Each man’s life touches so many other lives.”
The line at the checkout counter at the Walmart in Brookings, South Dakota was hardly the place author V. J. Smith pictured as the source of inspiration for a book. Smith’s idea about writing a book was to document the story of some leader who’d made the world a better place, explaining the road they took to make a difference.
But one day, waiting in the checkout line at Walmart, Smith started paying close attention to what was going on, up ahead. Behind the register, somebody’s grandfather was ringing up sales, carrying on conversations with customers, and finishing every transaction in exactly the same, curious way.
The guy would come around the counter, holding the change in his left hand, sticking out his right hand to shake hands with the customer. Smith observed the impact: it was huge.
Instead of writing a book, Smith wrote a letter. Addressed it to the CEO of Walmart. He got the name of the checker – Marty, as the store wouldn’t give out a last name – and wrote, “Sam Walton would be proud of Marty. Why? Because after he rings up the sale, and just before handing us the change, he sticks out his right hand to shake ours. He looks us right in the eye and thanks us.
And, he sincerely means it, and we know it.”
Smith explained Marty’s influence on the store’s customers: “I like many others will stand eight deep in his cashier line. There will be a few people in the other cashier lines, but that doesn’t matter. The wait doesn’t bother us.”
Apparently, a lot of people in Brookings had become big fans of Marty. Upon reading Smith’s letter, so did the top management at Walmart. To recognize his talent and contribution in an outfit employing more than three hundred thousand, they presented Marty with their coveted Hero Award.
All because of a handshake – and a letter from a customer, V.J Smith.
The Handshake
Eventually Smith introduced himself to Marty: “I’m that guy who wrote the letter.” Marty gave Smith a handshake and a hug. Later, over coffee at Marty’s double wide trailer, they got acquainted. Then they became the best of friends.
As Smith got to know Marty, he learned all about the handshake, and its simple and powerful logic. This wasn’t something Marty learned in business school or read in any best-selling book about customer relations or human resource management. The handshake was the product of wisdom gained from experience, and an understanding of people.
In business, understanding people is the whole point of it.
Marty explained how the handshake came to be. His first job at Walmart was as a greeter; one day, when four college kids came into the store, without giving it any thought, he shook their hands. As they walked away, one of them said loud enough for him to hear, “I liked that.” The practice stuck.
It was just a handshake. During a typical day at the register, Marty would shake hands with more than two hundred customers. The difference that made the difference was his sincerity: those on the receiving end knew it was real. The secret: “You have to look them dead in the eye when you shake their hand.”
But, Marty didn’t just look them in the eye and shake hands like he meant it: he’d also ask how they were doing. Then, he’d actually listen to what they had to say.
Are you shocked to read that listening to people, looking them in the eye, shaking their hand, and saying thanks are the kind of practices that make that big a difference? I’m not in the least: little things play big. The fundamentals endure.
But please don’t get the idea “the handshake” needs to be made into the next big thing where you work. If you can’t do it like Marty, people will be smart enough to see right through that kind of façade.
Assuming that it is insincere. Sometimes it is anything but.
Marty’s Motivation
You might be wondering why Marty would put himself out. After all, wasn’t the ultimate beneficiary of his practices the shareholders of Walmart?
That’s not how Marty saw things. “See, people think I’m doing this just for them. I’m doing it for me, too. What I get back I can’t describe. It makes me want to go to work in the morning.”
Marty was a genius. He might have quit school in the ninth grade, but he wisely came to understand an important truth about people: we all want to feel good. Including where we shop and where we work. Most leaders view a compliment as exclusively done for the good of the follower. Genuine appreciation given someone has benefits – for the receiver and the giver.
Keep that thought in mind the next time you see someone working safely. The power of positive recognition is huge, and the biggest beneficiary of your positive recognition might well turn out to be you.
Just make sure, when you do that, it’s real. That lesson comes straight from Marty.
Changing Lives
Eventually, Smith did write a book. Not about some brilliant leader, but Marty. Smith wrote, “He changed my life forever.” He was struck by how happy Marty was, and how simple the means of achieving that was.
For the title, Smith borrowed a line from a favorite Christmas movie, It’s A Wonderful Life: The Richest Man In Town. His book is definitely worth the read.
If you haven’t seen the movie, that’s worth watching too, if for no other reason than the producer, Frank Capra, accomplished something we don’t ever get to do: see what life would look like without someone important ever having been around.
The hero in the story, George Bailey, saw himself as a complete failure. As he’s about to to jump off a bridge – figuring he’s worth more dead than alive – his guardian angel intervenes. Yes, it’s a movie, and a fantasy at that. George’s angel shows him what life in his small town would look like, had he not been around to make any difference.
It wasn’t a pretty picture.
At the end, the angel tells him, “Strange isn’t it? Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?”
Seeing that requires the kind of imagination you and I don’t possess. If we did, we’d probably be in a totally different line of work. Still, when it comes to managing safety, it really doesn’t require that much imagination to picture what life might look like, absent the benefit of having good leaders around to cause people to work safe.
And work a lot safer than they would otherwise, left on their own.
Like George, that is something every leader would do well to contemplate. No better time to do that then the holidays. No help from angels required.
Yes, everyone wants to be safe; no, very few of us would be nearly as safe without the influence of our leaders. Work enough years, have enough followers, and it’s a good chance there are people to be found who are far better off because of your safety leadership.
With that thought, best of the holidays to you.
Paul Balmert
December 2023