My friend and co-worker Jeff Newton has for years talked to me about the detriment of dealing with a duck. A duck is a consistent under-performer that does not produce. Jeff often says, no matter how much development they get and what they try for, at the end of the day they're still a duck.
In his recent Bestseller Leadership Gold, John C. Maxwell has a chapter titled "Don't send your Ducks to Eagle School." JMax says that if you send your ducks to eagle school (putting your under-performers working with elite people and in elite situations)you might lose your eagles and certainly frustrate the ducks.
I could not help but think of this on the closing for our recent home purchase. This will be the last of 3 previous posts regarding our learnings from the saga transaction. I would venture to say that the closing of a deal is the most important part of the deal. It's where the seller gets their money and the buyer gets their product --- why should it not be bottom line important. I would relate the importance of this stage to an eagle school. Have eagles finalize the deal.
Well, the listing agent sent a partner that had zero authority to sign on behalf of the owner (not present) which prevented the execution of nearly all documents. Not only did she have zero authority, she had zero confidence in her ability. Why so little confidence? Come to find out, she was fairly new to her profession and the nature of our deal was more complex than anything she had been exposed to. While many would criticize this agent, I am looking at the employer who sent her. Peel back the onion and I find his/her boss as the duck. As frustrating as it was, it is a shame that they sent someone to do their quacking for them. They placed someone unprepared and undeveloped in a crucial transaction. The agent felt embarrassed and ended up leaving because she could not provide anything.
As a result of this floundering from the listing team, execution of the deal was delayed. When you are interfacing with your customer, you need to match eagles to eagles and your deals and brand will fly higher. The same applies to your associates. When you put eagles with eagles and remain cautious of ducks your biz will fly much higher.
ID your Eagles to help yourself:
Make a list of all of those that work for you. Go down the list one person at a time and ask yourself this question about each person:
- Is this person TRULY crucial to our past, present and future success?
If you can answer yes, yes, yes - place a check by that person's name. Those with checks are your eagles. Spend your time investing in them vs spending all your time trying to fix the ducks.
such a great illustration...thanks for passing it along ryan. I am checking off my list right now.
Posted by: Catalyst Concierge | July 25, 2008 at 08:38 AM
Thx for sharing such candid insights Ryan! I once heard someone say that 1 great employee is better than 3 good ones. Your point of identifying the "eagles" is spot on.
Posted by: Micah Davis | July 28, 2008 at 06:38 PM
Good post Ryan! The eagle/duck story is one of my favorites of John's. Did we talk about that the other night at dinner???
Posted by: Marla Saunders | July 28, 2008 at 11:23 PM
i love tuareg lifes and their stories
Posted by: Taobao English site | January 28, 2011 at 02:32 AM
Some time before, I really needed to buy a house for my organization but I did not have enough cash and could not buy something. Thank goodness my father adviced to get the business loans at trustworthy bank. Therefore, I acted so and was satisfied with my term loan.
Posted by: RamirezMARY28 | November 03, 2011 at 02:27 PM