The wisdom of Roy Jeans

The “wisdom of Roy Jeans” could sound like many things.  It could be a Country & Western hit. It could be a movie starring Gary Cooper. It could be a moving novel about a defence lawyer fighting for normal people’s rights against an oppressive state regieme. It may indeed still be all of these. However, for me, it is a battered piece of paper that is stuck on my wall. It’s been in every office I’ve been in since about 1996. I make sure it is in a place that I can see everyday.

Roy Jeans was a work collegue.  He has since become a good friend. At the time of writing the note, he could have been a political enemy. He worked for the same organisation, but for a different part of it. It was in his own and his business’s interest to see my part of the business fail.

Then one day I resigned. I was going to a new company.  In that company, I would be a direct competitor to the company that Roy Jeans worked for. On the day I resigned, he popped over to see me.  He wished me well.  We had a beer. Then – as a final gesture – he wrote me this note. He couldn’t rememeber where he got the ideas from. He said that he’d had it tucked away in his drawer.  He thought he’d share it.

As Roy Jean’s said: You start any new job with the best intentions.  Everything is possible. You can do everything the day you join. The thing is that at some point things don’t go your way. You can look for excuses. You can look for others to blame. Roy Jean’s advice was to just look at this note.

I still have it. I thought I’d share it.  It’s for anyone in a new job.  It’s for anyone in an old job. It is for anyone running a business.  It’s for anyone thinking of starting a business. It’s for any politician. It’s for anyone who is responsible for anything, or anyone, or even themselves.

So here it is….the wisdom of Roy Jeans

1. Deal with reality as it is, not as you would like it to be.
2. Be candid with everyone
3. Don’t manage.  Lead.
4. Change before you have to.
5. If you don’t have a competitive edge, don’t compete.
6. Control your destiny or someone else will.