Lane Cardwell

Marathon Mindset

The second annual San Diego State University Restaurant Leadership Conference was held this week. I find it hard to believe that a year has passed since I attended the last one. Time really flies in this industry when you are gasping for air. There were two conference highlights this year. The first was the presence of Norman and Toni Brinker at the conference. Norman is a graduate of SDSU and made a sizeable donation to establish an Executive-In-Residence program for the School of Hospitality. Any time that Norman is in attendance at an industry function it is always elevated to a higher sense of purpose.

This E-I-R program was the reason that so many restaurant executives were on campus this week. Their presence contributed to the second highlight. A two hour session was held with the 13 CEOs, presidents, and concept leaders chaired by Tom DeCotiis, CEO of CorVitus.  Tom is the author of the book “Make it Glow”, which details the principles that many restaurant companies have used to set themselves apart from their competitors. Tom’s session with the assembled operators covered the topic “Leading Into, During, and Out of Recession”. It was a roundtable discussion which gave the executives an opportunity to share their thoughts and practices of not just surviving, but thriving during a recession.

One of the things that became clear in listening to the discussion was that a different mindset is necessary when dealing with a recession of this magnitude and duration. Normally when you listen to concept heads talk about their businesses you hear terms like “win”, “beat”, “gain”, and other race related phrases. There is a lot of similarity to a race of short duration, a sprint, and business in normal times. In business you compete against a few specific competitors with the goal of winning or improving your ranking against them. Time is measured in quarters or maybe a year, but it results in a focused amount of effort with a defined goal.

I have never run a marathon, but I have talked with many people who have. One thing that I have never heard a marathoner say is that their goal is to win. A marathoner’s main goal is to finish, which is a high accomplishment in a race that takes place over a 26 mile course. For experienced marathoners a second goal is to improve their time relative to prior marathons. Marathons, unlike sprints, have hundreds, even thousands of participants. I know that some must set winning as their goal, but most are happy to cross the finish line in a relatively healthy state.

And so it is with our current economic situation. The way that CEOs now describe their businesses and their strategies has nothing to do with winning. It has everything to do with finishing and with surviving. And with that the strategies and tactics all change. Preserving capital, customer traffic, and key employees are key goals. Not that these aren’t important in normal times, but during times of economic stress they can mean the difference between crossing the finish line after 26 miles, or collapsing along the way.

If you haven’t done so yet with your own business, you should figure out what a “marathon mindset” means in your situation. There will be plenty of time to run a race to win in the future. For now, let’s just concentrate on finishing in good health. As they say in contests, “Must be present to win.”

Thank you to the students, faculty, and visiting executives for making the Second Annual Restaurant Leadership Conference at San Diego State University another big success. As always, thank you to Norman Brinker for making so many careers and concepts possible, and for improving the industry. We keep trying to make him proud.

Posted by Lane Cardwell on March 5, 2009 | Comments (0)