Tom Birchard

I just joined Twitter a few wks ago and it’s admittedly a bit overwhelming. Here goes with my 1st post…I currently lead a 250+ person service team and it strikes me there are some underappreciated leadership lessons that are more important now than ever. Here are 5 of them 👇

Sample Bias - when some members of a population are systematically more likely to be selected in a sample than others Good example of this discussed at business dinner last night. One of my team members is 6'6, and he was commenting on how often he runs into someone taller than him out and about...not very often at all This got me thinking, how many people in the world are 7+ feet tall? Below is what I found At first I was shocked by this. Having grown up playing and watching basketball, I naively assumed the number had to be much greater than this But this is Sample Bias. When I then got to thinking how often I'd be living my daily life, and see a 7 footer, it dawned on me how extremely rare it really is Many other instances of Sample Bias, and something to keep in mind as your initial reaction may be way off

A former manager used the phrase "Revenue is the Magic Eraser" And in that business and with the structure of our P&L, it absolutely was. If we were dramatically growing, everything else tended to take care of itself This just got me thinking that every business, at any given point in time, probably has 1-2 metrics that if you're driving them, performance will follow While it's important to consider how to balance different metrics (i.e. revenue, gross margin, and inventory), I also think it's important not to overcomplicate things. Easy to get caught in "analysis paralysis" and often driving extreme energy towards the metric or two that's most important for your business will deliver the intended results

"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving." - Albert Einstein Thought of this 6AM Sunday morning while tempted to turn on the news until the kids woke up after the truly unfortunate events of Saturday But opted for the gym instead💪🏋️‍♂️

It's hilarious what little kids get excited about We signed Rory up for tee-ball. He's been talking all week about getting a glove There's a part in this "If You Give a Dog a Donut" book where the dog gets a glove & plays baseball, so I hear about it reading every night too😂

Congratulated a team member on a work anniversary earlier this week Prompted them to share how when they took the job 7 yrs ago, they never envisioned it turning into a CAREER Reminder of what really matters & that our team members are a critical stakeholder, not just investors

Two of the best things I've done for my mental health lately... 1) Removing all social media from phone (X, LinkedIn, Facebook) 2) Using app called One Sec to force me to pause & take a long breath before opening up email on my phone. Often stops me from compulsively checking!

Major learning for me as a parent with young kids is during play, to let them lead The most fun, and often hysterical, times don't come from when I say "let's go play basketball" but instead from letting their natural curiosity & creativity take hold & going wherever that leads

In his excellent book "The Manager's Handbook", @davedodson307 lays out 5 must-have skills for leaders One is "Setting & Adhering to Priorities" This is so important, because the tendency is to chase shiny objects which dilutes impact & execution of those critical priorities An annual budget and goal-setting process, along with a way to measure (leading & lagging KPIs) is critical The larger the organization, the more cross-functional collaboration needs to occur to ensure effective cascading of the high-level goals and alignment of the priorities within different functional teams This process is hard and takes time, but you shouldn't take shortcuts because you want a high confidence that the priorities you establish will allow you to achieve the goals set. There may be a need to deviate from those plans midyear, but this shouldn't be taken lightly and every effort should be made to execute on the plans that were thoughtfully laid out

A quote to start the week👇 "Comparison is the death of joy." - Mark Twain Don't waste time & energy comparing yourself to those around you. This includes social media Instead...look inside, find your purpose & write it down, and try to live in alignment with that

MSC's mission statement is to be the best industrial supplier in the world as measured by our associates, customers, owners, and suppliers Super important to run decisions through this filter and ensure we're keeping a healthy balancing vs. overbiasing for any given stakeholder

Amazing how low the bar is set in many areas for follow through, clear communication, and even basic responsiveness Silver lining is if you can deliver on these, either personally or as a company, you can really stand out It’s not complicated, master these basic behaviors!

Spent the day with one of our key suppliers, Milwaukee Tool Quite the conference room, but the tour was one of the best I’ve been on Their tag line is “Nothing but Heavy Duty” and it shows with the rigorous testing they put their products through. Very impressive

Starting a quarterly tradition. Take weekday off for “Boys Day” Work can wait 😎

3⃣Discipline - I definitely enjoy routine & structure This is one I've had to flex on in the career path I've chosen. Every day is different and I have to be nimble Still, I try to use this tendency to my advantage and as a result I think I'm more effective & impactful