Jim Whitt, Contributing Editor

Impressions

Once upon a time I decided I wanted to be a bull rider. If you know anything about the sport, it requires you only stay on the back of the bull for eight seconds to make a qualified ride. You have no idea how long eight seconds is until you have a one-ton bull strapped to your hand and you’re trying to make sure you stay on top instead of him. I discovered I could ride a bull really well for seven seconds. I started noticing successful bull riders were usually no taller than about 5’8”. At 6’2” my extra height gave the bulls more leverage to work with. They cracked my torso like a whip. I decided to retire from bull riding while my torso was still intact.

My brief bull-riding career gave me an appreciation for the really great rough stock riders in the sport. I spotted the greatest in the airport at Chicago a few years back. I walked up and introduced myself to Jim Shoulders, the man The New York Times recently called the Babe Ruth of rodeo. It’s an appropriate comparison — Shoulders won 16 world championships in his career. I told Jim that I knew it was him because of the unique crease in his hat, a Jim Shoulders trademark. He smiled, introduced me to his wife, Sharon, and we carried on a conversation like old, long-lost friends. The Shoulders’ ranch is near Henryetta, Okla., which is about an hour south of Tulsa. So we talked about common friends, rodeo and ranching. They were genuinely nice, down-home people.

Fast-forward to June 11, this year. On a packed flight to Chicago I found myself pinned into a window seat by a rather rotund gentleman sitting next to me. After takeoff I made my way to the back of the plane (as much to escape as to go to the rest room) and spotted an empty aisle seat next to an off-duty flight attendant. I asked her if the seat was taken. She replied that it was not and graciously invited me to sit down. She asked where I was from and when I said Tulsa she told me she was from Henryetta. I had to ask, “Do you know Jim Shoulders?” Well, she happened to be married to Marvin Shoulders, a former world champion bull rider and son of Jim. My conversation with Lori Shoulders was like continuing the one I had with Jim and Sharon years before. She was just as genuine and down-home. When we arrived in Chicago I gave her a copy of my book, Riding for the Brand: The Power of Purposeful Leadership.

I got an email from Lori on June 15 telling me she enjoyed the book and was taking it to Jim to read. Then, on June 18, I received another email from Lori: “Hi Jim, You have probably heard by now that Jim passed away this morning. I’m glad he got to read your book. He said he enjoyed it. Take care, Lori.”

I can’t think of a greater honor than to know that the last book the king of the rodeo cowboys read was one I wrote. And it’s appropriate that the last book he read was entitled Riding for the Brand. In the old west, a ranch’s brand did more than identify its livestock; it was like a coat of arms. When you signed on to cowboy for that ranch, you were not only expected to do your job well but to be loyal to that ranch. In other words, you were expected to represent the ranch in a manner that would do it proud. If you did those things, then it was said that you “rode for the brand.” It was the highest compliment a cowboy could receive. Jim Shoulders was not just a great cowboy, he was the greatest ambassador rodeo ever had. He rode for the brand.

Jim Shoulders was everything a sports hero should be but so few are today. The behavior of most so-called professional athletes is anything but professional.

I just bought a new tractor from Tim McCrate, a dealer whose customers have included Garth Brooks and Jim Shoulders. We were talking about how down-to-earth and approachable Jim Shoulders was. Tim told me about an incident he witnessed in an airport that involved a well-known former NFL quarterback and current TV commentator (you’d recognize his name right away but I’ll withhold it to protect his guilt). The football star was walking through the terminal when a couple of youngsters spotted him and excitedly asked for his autograph. Their “hero” brushed them off with a gruff, “Leave me alone, I’m busy.” Tim said the boys looked crushed. That hero just fell off his pedestal for life in the minds of those boys, not to mention everyone who witnessed the incident. No, he really didn’t fall, he dove off headfirst because he not only shattered his image with them but destroyed all the good will they would have spread for him in the stories they repeated to their friends about what a great guy he was. Instead, he will be remembered for the story I just shared with you, except they’ll use his name.

If the reputation of your business depends on the people who work for your organization (and it does) who would you want representing you, Jim Shoulders or the football star?

Consider these pearls of wisdom I learned as a young feed salesman:

• People don’t do business with companies, they do business with people.
• When you are face-to-face with a prospect or customer, you are the company as far as they are concerned.

You can apply these to your business or any other business for that matter. I’ve been asked many times about what kind of industries and organizations I work with. My answer is, “Only those with people.” Every business is a people business. And you, and all the people who work in your organization, are the company. When you walk into a restaurant, the dentist office or an implement dealer, the people are who determine whether or not you have a positive or negative impression of that company.

I’ve never met anyone who met Jim Shoulders who didn’t walk away with a positive impression. And if their only exposure to rodeo was that one encounter, guess what they thought about the sport of rodeo? They concluded people involved in rodeo are just like Jim Shoulders.

As I was thinking about the many people and organizations that represent the beef industry, it occurred to me that this column marks my 10th anniversary of writing for the CALF News. It’s an honor to ride for the CALF brand because there is no better representative for the beef industry than CALF and its publisher, Betty Jo Gigot. I’m proud to be one of the many people who are involved in its publication. I’m also proud that Cargill Animal Nutrition sponsors this column because it makes me a partner in their purpose of “being the global leader in nourishing people.” I consider it a great responsibility to represent CALF and Cargill in a manner that will do them proud.

Every day people are judging us by our interactions with them. They walk away with an impression of not just us but the organizations and the industry we represent. We only get one chance to make a first impression, so we’d better make it a good one.

Please e-mail comments to Jim Whitt at jim@whittenterprises.com.

Cargill Animal Nutrition is proud to sponsor the “Whitt and Wisdom” column which offers business management and leadership advice from management consultant Jim Whitt. Cargill is an international provider of food, agricultural and risk management products and services.