Some things change in four decades of business – technology, markets, even entire industries. But the fundamental truths about leadership? Those tend to stick around.
This year, I marked my 40th anniversary in the workforce, which caused me to reflect on certain phrases I’ve used consistently in my career. My teams affectionately call these “Tony-isms” – and they’ve remained surprisingly constant.
Tony-isms, I’d like to think, reflect core beliefs and perspectives. There’s a kind of shorthand here – simple sayings that get a laugh, spur reflection or spark a conversation during moments of trial and error.
So here’s my 40th anniversary gift to myself and to everyone who’s heard these sayings more times than they care to count. Without further ado, I present six Tony-isms that sum up my views on leadership, teamwork and getting things done.
“Everyone has one of two roles: servant of the customer, or servant to the servant of the customer.”
With 20,000 Associates delivering ingredients for a better life at SpartanNash, this principle keeps us grounded. The person stocking shelves? Servant of the customer. Account sales manager? Field merchandiser? Both, servants of the customer. Data analyst crunching numbers to help optimize our supply chain? In this case, a servant to the servant of the customer. It’s a humbling way to approach work. No matter how senior you get, you’re always in service, directly or indirectly, to the customer.
“I didn’t see that one in the best practices manual.”
When someone suggests an idea that’s so far from plausible it’s almost comical, I trot this saying out. Maybe it’s a proposal to cut costs by eliminating quality control or a bold new marketing strategy that ignores actual shoppers. When everyone knows an idea isn’t just wrong but spectacularly wrong, I’ll deadpan this line. Sometimes I’ll get creative and reference a specific section of the best practices manual adding, “That must be from Chapter 12, the section on guaranteeing complaints.” Works every time. Feel free to use it. Keeps the mood light while freeing the mind of truly bad ideas.
“Nothing is worse than a bad strategy with a good outcome.”
I drop this one whenever someone gets a little too confident about early success, particularly if they can’t pinpoint the formula behind the win. Success without understanding just postpones failure – and the bill always comes due eventually.
“We are swimming in time.”
This one comes out when it looks like we’ve run out of runway on an important project. But wait! Have we really? I counter with my favorite temporal reality check, “We are swimming in time.” After four decades of confronting deadlines, we’re never actually out of time for the things that truly matter. Almost always we’re surrounded by possibilities to reprioritize, reallocate or reimagine our approach. Time scarcity is often just creativity scarcity in disguise.
“A strategy built around avoiding a loss is a losing strategy. Winners play to win every day.”
I developed this Tony-ism after watching too many organizations get paralyzed by fear of making mistakes. They spend so much energy avoiding failure that they never position themselves for success. It’s like being so afraid of striking out that you never swing at good pitches. Markets don’t stand still waiting for your defensive strategy to work. Winners play to win by making smart bets, learning fast, and adapting when they’re wrong. The goal isn’t to avoid all losses – it’s to make sure your wins stack up with consistency.
“Ummm… let’s try that again… this time with feeling.”
This Tony-ism pops out anytime there’s hesitation to act or we seem to be settling for good enough. Going through the motions gets you nowhere and is the exact opposite of the energy and passion you’ll find on high-performance teams. Bringing urgency and authentic feeling to your work is what separates good from great.
Which reminds me…
Tony-isms didn’t become Tony-isms all at once. I can’t say for sure when a particular saying took hold and found its spot in the regular rotation. But somehow, these have become part of my leadership DNA.
Which reminds me of Yogi Berra! He famously said, “I never said most of the things I said.” But c’mon… did he actually say that? Does it matter? Words fade, after all. Actions endure. And the fundamentals of working well together – finding time for creative problem-solving, staying humble, playing to win, serving others, bringing authenticity to the work – are abiding truths that keep finding new occasions for utterance.
Here’s to the new decade ahead, hopefully with new and improved Tony-isms – and a few of the same ones on rotation.