President Roosevelt Admits to Killing His Grandmother, Premium Chef Aprons, and Little Red Wagons in Children’s Hospitals: Why Listening Is a Superpower...When Followed By Action
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The 3 Word Quote: “Listen With Intention”
1.
In the 1950s, President Franklin D. Roosevelt admitted to killing a relative.
In fact, he repeated this grisly admission multiple times at a White House function.
“I murdered my grandmother this morning,” he said.
He was reported to have said these words to multiple guests in a reception line.
The life of a president is undoubtedly stressful, but the job is also filled with routine and regulation.
This routine and monotony includes White House dinners and social functions where the President hosts various groups and dignitaries.
As part of these Presidential dinners, guests often go through a receiving line. In line the guests greet and shake hands with the President.
The lines are often long; the greetings are usually short.
And from many accounts, they are boring - especially for the President and the hosts.
So according to an account first published in the early 1950s, FDR came clean and admitted his crime.
At this gala, President Roosevelt shook hands with scores of people. The guests greeted him with cheery greetings.
And in return he cheerfully greeted them with the gruesome admission that he killed his grandmother.
2.
The job was low level, but she took it anyway.
She took orders from the head chef, always responded with, ‘Yes Chef’ and tried not to screw anything up.
It was not glamorous, but she was learning how to become a head chef.
The hours were exhausting, and the pay was low.
And she took notes about everything, dreaming about what she’d do differently once she was in charge.
Except the notes and ideas weren’t about food.
She did love food, but her plans were not to improve food.
All her notes and plans were how to improve the aprons that all the chefs wore.
She described the aprons they wore as:
“...made of flimsy paper masquerading as fabric. They were so basic they often didn’t adjust around the neck, or have a useful pocket, for our tweezers, pens, or sharpies. Or if they did, they tore off with the slightest tug.”
The aprons made their jobs slightly more difficult, and they fit like hospital gowns.
The aprons they wore were a disaster.
So while she made food, she dreamed of how to make high quality, useful, and perfectly fitting aprons.
Her ideas and plans and dreams would have died in her notebook.
Except one day the head chef marched into the kitchen and told his staff he had someone who was going to make aprons. The chef asked if anyone on staff wanted to buy one.
Ellen Bennett answered.
But she didn’t want to buy an apron. She told the head chef that she actually had an apron company.
She couldn’t believe she spoke up.
Because Ellen Bennett didn’t actually have an apron company. Not only did she not have a company, she didn’t have any materials or tools and no real idea of how to even start a company.
But she did have her notebook.
So Ellen told the head chef whatever the price was for the aprons, she would make them cheaper.
She told him whatever the timeframe was, she would make them faster.
Surprisingly, the head chef responded to her, “OK, alright cool.”
And Ellen had her first order for 40 aprons.
Ellen Marie Bennett had no idea how to make aprons, but she scrambled, researched, sewed, and finally created 40 aprons in 4 weeks.
There were issues and setbacks, but when her aprons were created, they were functional and beautiful.
They were aprons made for chefs by a chef.
She went on to start Hedley and Bennett, a company that makes aprons and kitchen gear.
It is a multimillion dollar company.
3.
Hopefully, you haven’t had to visit a children’s hospital lately.
But if you have, you’ve probably noticed that most of them have a collection of shiny red wagons.
Wagons have been used to transfer sick kids for twenty years.
Hospitals use the wagons to shuttle kids from their rooms to go to other appointments in the hospital or to just go for a quick ride.
They are a simple solution that gives kids a small sense of fun in a place that often isn’t.
But for the most part the wagons were strictly utilitarian and not designed for hospital use.
But in 2019 Radio Flyer, a wagon manufacturer, and Starlight Children’s Foundation collaborated to design a wagon that was made strictly for hospitals.
Called the Hero Wagon, this ride shuttled children the same way the old wagons did.
However, the Hero Wagon wasn’t a normal wagon; it had a few upgrades.
The new wagon featured medical grade fabric that surrounded the body of the wagon to provide a safer ride. It made the wagon easier to clean and disinfect.
The mesh fabric also included a spot for an IV to securely attach. The wagon also folds for easier storage.
The wagon was also easier to wipe down between uses and included a spot for a young patient to hang a picture to look at during the ride.
The newly designed Hero Wagon is now used in over 100 children’s hospitals.
The Takeaway:
So how are FDR's shocking admission, premium chef aprons, and Hero Wagons all connected? In short, all are related to an essential but simple lesson - listening is critical.
Franklin D. Roosevelt did not kill his grandmother or any relative.
This story of FDR admitting his ‘crime’ first appeared in The Complete Practical Joker in 1953. The famous anecdote has been repeated many times over the years.
What is most interesting is FDR made up this story to add some interest to the long and dull White House reception line.
But he also used his confession to prove to others that no one listens carefully.
And he was correct.
He told many people that night that he killed his grandmother, and no guest replied in horror.
Perhaps those in line were in awe of the president, or perhaps no one was listening carefully.
But one Wall Street banker did listen carefully to Roosevelt say that he killed his grandmother.
The banker responded, "She certainly had it coming."
Someone had listened, and the banker’s response delighted the President.
And Ellen Bennett did what the banker at the White House did - she listened.
She listened to what chefs wanted and created it for them.
She had been taking notes about aprons for years. But all her notes stemmed from listening to the chefs’ complaints about inferior aprons.
She lost money on her first order, but she knew that chefs wanted a stylish apron, one that was adjustable, one that functional, one they would be proud to wear.
She listened.
The Hero Wagon evolved in the same way. There had been wagons at hospitals for twenty years.
But for twenty years hospitals used the wagons as they had been originally designed.
But Radio Flyer and the Starlight Children’s Foundation decided to hire designers to custom make a wagon for hospital use.
The designers spent 1000 hours interviewing doctors, nurses, patients, and parents.
A thousand hours interviewing - and listening.
The creators listened to ensure the final version of the wagon was helpful to everyone.
Often people listen in order to respond - they are busy waiting to reply to what they just heard.
But listening should be done in order to understand.
Listening, surprisingly, can be hard work. To listen with intent, you have to care about what people say.
The banker cared what FDR had to say - even if it was outlandish.
Ellen Bennett and Radio Flyer cared what their customers had to say. They took action based on what was heard - and delivered what people wanted.
But before you can take action and deliver results, you first have to listen.
3 Things Before You Go:
read: Meet the Greta Thunberg of AI, Politico.com: the older generation need not worry when wickedly smart and passionate young adults get involved with today’s issues; concise feature profiling Sneha Revanur, founder of Encode Justice (and friend of my daughter)
read more: You Can Now Buy A Lighthouse of Your Very Own in Michigan, Smithsonian Magazine: now is your chance to buy that lighthouse you’ve always wanted; may need some TLC but wonderful water views
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