Spring Golf Tournament is May 11th at Dardeene.
May 2023 is here time for another Al’s Corner note.
First up is the Spring Golf Tournament this time at the Links at Dardeene located in O’Fallon, Mo. For $95 you get lunch, Dinner, eighteen holes of 4-person golf scramble, hole and team prizes, drink tickets, and great networking fun. Let Brad Reinhardt know how many players you have, and you do not have to have four, we can make teams.
This month’s topic is —The need for excellence in all aspects of your life! I was watching an interview on TV last week with the parents of the man who shot and killed five people in a bank. As we all know, mass shootings are a weekly occurrence now in the U.S. Obviously, the parents were horribly saddened by the senseless killing of innocent people, but also losing their son for no reason too. What caught my attention was something that the mother said, “in her son’s darkest hour he needed us to be exceptional, not reasonable, and we failed him.” They had provided him with counseling from a psychiatrist many times.
So, what is my main point here? I do not believe most of us are driven to achieve excellence or want to be exceptional. What is worse is people think that they are great, special when they are not even close to that. So many in America are quick to notice other people’s faults and not their own weaknesses. I think that very few people know what being exceptional really is, or what it takes to be outstanding, remarkable, or phenomenal.
The story with the grieving parents for me fits into a book I am two-thirds way through reading “On Fire” by John O’Leary. He tells an impactful yet incredibly sad story of John burning himself over 90% of his body when he was a young boy. He is from the St. Louis area and is a story about the challenges then and the chances he took to have an extraordinary career later. The lessons he learned were about never giving up and embracing becoming an overachiever, and how small things or gestures can lead to outstanding results. His life is now laser-focused on trying to help others live an inspired life.
So, what is the reason I am writing about this topic and what does it have to do with the monthly transportation club blog I write? Because trying to be exceptional or good at this business is why I joined The St. Louis Transportation Club years 20 years ago. Back then I thought it was important to dedicate some personal time to this organization. I remember many people in my office back then were happy to miss work for an event in the afternoon during work hours, but never in their free time in the evening, or on the weekend. In the beginning, my journey was about learning more about the business, hopefully gaining a few customers from being in the club, but soon evolved into networking opportunities and friendships. These friendships are surprising to me as they are with competitors, sometimes customers, and even other businesses that were not directly in our field. My old friend Matt Gilreath is with a company called Delta Defense, and he has some products that could be helpful to truck drivers. Matt teaches Conceal and Carry and has been putting a team in our golf outings now for years. So, you never know who you might meet.
Well, that is it for another Al’s Corner note. In overview, it still surprises me how past Presidents of our club, became president and then quit the group. I never did, nor will I ever stop being part of this great organization! Have a great month, AL.