Sometimes you don’t know who’s watching and the impact your good habits may have on that person’s perception of you
I am a former manager of a multi-million dollar restaurant. My title was Service Manager. Every year we would have a conference for all the service managers in our market and we’d be flown out to another state where our conference would be held, and we’d spend a couple days in meetings and networking with others from our industry. When the meetings were over we’d get some leisure time and do anything from golfing to white water rafting, all paid for by the company; They took really good care of us. A few years back our market promoted a new ‘Market Partner’, so that specific weekend was set-up as one to get to know him a little more. The Market Partner’s job is to overlook all the restaurants in their area. He was the boss of my boss.
You’re probably wondering where I'm going with this. Well, Like I had done on numerous occasions at these retreats, I got up early one morning, it was about 5:30 A.M. and went to the hotel’s gym, I jumped on the treadmill and I started running. Unbeknown to me, our new Market Partner had also gotten up a little early to get some work done, and as he walked by the lobby he saw me in the gym running. Well when I got back to my home store after the conference, that was one of the first things that my boss brought up to me. He told me his boss had gotten up and was impressed with me that morning. I hadn't thought much of the fact that he had sat next to me at dinner on the last night of our conference, but I was now finding out that that was purposeful on his part. He wanted to find out what I was all about, after seeing me that morning.
“I saw this guy running that morning, and I said to myself, that tells me a lot about that guy”
Pat, the Market Partner, often brings this story up when I see him, and he especially brings this up whenever higher-ups come to visit our store. One thing he’d tell me and others about that moment he saw me is this “I saw this guy running that morning and I said to myself, that tells me a lot about that guy”. My point is you never know who may be watching, and the good that will come out of exercising regularly. I no longer work for that company, but the great relationship I built with him was derived from that moment. Not everyone will be fortunate enough to run into their “Market Partner” to make a good impression, but for some, maybe you’ll make an impression on a complete stranger who offers you the job of your dreams because they’ve seen the drive you have at taking care of yourself! You never know the impact you may be having on someone.
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