Routes

“Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain’t going away.”  Elvis Presley

“The money is in the routes,” my wife Carol emphatically declares in a corporate training session for a new group of managers in our transportation company. This assertion is one that Carol and I have confidently repeated to our team members throughout our journey at Hackbarth Delivery Service.

There is no sophistication in this simple six-word statement. Not much high-level thinking.  And yet, it is significant because it illuminates an important principle, revealing an undeniable fact, a major truth of our company.  All organizations have essential beliefs that determine their success or failure.  Individuals have major truths affecting the outcome of their lives.

How does Hackbarth Delivery Service use our major truth? We first recognize that we depend on the sales revenue earned by making deliveries. Those deliveries are distributed by drivers on routes. A package is picked up at one location and delivered to another location –  point A to point B.  Unsophisticated, yet profound. The fact that the money is in the routes is not rocket science. It is just plain and simple – telling it like it is. We succeed in our company because of drivers who provide the service for which our customers pay us. The money that pays the drivers is in the routes. All other expenses of the company are paid by the revenue in the routes.  And finally, even profits are derived from the money in the routes. Simple basic facts, but highly essential.

Essential truths are often simple, self-evident and easy to grasp. Sadly, these beliefs are often ignored in organizations, families and individuals, at their own peril. You can ignore the truth, but it remains the truth.  And, it will affect the results of your life every single day.

Over and over again, throughout the two weeks of corporate training, new managers hear this simple sentence, a foundational truth that defines our company.  Trainers spend hours showing new team members how to utilize our company’s route optimization department effectively.  Significant time is dedicated to route analysis, extracting revenue details, and cost data related to time, miles and customers. The reason for this expansive study of route information is because of that six-word proclamation. A simple fact.   Do you know the essential truths within your organization?  What about the core beliefs of your personal life? Are they obvious?

Even if not sealed within a written document, every successful organization creates and relies on essential truths pertinent to their field of service. Our own country, the United States of America, possesses a founding document that clearly states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident.”  The key word for me is self-evident. Our Founding Fathers believed that the truths they espoused were already known and residing in the hearts of their countrymen.

Most of the time in our organizations and families, the essential truths are obvious – self-evident. Any unawareness or attempt to deny our own core beliefs does not negate their authenticity.  Ignorance does not eliminate the essential basics which decide our success, or not. Therefore, it is important to know the core beliefs of your group. They should be declared. They are vital.

Knowing the core beliefs is just the first step. Acting on this knowledge is the necessary next step and is crucial for an organization’s success. Many companies have failed in the past because the key managers did not know the basic truths, or if known, did not act on that knowledge. How is your company doing with its core truths? How about your family?

What about you? What are your essential beliefs? Are they self-evident?  I have adopted a moniker for timeless core truths — life principles. Life principles represent a set of beliefs that we can always depend on being true. Like a compass that always points north, life principles always embrace what is true. If you take the time in your life to develop tools and practices that are built upon a solid foundation of essential truths (life principles), you will discover many opportunities for great success.  Why? Simply and powerfully, life principles always work!

What are these timeless beliefs, the self-evident truths that are critical to our success? Since April 2015, I have been answering this question every week in this newsletter. This is what my senior career and current company is all about. My mission is to help companies and individuals succeed by identifying, developing and implementing tools and best practices based on life principles. When you employ tactics and strategies built on a solid foundation of truth, you are creating life-time routes with delivery destinations that arrive at that location known as, success.

“The money is in the routes.”

I hold these truths to be self-evident:

• Attitude is the difference-maker in life.
• Leadership is all about influence.
• The most important element in communication is listening.
• Your stories are the gold in your goldmine.
• Success is being and becoming the best at what I am meant to be and do in life.
• There are no small moments.

 Today, I will create success by using tools and best practices based on timeless life principles.