From the archives…
My buddy Casey and I took a quick walk to Minute Maid today just to check things out. As we were leaving, Jim Crane, the owner of the Houston Astros walks out and graciously agrees to a quick picture with us. That was cool and all but let me tell you what I saw next that is the sign of a great leader and owner...
We ended up walking behind him as we were both headed in the same direction for a block or so. After a fist bump or two to other people, he was on the phone and passed an area near the park, but I don’t think it was actually Minute Maid property, that had some kind of trash or old insulation on the sidewalk. As he passed it, out of the corner of his eye he noticed it. He stopped, cleaned it up and then kept on walking.
That’s all I saw but it reminded of me that there is a difference in the way owners think. An owner sees a problem and fixes it. I suppose he could have called anyone on his staff to come take care of stuff like that, but in that moment, he didn’t. I remember Craig Groeschel talking about thinking like an owner when you are a leader in his leadership podcast. Owners just look at the world differently. But here’s the trick, any leader can act and be like an owner. In fact, when you do, it can actually start to define your leadership in a very positive way.