Issue 98 - Just What are Your Boundaries?
What are the boundaries that currently constrain you? Have you thought about that question lately? Are your personal and professional possibilities boundless, or severely restricted?
From time to time, all of us are impacted by circumstances outside the realm of our immediate control. For example, I have no personal control over the price of a barrel of crude oil, the prime interest rate or America’s current trade deficit with China. Way back in college, I seem to recall my economics professor warning that such global events could have a devastating effect on the businesses we were destined to manage. And I’m sure they do. After all, who ever knew an economist to be wrong? (wink, wink)
But over time, I have come to realize the boundaries that constrain most of us are not destined to be key agenda items at some future global economic summit nor will they be listed in the Wall Street Journal as key economic indicators. The practical boundaries that constrain too many of us are self-imposed—too often the results of under active imaginations. We “can’t” because we don’t think we can. These personal “dull periods” as I like to refer to them, are often brought on by prolonged periods during which we look at the way we do things and begin to think that ours is the only way it can be done. Sometimes it takes nothing more than a competitive challenge to awaken us from these professional doldrums.
I was recently speaking at an executive leadership retreat for a large regional bank company in central Texas. My audience consisted of key bank management personnel (presidents, vice presidents and various executives), along with the outside directors who sat on the bank’s board. These directors were successful business people in their own right, all of whom represented businesses beyond the scope of banking and financial services.
One of these directors was a fine Texas gentleman by the name of Don Hewlett. I soon learned that Don’s story is the classic Horatio Alger tale. In 1958, Don began his automotive career working at a Chevrolet dealership in Austin, Texas. For the next 14 years, he worked diligently to learn the fine art of salesmanship. In 1971, at age 35 an opportunity presented itself and Don took a leap of faith, becoming a partner in Compton Motors in downtown Georgetown, Texas. This move required Don to leave the loyal Austin customer base he had developed over the years as he relocated 28 miles to the north. Thirteen years later, in 1984, Don purchased the remaining Compton Motors stock from his partners and changed the name of the dealership to Don Hewlett Chevrolet, Oldsmobile, Buick. (For more information visit http://donhewlett.com.)
Though his dealership, located in downtown Georgetown, experienced great success over the years, in 2000, the Hewlett family moved the entire operation to the outskirts of town, allowing them to “spread out” on an 80-acre parcel of ground. By 2005, the dealership had expanded its offerings and had become known as Don Hewlett Chevrolet, Oldsmobile, Buick, Volkswagen, Hummer and Kia. Business was good—real good.
But, not everyone applauded the success that Don and his dealership were experiencing. Some were downright threatened by it. That fact became clear in 2003, when one day Don was confronted by a fellow Texas GM dealer, upset that Don was selling cars to customers “out of his (Georgetown) territory.” When Don resisted the charge, the competitor asked directly, “Well, what is your sales territory, anyway?” With the emotion of the moment reaching a crescendo and with no prior thought having been given to the matter, Don admits hearing himself blurt out, “My sales territory is from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean!”
Later, alone with his thoughts, Don began to consider his knee-jerk, emotion-laden response. He found himself wondering, “Have I limited my boundaries in the past? Is there something I can actually do to expand my sales reach?” This simple self-posed question, in time, led Don Hewlett to seriously explore the possibility of doing business over the internet.
Don looked within his dealership and identified a young man who was “especially good on the telephone.” Soon, Don had turned the fledgling internet sales function over to the young man who not only accepted the responsibility, but relished the challenge that it represented. Before long, a website was launched. But the young man went one step farther. He took a laptop computer and set it by his bedside. He programmed the computer to set off an alarm any time an internet shopper posed an online question on the www.donhewlett.com web site. Within 30 minutes, the employee would respond to the questioner with a return telephone call. This unexpected response proved to be a positive sales technique. Before long, actual sales were happening online.
In fact, Don proudly proclaims that in no time flat, he had sold a Corvette to a buyer in Los Angeles and a Chevrolet Suburban to another buyer in New York City. Lo and behold, his offhand comment had become reality—Don Hewlett Chevrolet was selling cars from the Atlantic to the Pacific—from sea to shining sea.
What Does It Mean?
“Cute story, Phil, but what difference does it really make to me?” you might be wondering.
I share this story because I think it represents a classic example of one person (Don Hewlett’s competitor) wishing for boundaries, while another person (Don Hewlett himself) would not allow his business to be defined by self-limiting boundaries.
But, what about you? Are you a boundary maker or a boundary breaker? How we see ourselves is the first step to defining our professional future. Don Hewlett reminded me of the power in thinking big—even when you really don’t know how to make big thinking a reality.
