As I sit here on the eve of the 2020 presidential election, I mourn the passing of a great American tradition.

We used to believe that ideas were worth discussing, that policies were worth debating, and that candidates were worth considering. Today we simply swing to the right or the left, hopelessly polarized to one of the two major political parties.

We used to value each other enough to believe each other worthy of convincing to our side. Today, we throw in the towel and condemn and alienate the opposing view, discarding their ideas as flat-earth and the person who holds them as neanderthal.

We attack people, not ideas. Both traditional media and social media don’t help us choose, they simply segregate us into communities of the already-chosen.

And perhaps worst of all, politics has replaced religion in American life. And this is a faith where the sheep blindly follow, unquestioning, despite all evidence to the contrary.

Whatever happens tomorrow, November 3rd 2020, it will neatly fit into a narrative that was created long ago in the minds of the already-convinced. One thing is for certain, no minds will be changed.

We used to believe in nuance, that truth didn’t fit neatly into one party’s talking points. Today, we believe in the political party, and have slaughtered nuance at its feet.

A parable written to myself about my failure in leadership:

A cheery voiced captain walks light-heartedly up to the airline gate attendant, smiles and says “I’m here a bit early. I can help you check-in passengers!”

A bit later, down below the airliner with its twin-engines humming, that same pilot proclaims to his maintenance crew, “Hey there! You guys all looked a bit overwhelmed, and I’m here to assist. Did you notice this over here? And have you thought about that? And when was the last time these tires were replaced?”

Shortly after takeoff, the stewardess looks up to find an extra pair of hands hard at work in the galley. “Don’t mind me, I’m just here to help! I’ll take care of this pot of coffee for you.” The captain continues, “And you know that lady asking for OJ in aisle five, I already took care of her!” The stewardess stairs in disbelief and terror into the empty cockpit while the smiling captain begins pouring out coffee.

–

In a company, everyone has a job to do. And helping those who work for us often feels admirable. But how much should leaders & managers be helping our teams?

Unfortunately, for leaders helping is more often hurting their organization. Helping out sends a message: “although I’ve hired you to do this job, you still need my help.” It says, “You’re not actually accountable for the results.” Most of all it declares, “I don’t trust you.”

Leadership requires looking out ahead with a longer view than can be seen by any other individual in the company. It requires a 30,000 foot view, at the front of the plane looking into the future. There’s only one person on a flight crew capable of seeing into the future and directing the plane to its destination.

But the biggest reason a leader shouldn’t be helping? Because nobody’s is in the cockpit.

In our digital world, there is often no shortage of new distractions. New blog posts, new podcasts, newly released books. All of them shiny and captivating.

This year, however, I’ve intentionally focused on re-reading old treasures. I’ve found that each time I reread portions of books I had previously read, I find I retain the lessons better the second or third time. I also sometimes find new treasures I didn’t notice on first pass.

Case in point: this second-hand copy of The Essays of Warren Buffet I paid $4 for. For whatever reason when recently re-reading, I randomly opened to the title page. There I was stunned to find the signature of the Oracle himself. I had never noticed it before.

New treasures lie in old books indeed.

People often ask me, why did you go into business for yourself?

Many assume it was a passion for the industry (partly true) or perhaps a desire to create wealth (a by-product, not the impetus)

But really my dream to go into business comes down to one thing: a desire for freedom.

In my office, sitting on a bookshelf directly across from my desk sits an old analog clock. A few years back, the battery died on this clock. I never bothered to replace it.

It just so happened that when the battery died it had exactly struck 5 o’clock. There it stays to this moment, the short hand ever pointed at the five.

Of course 5pm is typically thought of as quitting time, a time to take it easy, maybe grab a drink, and just relax and detox from the stresses of the day.

Many times a week, I glance up at this old clock and smile. I remind myself that I have permission to take a break, go for a walk, play with the kids, or relax with a good book.

It is in fact these freedoms that keep me motivated to make our business succeed. But it’s also the success of my business that allows these freedoms to exist.

Note to self: It’s always 5 o’clock.

“…through no fault of their own.”

These six words fall habitually from the mouths of our Federal Reserve and Treasury department in describing the predicament many businesses and households find themselves in during this COVID-19 pandemic.

I think the intent of “TNFOTO” is to offer comfort and hope to the millions of struggling businesses and now jobless workforce. Our government seems to genuinely want to help, and this shifting of liability may assuage some.

But is it really no fault of our own?

If I get smashed by a semi-truck while riding my bike, it’s certainly not my fault. If I get crushed by bus while driving to work, again not my fault.

But what if I wasn’t wearing a helmet? What if I had neglected to use my seat belt? Is it my fault, then?

Clearly moral culpability lies with the other party in both these examples, but what responsibility do I bear for my lack of prudence and neglect of safety? A lot.

Today, in the words of Buffet, we’re witnessing “the tide going out and we’re seeing who is swimming with no clothes on.” We find that public companies and small businesses alike do not even have one or two months worth of expenses in the bank to weather a crisis.

Granted, this pandemic is no ordinary crisis. Perhaps it could not have been predicted (or perhaps, it could have). My heart truly breaks for thousands of small businesses that will never reopen due to devastation of the coronavirus.

But in a way, it’s all of our faults, isn’t it? A lack of savings that starts with the example of our federal government, trickles down to our corporate citizens and ends with the paltry purse strings of the American consumer. What’s clear is that there is no buffer. No savings. No roof to weather to storm.

Why save when we have artificially low interests rates rigged by the Fed? There will always be cheap capital, right?

And as we witness our government swoop in to prop up wall street and main street (in that order), we hear a message that’s loud and clear: It’s not your fault. Keep on keeping on. Business as usual. We’ve got your back.

Until they don’t…

“Did you apply yet? It’s basically free money!”

– Everyone

This past week, I received dozen emails and texts of this nature. Advisors, bankers, and other business owners all with the same encouragement: “Apply for the Paycheck Protection Program (aka PPP). It’s basically free money from the government!”

“Why would we apply?” was my reply. “We’re doing ok. We can meet our payroll just fine.”

Sure, my business was affected by the COVID-19 crisis. Our most profitable division at iHeartDogs.com, which sells advertising to pet brands, was facing intense headwinds. Clients were cancelling or pausing their advertising campaigns at an alarming rate. Our customers we’re frozen in fear, along with much of the world. Advertising is always the first thing cut in a recession.

But on the other hand, our Ecommerce division was doing fine. Pet owners were turning to us like never before as we were able deliver products faster than even Amazon mid-crisis. Customers loved the fact that we were using our profits to help animal shelters and healthcare workers during the crisis.

I got on the phone with my relationship banker at JP Morgan Chase, a Vice President of client relations. “Justin, you may not need the money now, but you don’t know what the future holds. I’m telling all my clients to take the money.”

“I’ve looked the PPP application,” I replied. “I have to attest that ‘this loan is necessary in order to continue our business operations.’ This is simply not the case for us. And wasn’t the intent of Congress such that this would help small businesses that were completely shutdown by the COVID crisis?”

We could have easily applied, and with our connection at Chase, we would surely have been one of the early approvals. And because we would certainly would have used the funds for payroll, we should have qualified to have the loan forgiven. In other words, it would have been free money.

But instead, we turned it down. We said no to $328,567 (the amount we would have qualified for, according to our monthly payroll)

My partner Marshall and I talked, and came to an agreement. If the company hit choppy waters in the coming months, we would personally put that amount of money into the company to meet payroll.

Our CFO, a man of immense integrity and wisdom, encouraged us from day one to reject the handout. He believed it was the honorable thing for a business in our position to do.

A foolish, idealistic decision? Perhaps.

I write this on April 17th, still in the thick of this crisis, still on lockdown. Just 2 days ago, the SBA announced that the funding for the PPP had already run dry, burning through the original $349 billion congress allocated to the program. Hundreds of thousands of small businesses were not able to access funding from the program.

I don’t know what the future holds for our business. Our bottom line will certainly be affected in the coming months.

Did we miss out? Surely. Did we put our employees at risk? Perhaps.

But do we sleep better knowing we didn’t take funds from a business that truly, desperately needed it? Absolutely.

You can’t have capitalism on the way up, and socialism on the way down. You’ve got to have skin in the game all the way.

We wanted our story to be this: When things got hard, rather than taking a bailout, we lived and died on the merits of our own actions and our courage.

We’re about a month into the coronavirus pandemic and ensuing economic meltdown.

I dare not make any predictions here about the ultimate outcome of the crisis, save for one, and it’s this:

History will not look favorably on our surprise and unpreparedness.

Every western government on the planet was caught with their pants down. Our medical system has over-optimized the redundancy out of its business. There was no stockpile of supplies and no redundancies of supply chain because we only focus on improving efficiencies, not building buffers.

Some will rightfully point to those like Nassim Taleb and Bill Gates who predicted this sweeping catastrophe. The irony is that these two prophets would be the first to tell you that this crisis was anything but unpredictable. The interconnectedness of global travel meant it was only a matter of time. In the words of Taleb, “The coronavirus was no Black Swan.”

Which begs the question, what fundamental and inevitable future disasters have we written off as impossible, and are only just around the corner?

“Where did you get that?”

“I got it on Amazon.”

This is a conversation that happens perhaps a million times day. I’ve participated in this conversation myself dozens of times.

It seems innocuous enough. It’s surely intended to be helpful to a person interested in the product you own. But what does it really mean when we get everything on Amazon? A few thoughts:

1.  It means the brand that made the product usually cannot be recalled and is eclisped by fast shipping and convenience of the Amazon marketplace. In other words, the product is commoditized.
2. It means the maker of the product has no relationship with you, therefore cannot improve your future experience with their brand and products.
3. It means the data of your purchase is now available to Amazon themselves and the marketplace as a whole. If you bought a popular product, odds are it will be copied into oblivion. Note that patents and copyrights rarely help, as both Amazon sellers and Amazon itself show little respect for IP.
4. It means that more and more revenue ia siphoned into an entity that pays virtually no meaninful taxes to the US government, indirectly increasing the burden on the small businesses that make the very product you “got on Amazon.”

As a consumer, I love amazon. As a business owner, I hate it. As a citizen, I’m torn.

What say you?

A lifelong struggle of mine has been balancing an intense desire for achievement and exercising true gratitude for what I already have. It seems that every time I reach the finish line, I find the finish line has moved. And it wasn’t moved by someone else, it was moved by me. Every victory looks trivial in light of a new challenge ahead. There is never enough time for celebration or true gratitude.

“The secret to getting everything you ever wanted is knowing that you already have it.”

Over the years I’ve grown to simultaneously love and hate the above quote. I love it because it speaks truth, a deep truth I know in the depths of my soul. But I hate it because I find it simply unlivable. Am I really not to strive for anything? When is enough truly enough?

Recently my friend Dale Partridge shared a quote on his podcast that hit me like a ton of bricks:

“What if your greatest achievement isn’t something you do, but someone you raise?”

Up until hearing this poignant question, if you would ask me what my greatest accomplishment was, my mind would first drift to professional achievements.

What if I valued the process of building up people as much as I valued building a business? What if my burning ambition in my business can be redirected towards empowering and building up people: my employees, my business partners, and my family.

The secret then lies not in killing my ambition, but by refocusing the beneficiary of that ambition. My company isn’t big enough because there are more people to help. My company can never grow enough because people can never grow enough.