A Professional Runner's Shocking Activity, A Food Cart's Long Lines, And A Banker With A Drinking Problem During The Great Depression: The 3 P's You Need For Change And Improvement

The 3-Word Quote: “Questions Initiate Improvement”

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1.

Zersenay Tadese was a professional runner.

And a good one.

Tadese, now retired, was a 2004 Olympic bronze medalist for Eritrea, a country bordering Ethiopia and Sudan.

He won his medal in the 10,000M race.

His bronze medal is still the only Olympic medal ever for his home country. His Olympic success made him a star at home.

However, Tadese's many other accomplishments included being a world champion in the 10,000M in 2009.

He won multiple elite half-marathon races.

He also held the men's half-marathon world record from 2010 until 2018.

He was indeed at the top of the running food chain.

Later in his career, several top exercise scientists and running coaches worked with Tadese, believing they could help improve his performance.

But when the scientists and coaches began working with him, they discovered something shocking about his running.

In fact, they had never seen this behavior from any elite runner before.

2.

Mark Andrus and Stacy Madison hated their jobs.

Andrus was working on a PhD in clinical psychology but wanted to become a chef.

Previously a social worker, Madison had some restaurant experience but wanted to own a restaurant.

The couple had massive student debt, and the cost of renting a space in Boston prevented them from realizing their dream.

But the cost and circumstances didn't completely erase their dream.

They cobbled together $5000 and bought a hotdog food cart - the kind that is set up on street corners and outside bars late at night.

They converted the small cart to specialize in fresh sandwiches, which they sold to the Boston lunch crowd.

Their specialty and best-seller was a chicken salad wrap.

The pair took care to offer tasty, fresh, and quick fare.

Many of the ingredients were sourced from businesses just blocks away. 

Their bread was purchased early each morning from a baker just a short walk from their cart.

And their sandwiches were a hit with the lunch crowd.

But there was a problem.

Their food cart proved so popular that long lines soon started to form.

While popularity and long lines might seem like good problems, Andrus and Madison realized that those in line were in a hurry and needed to get back to work.

They worried those in line would lose patience and go elsewhere for lunch. 

And once that happened, they wondered if the lost customer would ever return to their cart.

Their sandwiches were good, but customers were impatient.

Customers are demanding and create new norms based on ease and time.

So, they devised a plan to hand out some free food to those waiting to order their sandwiches. The duo thought the free snack would prevent people from leaving their line.

But that decision - and the one that followed - caused them to shut down their sandwich cart completely.

And it changed their lives.

3.

Mark Munroe had a drinking problem.

He was a banker in a small town in Florida during the Great Depression.

Like many people during the time, life could be hard -  even for the town's banker.

And it didn't help that he had many mouths to feed—eventually, he had 18 children, 10 with his first wife and 8 with his second.

Many others in the town were like Munroe - men with mouths to feed at home and little money for food.

Some of these men, under stress, spent their last nickels on drink during those years.

Monroe was doing the same thing.

And Monroe noticed there were other men like him.

But Munroe's story and the dozens of other men didn't turn out to be one of the many tragedies of the Depression.

Munroe's drink and his job wound up changing these fellow residents' lives.

The Takeaway:

So what do a former pro runner with a shocking trait, long lines at a Boston food cart, and a banker who drank during the Great Depression all have in common?

They are all examples of an exercise that individuals and teams can do yearly.

The exercise is common, done in many different industries, and if done correctly, can often improve performance and efficacy.

The exercise is frequently called 'Start, Stop, Continue.'

You may have completed a similar activity before, either personally or professionally.

It can be performed at any time, but it is most commonly used at the start of the year, the end of the year, or after a significant project has been completed.

The simplified version of this activity involves asking three questions:

1. What do you want to start doing? What new activity can you begin that will improve your efforts and action?

2. What should you stop doing? What is something that you should quit - that isn't beneficial to you or your work?

3. What is something you should do more of - what should you continue? What activity served you well and has been successful?

Three simple questions can really change your actions in the upcoming days and months.

But instead of the 'Start, Stop, Continue' exercise, I prefer to refer to it as the 3 P activity.

The 3 P's are: Pause, Pivot, and Push down the Pedal (I suppose that's actually 4 P's but this is the3mix).

Let's return to the stories.

Zersenay Tadese was a world-class runner.

And a bronze medalist.

When a team of scientists and coaches decided to collaborate to see if they could help a runner run a marathon in under two hours, Zersenay was one of three runners they selected.

The sub-2-hour marathon was often thought impossible for a human to achieve.

The scientists set out to try to prove this untrue.

So, they devised a training plan and offered every possible technological and scientific advantage.

All three runners they chose were incredible athletes.

This was not a surprise to them.

But with Tadese, they quickly discovered something that not only surprised them - it shocked them.

And when the coaches pointed this item out to Tadese, the runner realized he had to pause and immediately change one thing he was doing.

Or rather start doing something he wasn't doing.

Zersenay Tadese, world champion and Olympic medal winner, never drank a drop of water during his races.

To nearly everyone involved in the sub-2-hour marathon project, this was inconceivable.

To anyone involved in sports, this would be surprising.

From six-year-old soccer players with their water bottles to the countless Gatorade tables at mass marathon events, the need for hydration is obvious.

Taking in water or other liquids during intensive and lengthy exercise is essential knowledge.

But Zersenay's strategy seemed to be to line up at the start and run as hard as possible (and don't waste time grabbing something to drink).

However, the lack of hydration didn't seem to bother the runner.

He was successful; he was producing positive performances.

Tadese listened to the scientists and realized he had to pause his current action of refusing water during runs.

Breaking 2, a National Geographic documentary on the attempt to break a 2-hour marathon shows this brief exchange between coaches and Tadese.

He was already world-class, but his ability to listen and to pause an unproductive action made him even better.

No matter what we are doing in our jobs or life, we know there is something that we could hit the pause button on.

Finding that one thing to stop can be easy. Eliminating the habit that causes you to complete the unnecessary action is likely where the real work begins.

But pausing something can be transformational - it was for Zersenay.

***

Mark Andrus and Stacy Madison had a popular sandwich cart in Boston.

Sales were good; money was coming in.

However, the two worried about losing customers because of their long lines.

They couldn't speed up their sandwich-making, and they couldn't make the line any shorter.

So they decided to hand out free snacks to those waiting in long lines.

But what to hand out?

It had to be cheap, plentiful, and tasty.

Many of their wraps were made of pita bread, and they realized that they often had leftover pitas at the end of the day.

So, the two decided to cut the extra pita into pieces, bake them, and season them.

And just like that they had free snacks to hand out. These pita pieces gave the many in line something to munch on while waiting for a sandwich.

And while they were munching, they were less likely to leave the line searching for other food.

And the snack was a success.

People in line loved the baked pita pieces so much that some began to ask for this snack instead of the sandwiches.

And that became a problem.

So, Andrus and Madison made a radical decision.

They decided they were going to do something drastic - and pivot.

They decided to shut down their food cart completely.

The decision couldn't have been easy - they spent most of their money on the sandwich cart.

It wasn't the restaurant they dreamed of, but the cart was successful.

But they saw something was a hit - their pita snacks - so they decided to abandon everything else and focus on the new snack.

They pivoted to what was working, what people were raving about - and that was the snack.

The pita snacks became their entire focus and business.

They began to package their baked chips.

They focussed on branding.

And they began to scale.

And they changed their name from Stacey's D'Lites to Stacy's Pita Chips.

And the pivot paid off.

People really did love the once-free snack.

Popularity grew not just in Boston but in other cities, too.

In just a few years, the chips went from being handed out on a street corner to becoming a national brand.

You've probably heard of Stacy's Pita Chips. They're in grocery stores across the country.

And a few years after closing the sandwich cart, Stacy Madison sold Stacy's Pita Chips to Pepsi for $250 million.

A pivot may not always be immensely profitable like it was for Stacy, but they are often productive.

But you want to ensure this year's pivot isn't next year's pause.

***

Mark Munroe, the Depression-era banker who noticed many people in his town had a drinking problem, pushed the pedal down on something he was doing.

You see, Munroe noticed residents in his small town spending what little money they had on a drink.

But it was a particular drink.

And it wasn't alcohol.

The residents may have drowned their sorrows by drinking, but it wasn't with whiskey.

They were spending some of their final cents and downing a Coca-Cola.

And Munroe took notice of this.

He had a friend who was on the board at Coca-Cola.

Munroe's friend had been encouraging him to buy shares of Coke since its initial offering in 1919.

Shares were $40 in 1919.

So Munroe listened to his friend and bought the stock, and he encouraged all who would listen to do the same.

Many in the town listened and bought stock.

But when the Depression began, most stopped investing and saved what money they could.

But not Munroe.

He pushed down the pedal and continued to do as he always had - buy shares of Coke.

And, he kept telling others to do the same.

And because he was a trusted banker, many followed his advice.

In fact, Munroe was so adamant about continuing to buy Coke stock that once, when someone came in for a $2000 loan, he said he would give the borrower $4000 under one condition.

The banker said the borrower would only get the $2000 he needed if he took the extra $2000 and used it to buy Coca-Cola stock.

Even when Coke shares dropped to $19, Munroe continued hyping the stock.

He kept the pedal to the floor and plowed ahead with his buying and recommending stock.

According to one article, a single share purchased in 1919 would be 10,000 shares now with repeated stock spits.

And the $40 investment would be worth over 10 million dollars today.

That is why, in 1940, Munroe's small town of Quincy, Florida, had more millionaires per capita than any other city in the United States.

Munroe and those who followed his advice became known as the 'Coca-Cola Millionaires.'

And it made Quincy, Florida, famous.

The small town had close to 70 millionaires because everyone continued to do what worked—they all continued to push the pedal down, and it led to riches.

Munroe's advice could have been wrong. No one knew what the outcome would be. 

The banker could have pushed a company that later collapsed. He could have given bad advice.

But he listened to his friend on the board. He saw that people were still drinking Coke even in bad times, and he knew Coke had been successful in the past.

He decided to continue buying based on key information—it was not a random decision or advice.

He knew when to push down the pedal.

Pause something you're currently doing.

Pivot to something new.

Push the pedal down and do more of what is working.

Those three lines seem simple, but deciding what those three things are can be incredibly difficult.

But before you can do any of these three things, you have to make time to take stock of what you are currently doing - and ask yourself the 3 P’s.

It's a simple activity, but it might produce profound results.

3 things before you go:

1. watch: 3 minutes about how humans changed a dog- usually it’s the other way around; our retriever never displayed this shy side

2. listen: a song that’s been around awhile but a classic; great lyrics and a slow build

3. listen / watch: fun, simple, and catchy video - same goes for the song

Thanks for reading.

-Jeff