Strong roots and branches

When the roots of a tree begin to decay, it spreads death to the branches.

When I was growing up in the inner city in Camden, there was not a lot of ‘green space’. In fact, my backyard was so small that it could be mowed in about two minutes using a manual lawn mower! So as children we improvised. We played baseball and football in the street. We drove our bikes on the pavement that circled our block and we played tag and hide and seek anywhere we could. If you looked out my front window you saw all cement except one thing growing in between the cement blocks: A big, old oak tree.

This tree looked like it reached the heavens and had multiple branches sprouting in all directions. The tree was first base in baseball, out of bounds in football and home base in other games. It was a meeting place for kids after school, home to hundreds of birds, squirrels and at times a few rats. (Yes, it was inner city).

This tree was so alive. It played a key role in our neighborhood and was home to many living creatures.

When raising our children, Barb and I were intentional with a few ‘non negotiables’. Lying under any circumstance was unacceptable. Everyone had to learn responsibility. And we believed in unconditional love.

In retrospect, one of the wisest things we ever did that helped each of us (parents included) stay on course was craft a family mission statement.

One night, we sat together and listed what we thought were the most important values for a family. I then took these bullet points and put them into a paragraph form and hung it on the spare (old) refrigerator in our utility room. If you wanted ice cream, you had to notice the family mission statement. Same goes for ‘hot pockets’ which we seemed to buy by the truck loads when the kids were teenagers.

I still remember some of the values in that family mission statement: Support and love one another, be truthful, respect our bodies, work as a team, value laughter, honesty, kindness and hard work. Encourage others and always forgive, be humble, show grace and be grateful.

One day, one of our children (unnamed) but he was the oldest asked if he could skip school on senior skip day. He told me everyone is doing it. I asked him if the school sanctioned it. His response was “No, but everyone else is skipping”. I asked him to read the family mission statement and then decide what he should do. I would support his decision. He went into the utility room and I heard him say something under his breath about ‘doing the right thing’ and then dejectedly, he walked back through the kitchen and down to his room. I sort of smiled.

In the business world, employees observe leaders make hundreds of decisions per year. They read about them in an email, hear about them at a round table or learn about them from others. They are always watching to make certain that their leaders follow through and maintain the company’s values. Do these leaders walk the talk?

In comparison, employees make thousands of decisions on a daily basis. Most of the time outside of earshot from leadership! These decisions are most critical. They can hurt a company a million times more than an executive’s decision. On a daily basis, associates can impact sales, billing, collections, compliance, care, customer service, morale, etc. And the leaders will never even know it! Behind the scenes, the employees base their decisions and actions on observations of their leaders.

If they see leaders doing the right thing, most of the time, they will as well. In fact, they will go above and beyond to do so. But if they observe leaders taking short cuts or being unethical and the like, they may follow that approach also. In this case, the leaders are the roots and the employees are the branches.

I will close this week’s letter with something that happened recently in church. My almost seven year old grandson was standing next to me in the pew. This has been a big year for him in school as he is beginning to master reading and math. In the past, he sat with us but he usually played a game, colored in his book, etc. But this past Sunday, as the choir was singing, I heard a little boy’s voice. It was a singing voice I had not heard before. I looked around on both sides but didn’t see anyone. Then I looked down and saw my little buddy reading from the words on the screen and singing, “How great is our God….” Tears streamed down my face. I nudged his Mom to take a peek and then we both beamed. His Nana sings in the choir, his Dad plays drums and the rest of us sing each week. He now is in that club. And I am so glad that for the last few years, even when I didn’t feel like it, I sang each song.

I realize that if the roots of the tree decay, the branches will die. But in this family just as I did when I was a leader in business, I am going to do everything possible to make sure that the roots remain strong and I give each and every branch the opportunity to be the strongest, best branches in the world.

Thanks for reading this.

With a goal to “help the next one in line”, Glen Cavallo, a 30+ year healthcare executive has chosen to share the many lessons he has learned with others. Glen does this by serving as a coach/advisor to leaders at all levels of organizations, as a board member and as he presents inspirational speeches at regional, national, annual and awards meetings.