed at some point. I have found meditation is an excellent way to begin the day. Envisioning the day ahead and the tasks that need to be accomplished can set the tone for the day. Even when chaos intervenes, remaining in a place of gratitude and guarding against ego-based decisions will help you accomplish more and smooth those inevitable bumps in the road.

For more information, visit www.towerforce.com, or contact Whitney Strickland at (281) 506-7152 or wstrickland@towerforce.com.

Also published in BIC magazine.

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Step two: Open-mindedness

This is the second in a series of 12 steps suggesting how to turn your business around. These steps can also serve as reminders for business owners and their employees who want to make their businesses run more smoothly and successfully.

Albert Einstein is attributed as coining the phrase, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Many of us have a tendency to do just that. You’ve probably had a divorced friend who, when they remarry, marries the same personality type as spouse No. 1.

Another example is when you buy the same style of clothes in the same colors for decades, even though the styles and your body shape have changed. It’s kind of like that old guy down the street who’s been a hippy since the 1960s. Habitual thinking inhibits our ability to be open-minded. That “it’s my way or the highway” attitude can get us into a lot of trouble. Being open-minded doesn’t mean tolerating bad behavior, becoming a wimp or even being politically correct. Open-mindedness means being more tolerant, fair-minded and receptive to new ideas. There are many stories of great ideas coming from people you may least expect, but more often, great ideas come from teams of people.

Many business owners believe if they work harder and spend more hours at work, the business will turn around and succeed. They also believe if they just add another product or service, the problem will be solved. They spend more time working “in” the business when they need to spend more time working “on” the business. Looking outside ourselves for solutions can reap rewards, and that is where listening comes into play as well.

A highly self-confident entrepreneur can find listening difficult, and I have found this to be tough for me, too. I now realize I can learn a great deal by, instead of constantly thinking about a problem, listening to others. Our Tower Force guys in the field have an insight and daily experience that those of us in the office do not have. They have brought problems to our attention and they have provided many solutions. We should also remember that the good and viable solutions offered by field workers, the sales team and the backroom service team are of no value unless management implements those solutions.

Open-mindedness makes way for innovation. Peter Drucker calls it “organized, systematic, rational work” when people see things differently and arrange their businesses accordingly. Open-mindedness can also mean delving more deeply into customer needs or empathizing with customers and anticipating their needs. What’s a business without customers?

I mentioned a quote from Albert Einstein earlier, and now I’ll close with a quote by the English scholar and poet, John Donne: “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.”

To be open-minded is to let people in and be receptive without becoming a rubber stamp. To be open-minded, one must be humble and not conceited. Many say open-mindedness is a critical life skill, but I think it is critical to a business’ life as well.

For more information, visit www.towerforce.com, or contact Whitney Strickland at (281) 506-7152 or wstrickland@towerforce.com.

Also published in BIC Magazine.

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Step one: Honesty

While in my late twenties, I made a profound discovery. I had been to “Rock Bottom and Back™” as stated in the BIC Media Solutions book and DVD, and I progressed from “desperation to inspiration.” During my journey of recovery and discovery, I went through the famous 12-step program. It was at some point during that self-exploration and revelation period that I found one purpose of my life was to help others, but I was not proficient in helping people one-on-one. I was best at helping others by assisting their businesses to progress from startup to success. I was helping these business owners not only survive but thrive.

A successful business has a long-reaching cumulative effect. It is called the domino effect, a metaphor to describe the chain reaction brought about by an organization’s success or failure. When a business succeeds, it not only brings financial success for the business owners and key personnel, but also provides opportunities for everyone throughout the organization. When people are employed and paid for their efforts, their families, friends and communities benefit, and the local economy is strengthened.

With that in mind, I would like to share what I have learned during my time in business and through my association with other business owners.

Be honest

I think an essential characteristic of successful people is honesty. I’m not talking about “cash register honesty.” I mean being honest with oneself.

Children will say they want to be a fireman, astronaut, movie star, musician or ballerina when they grow up. But they know little of what it takes to achieve success in any given field. Likewise, adults who dream of starting a business fail to be honest with themselves. It’s hard to start a bakery if you don’t know the first thing about making dough. You can hire a master baker, but you must also select a location, acquire financing, and know how to attract and retain your customers. You need contingency plans in case your baker becomes ill or leaves to work for a competitor. Most owners fail to plan or fully anticipate the amount of money, time, effort and skill it will take to succeed. They have not been honest with themselves.

Most businesses are cyclical in nature. There’s either more business than you can handle or not enough, or maybe now there are 10 competitors where there was once only one. Perhaps the bankers are knocking on the door and the employees are about to give up. What I usually see in a struggling business is one person’s dream swallowing it whole. That person is trying to control all of the outcomes and manage the business simply by using his or her own self-confidence or ego. The person is in denial about the future of the business and refuses to admit defeat.

Admit defeat

After becoming honest with oneself and realizing the bleakness of the situation, the white flag must be raised in order to have a happy ending. Surrender is tough, especially for an entrepreneur who is taught to think positively. This part of step one is sometimes never realized due to an ingrained sense of self-confidence. I believe this to be the underlying cause of our own inflated egos. Many of us will follow the path right down to bankruptcy instead of admitting defeat. Although it may seem humiliating, it is necessary to admit our own powerlessness and take advantage of outside help.

Find a mentor

Find someone trustworthy or who has been successful in business to be your mentor. The unmanageability of the current situation must be shared. One must realize that a person who got into a bad situation probably cannot get out of it without some kind of outside help.

By being honest and realizing the true situation, one can begin the 12-step process. Setting your ego aside and accepting the humiliation of defeat are the hardest parts before asking for help from a mentor or outside source. All of these actions are counter-intuitive to the definition of an entrepreneur: self-reliant, decisive and confident. Throwing these notions away, if we can, will lead us to the success we really want.

For more information, contact Whitney Strickland at (281) 506-7152 or wstrickland@towerforce.com.

Also published in BIC magazine.

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To All of our employees and clients,

As the spread of COVID-19 continues to escalate in our country, we wanted to share an update on the steps Tower Force has taken to respond to the uncertainties posed by the coronavirus and serve the needs of our clients and employees.

The safety and health of our employees and clients is of utmost importance during this time. As such, we have invoked our pandemic policy and plan, which allows Tower Force employees to work safely, yet effectively, from remote locations and enables our field personnel to coordinate with our clients on ongoing work.

While no one can accurately predict the longevity of this pandemic or its ultimate economic impact, Tower Force will continue to do its part to keep employees safe and fulfill its commitments to our valued clients. We remain open for business.

Tower Force will keep you informed of any changes that specifically affect our organization. In the meantime, please do not hesitate to reach out to our team members below with questions.

We wish everyone safety and good health.

To view our pandemic policy and plan click here.

To visit the CDC website go to: cdc.gov

Sincerely,

Tower Force, LLC

The Pressure Vessel Specialists

281-506-7152

Imagine failing a turnaround before it’s even begun

Yes, it does sound crazy, doesn’t it? Yet that is exactly what scientist/writer Gary Klein recommends. I think it’s worth a try. Read on and then tell me what you think.

We all know what a postmortem examination is. In a criminal investigation, an autopsy is performed because the victim’s body will most likely hold clues to the cause of death or who did it. Postmortem exams on family members can also help us better understand some diseases and genetic tendencies and provide insights for possible cures for future generations.

On projects like turnarounds, we have postmortem exams, too. Accounting is a postmortem event. It tells us whether or not we came in on budget or how much we went over budget. We are supposed to learn from our mistakes and take the lessons forward, which works well in theory but is not done often enough in the real world. It should be done after each project so that we can take our lessons learned forward. It’s also important to make a habit of post-project evaluation and for supervisors and managers to share information. This helps to avoid making the same mistakes twice.

But what Klein is suggesting is that those who are about to be involved in a big project should imagine it has already occurred. He calls the method a premortem (as opposed to a postmortem) exam. His theory is that having participants ask “what might go wrong” before the project begins, rather than “what went wrong” after the project is completed, will provide helpful insights, strategies and better management opportunities.

Poppycock or ‘right on’?

Right about now, you may be saying, “Whitney, that’s just more psycho-babble,” or “Whitney, that’s just poppycock and you know it.” No, I think this method may have merit, and some research concurs. According to the Harvard Business Review, a study conducted in 1989 by three researchers found that “prospective hindsight — imagining an event that has already occurred — increases the ability to correctly identify reasons for future outcomes by 30 percent.”

Think about it: Many athletes use visualization techniques to train. When an athlete’s mind recalls the desired outcome or skill repeatedly, a sort of “mental rehearsal” occurs, confidence improves and, when the match finally occurs, the athlete’s mind and body are both ready.

With so many athletes reporting how visualization has aided their performance, it was only natural businesses began to use visualization to help build higher-performing teams. Today, there are companies that facilitate this training. One such company is named Winning Mind and has the tagline “Performance Under Pressure.” This company provides performance-coaching services for the military, sports and business.

Klein’s twist of visualization is different, however. It is his suggestion that, instead of visualizing a smooth and ideal project, you visualize a project’s abject failure and learn from that. He says everyone on the team should “independently write down every reason they can think of for the failure — especially the kinds of things they ordinarily wouldn’t mention as potential problems for fear of being impolitic.” He cites several instances where his method was tried and helped prevent colossal failures.

A different kind of risk analysis

You already do risk analysis prior to a turnaround, but Klein says his premortem approach offers benefits that other methods don’t. He says his method doesn’t just help teams identify potential problems early on, but also reduces the kind of “damn the torpedoes” attitude often assumed by people who are overinvested in a project. He also concludes that, by describing weaknesses no one else has mentioned, team members feel more valued.

Klein’s method may not be something you want to use, but it is my belief those of us involved in pressure-cooker projects that are as important and costly as turnarounds should always be looking for new ways to build better teams and improve our performance, so we never have to look back on a failed project.

For more information, contact Whitney Strickland at (281) 506-7152 or wstrickland@towerforce.com.

Also published in BIC magazine.

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