These are the words of Seth Godin, so good that I wanted to capture them for my team:

People don’t coalesce into active and committed tribes around the status quo.

The only vibrant tribes in our communities are the ones closer the edges, or those trying to make change. The center is large, but it’s not connected.

If you’re trying to build a tribe, a community or a movement, and you want it to be safe and beyond reproach at the same time, you will fail.

Heretical thoughts, delivered in a way that capture the attention of the minority–that’s the path that works.

“Picky. Picky. Picky. It’s such a little thing.” So goes the lament of many who’ve the displeasure of working on my team lately.

We’ve built a business that is driven by systems and dependent on systems. Running the systems is our heartbeat and our lifeblood. Without our systems—properly executed—-we twist in the wind and suffer the whims of the economy, the client, the resident, the investors, the bankers, the inspectors, the market, ad nauseam……

Yesterday, the franchisor in one of our companies, HomeVestors  (You might be familiar with our big yellow billboards that say WeBuyUglyHouses.com) gathered all their franchisees on the telephone for a conference call to announce the award winners for the first half of the fiscal year. The two most significant awards go to the franchise that bought the most houses and sold the most houses—-makes sense, since that’s our main business, don’t ya think?

On this call were franchisees from Dallas, Houston, Tucson, Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Kansas City, St. Louis, Boston, and dozens of other cities across America. When the winners were announced the #1 HomeBuying team in America was……….(drum roll please)………..Springfield Property Management, Springfield, Missouri (insert thunderous applause here).

In the next category, the #1 Home selling team in America was………………..(drum roll please)…………..Springfield Property Management, Springfield, Missouri (what? I can’t hear you over the roar of applause………).

Congratulations to Brian Loughrige (the #1 Buyer on the #1 Home Buying team of the #1 Home Buying company in America) and everybody back home in Springfield who are delivering awesome results! I honor, award, and applaud you. Thank you for your great work. (By the way, Brian has bought five houses in the last four days…….I probably shouldn’t mention that. I don’t want to jinx him.)

Where was I? Oh yes. I remember. Systems. Systems make our team successful. We have a system for everything. A system for how we buy a house, a system for how we finance it, a system for closing the transaction, a system for qualifying residents, a system for renting, a system for selling houses, a system for how we pay our bills, a system for changing the toilet paper (gotcha…..still reading aren’t you?)…….the point is: it’s all about running the system. That’s what makes our company work.

When anyone violates a system it’s called an “exception.” And the problem with exceptions is they require “management.” Someone has to look at the situation, gather the data, ask questions, gather more data, consider the facts, seek the opinion of others, make a decision, figure out how to implement the decision and “do it” outside the system (because we effectively stopped the assembly line and now we’re not making widgets anymore, we are custom building W-I-D-G-E-T-S)………it’s just a mess. So the rule to avoid the mess is: we operate everything within the system. We never  deviate from the system.

Yeah. Right.

In the past week we’ve had a veritable plethora (I just feel good using big words like that) of system violations. None of them were huge. In fact, if you looked at any system violation in isolation you’d say “That’s no big deal” and you’d be right. But when you take a little exception here, and a little exception there, and multiple it across 14 employees, 50 subcontractors, 160 properties, nearly 500 residents, 250 rental inquiries a month, 80 buy inquiries a month, 10 bank accounts, hundreds of loans for tens of millions of dollars, plus any number of extras in the cast it quickly  becomes a monster that the leadership of our company cannot possibly manage. The ONLY WAY OF DEFEATING THE MONSTER is to never let him out of the cage. Everything runs accord to a system. Period. (We’re even developing a system for helping people who can’t seem to work within the system to be released from their obligation to our system in order to find their bliss elsewhere. We’re THAT COMMITTED to our systems.)

I am baffled that people don’t understand simple systems…..round peg in round hole / square peg in square hole……..and aren’t willing to simply run the simple system, but…..that appears to be the state of team development EVEN ON THE #1 TEAM IN AMERICA. Alas, I’ve found a metaphor that might be helpful.

Across the sky there are highways. You can’t see them, but airplanes headed from point A to point B do so according to prescribed directions, speeds, and altitudes all of which are coordinated by the Federal Aviation Administration and Air Traffic Control. These comprise a system.

Imagine two planes are coming in for a landing. ATC gives instruction to airplane A to “Make your heading one-eight-zero. Maintain 2000.” Meaning head due South at an altitude of 2000 feet. Meanwhile Airplane B is told to “Make your heading one-eight-zero. Climb to 2500.” Meaning head due South but climb to an altitude of 2500 feet.

At some point these two airplanes are going to pass within 500 feet of one another. That’s fine. It’s a system designed to provide plenty of margin for safety as these planes move into their landing pattern. All will be well so long as everybody follows the system. But what if  pilot A says “Awe, it’s no big deal. Two thousand, twenty-two-hundred. It’s virtually the same thing.” He violates the system just a little and flies at 2200. Meanwhile the pilot of plane B says “Twenty-five-hundred? Twenty-three-hundred. They are virtually the same.” And she violates the system just a little and flies at 2300 feet. Suddenly the safety margin distance between planes has been reduced by 80% and the risk factor has increased many fold. There is now virtually no margin for error between the two planes. The slightest gust of wind and there are going to be funerals.

That’s what happens when people don’t take systems seriously.

In our company there haven’t been any wrecks because of system violations. But I’ll assure you that in the past few days the Senior Air Traffic Controllers in our company have been working overtime, screaming on the microphone “Pull up! Go Around! Divert!” in order to avoid danger to our passengers. Our hair is grayer. We’re balder. Our blood pressure is higher. Our nerves are frazzled. All because we’ve been fixing problems—-little things in and of themselves—-created by people who think “Ah. It’s no big deal.”

It’s a big deal friend. The systems are there to protect the integrity of our work product, to insure that our margin per unit (+30% recently) remains high—creating bonus opportunity for our team, to provide sanity for all of us, and to insure that we all operate safely, avoid crashes, and all have a job tomorrow. The odds that we will continue to succeed and achieve increase dramatically when we just do the simple thing: Run The System!

If you are outside our team reading this: I hope it helps you to have insight about how life operates within a successful company. If you are on the team in Springfield: Thanks again for your good work. I love you. I appreciate you. I am grateful for you. I regularly pray for you individually and ask God to bless you. I’m pretty sure that part of that blessing comes from your being diligent in the little things. Please run the system.

A team member employed by our company walked up to me recently and whipped out their wallet to show me $1000 cash. “I’ve never been able to carry that kind of cash,” they said.

It’s always a thrill to me to see our team members experiencing achievement. I’m glad to play a small role in helping people achieve.

The phone isn’t ringing.

Nobody is calling to say “Please come buy my house.” Nobody is calling saying “Can I please rent this house?” Nobody is calling saying “Can I please invest some money?”

The phone isn’t ringing.

When the phone isn’t ringing I look for reasons. It’s Spring Break. It’s too rainy and nobody wants to get out. The sun is shining and everybody is gone to the park (lake, river, whatever). It’s the holiday weekend. Yada yada yada.

For those of us in the sales business it is demoralizing—emotionally debilitating and a waste of energy—to focus on why the phone isn’t ringing. We can’t stare at the phone and cause it to ring.

We’re very much like farmers. A farmer’s job is to prepare the soil, plant the seed, and wait. The rain may or may not come on schedule. The season may be too cool, too hot, or just right. But for centuries farmers who have planted seeds have consistently gotten a crop. Some years better than others, but a consistently over the years we get more crops than we don’t. Sometimes bountiful. Sometimes skinny. But harvests are consistent events for people who sow seeds.

Our job is to prepare ground and plant seeds. We try to avoid stupid things like planting seeds right before Winter or at the beginning of Summer, or failing to plant seeds at the beginning of Springtime. But we don’t focus too much on wishing for rain, or that it would quit raining. We don’t control rain and sun. We control preparing ground and planting seeds.

Much of life’s pain would be relieved if we’d let go of what we cannot control, and focus on the things that we can control.

An ancient book of wisdom written by one of the world’s greatest salesmen says “In due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary.” It’s interesting that he didn’t say “In due time we shall reap.” Why did he ad the “weary” part? Because this business if sowing and reaping has just enough uncertainty to it to keep us off balance and to cause us to lose our focus—to grow weary of the things we can’t control and to give up our sowing enterprise.

When you are weary like I am, don’t lose heart. Surround yourself with people who refuse to lose heart. Don’t focus on the weariness of sowing, or the “worry-ness” of why the rain and sun aren’t coming in perfect proportions exactly on schedule. Instead, focus on the faithful truth that today’s reapers are yesterday’s sowers, and those who grow too weary to sow, experience 100% crop failure.

Now I think I’ll go down to Nixa Hardware and buy some seeds……….

When someone asks lots of questions that is a good sign. Questions indicate curiosity, and I’ve become convinced that curiosity is a necessary component to personal development, leadership and accomplishment.

People who are curious and inquisitive about all manner of things have a broad knowledge base. They can converse across a staggering array of topics. This makes them valuable to the team they work with, and the company they work for. They are problem solvers precisely because the breadth of their knowledge base can draw on such a wide variety of resources to solve a problem.

When you ask alot of questions just because you like to know how stuff works, you get a lot of different answers. You learn how different industries, different people, different cultures, different disciplines think and operate. All that information goes into the melting pot and creates the Stew that is You. That latent information lying in your brain suddenly comes to life while you are exercising, or taking a shower, or sitting in your favorite thinking chair. If you are like me, those are the times when you are essentially problem solving…..thinking about ways to fix or enhance things. Suddenly a concept you didn’t even know you knew launches an exercise in thinking that produces a new solution to your problem, or a new strategy for capitalizing on an opportunity. It all happened because a dozen years ago you got curious and asked a lot of questions.

I remember being on a Chamber of Commerce tour of a small company in Southern Arkansas that built the dump beds that go on the back of dump trucks. It was very interesting (how do they roll that steel into that shape) to learn about their business, who their customers were, how they got into the business, what supply and distribution problems they faced, how much their product sold for, where they found skilled workers, how they motivated employees, and what kinds of margins they operated on (yes, I ask the money questions). I recall that the rest of the half-dozen or so people on the tour just kind of stood around with their hands in their pockets and that at one point the lady giving the tour turned to me and enthusiastically said “You ask a lot of good questions!”

My buddy Jon Brownfield and I toured a cigarette manufacturing company once. Why? To see how they make cigarette’s, dummy. Just this year Jim Woolums and I toured the Louisville Slugger factory in of all places……..Louisville. Why? Well, because that’s the touristy thing to do in Louisville, silly. (Caught ya there didn’t I?)

Another friend—the Chief Resident at the University Hospital—took me into surgery once. Why? I asked. We saw butts, breasts and brains. It was really interesting. I’ll never forget watching them use hammers and saws on this lady’s knee and thinking: This is just glorified carpentry. It is!

Now, I can’t point you to any great decisions I’ve made as a leader, or even any great achievements in my personal life because I toured the dump truck, cigarette & baseball bat factories, but I do believe that four decades worth of  inquiry in various and assundry places has produced a library of knowledge that has helped me to be successful and that impacts my company and the people around me.  Just yesterday a brief conversation about the U.S. Postal service came up and out popped a piece of information about designing a mailer that could affect it’s deliverability. Where did that info come from? I don’t know. I didn’t even realize it was there. It’s just something I knew.

I’ve never thought about curiosity much, and only recently has it occurred to me that a person’s measure of curiosity might be a good indicator of their fitness for leading a company to achievement. My theory may or may not be right. It’s just that I think much of what makes me uniquely qualified to do what I do is rooted in my broad knowledge based which was built by asking lots of questions. My business partner even jokes that the first time we ever sat down and had lunch together he felt like he was on the witness stand. Of course, he’s too sensitive! But I’ll bet I did ask a lot of questions. Why? Because I wanted to know him.

As proof that I’m not the only curious one in our midst, I had dinner with a physician this evening—a bonafide Medical Doctor—who wants to get a Masters degree in Theology. Why? He’s curious. He wants to learn.

Cultivating Curiosity

If you buy into my theory that curiosity is important to achievement and success, what follows are some suggestions on how you might cultivate it within yourself.

#1. Be interest in other people and experiences other than your own. I’m generally interested in people and what their experiences are. I like to know about their religion, how they grew up, why they picked the mate they did, and why they listen to the kind of music they do—what about THAT music engages them? I enjoy people who can answer those why questions without feeling defensive. No offense is intended. I just wondered how their mind worked.

If you aren’t interested in other people, it is possible that you are too self-absorbed. If that hits a nerve I’ve got some advice for you: get over yourself. It’s not about you. There are many talented, interesting people in the world. Seek them out and learn from them.

#2. Ask philosophical questions that start with WHY and WHAT. Why did you choose this as your life’s work? Why do you vote Republican? Why do/don’t you exercise regularly? Why don’t you like any ice cream but vanilla? Why is your desk arranged in that manner? What do you think about……..whatever topic you want to bring up. What did you think of…….the most recent thing in the news. You learn a lot about how a person is wired using what and why questions. It’s amazing what people will tell you if you’ll just ask.

I’m convinced that we live way too much of our lives in intellectual and spiritual isolation because we are afraid to ask people questions. As a result, we have to figure out many things for ourselves when we could have learned from others and saved ourselves some pain if we’d have only asked.

#3. Read. Reading books, periodicals, newsletters, blogs and professional journals cultivates an inquisitive mind and stimulates curiosity. Personally, I digest a couple of daily newspapers, three or four magazines a month, and probably 50 books a year. I use reading services and tools to sort internet information that is most likely to be of interest to me. Recently I challenged the leaders of my company to read at least one book a month in order to grow themselves so they could continue to be the kind of leaders worthy of all those who are depending on us (Core Value #1).

If you aren’t a good reader, read! Proficiency will increase by doing.

#4. Travel. You don’t have to go far. I’ve been fortunate to see much of North America and parts of Asia, Europe and Latin America, but there are many opportunities to stimulate your thinking within a couple of hours of where you live. If you are in my neck of the woods, Eureka Springs, Sam Butcher’s Precious Moments museum, George Washington Carver’s Historic site, or the music festival in Mountain View, Arkansas are good places to start. I think the whiskey trail in and around Lexington, KY where my friend Jim lives would be interesting. How do they make that stuff and what’s the difference between whiskey, bourbon, and all those other liquors? While in KY I’d tour a Thoroughbred farm.

From liquor and racehorses to religion—–when I’m in Charlotte I want to tour the Billy Graham museum and home place. In Springfield, Ill I toured the funeral museum once. In northeastern Ohio learn from the Amish. How about swimming with the manatees in Florida? What is it with those rocks in Arizona?

Oh, what a wonderful world full of interesting experiences!

Well, I think I’ve made my point. A mark of an effective communicator is that he knows when to shut up and I’ve likely beaten a dead horse. But I really do think I’m on to something here. As I go forward in life, I’m going to try to surround myself with curious people who are interested in things, ideas, and other people. I want to hang out with big, crazy, “what if” kinds of thinkers. My friend Ken Channel calls them “guys who play intellectual pitch.”

Curiosity may have indeed killed the cat. But I’m pretty sure it’ll make you and me healthier, wealthier, and wiser.

Now, go learn something.