Hitting Your BullsEye manuscript

Hitting Your
BullsEye
Building Business by Building
Relationships
Jack Myrick
Great Growth Strategies for
not so great times

© Copyright 2012, Jack Myrick
All Rights Reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording,
or otherwise, without written permission
from the author.
ISBN: 978-1-300-07040-5

iii
“By helping others reach their dreams,
your dreams come alive!”
Papa

iv
Your life can change in a day. You
have an experience. You discover a
new way of thinking, finding
yourself heading in a different
direction, down a path that you
had failed to see before. It’s not
till much later that you look back
and say, “That was the moment
when the journey started. That
was when my heart embraced
something that changed me
forever.” Today was that day for
Matt; his life would never be the
same.

v
To Ralph Mason,
one of my favorite Papas

vii
Introduction
In our face paced high tech worlds our
“Customer’s Experience” has been turned into a set
of systems. We measure everything, but the most
important thing. How was the customer experience
and how did they feel about it? With layer after layer
of measures and systems we often forget the
customer is a person- not part of the system.
With businesses fighting for each and every sale,
the goal of this book is to help you refocus on the
most important things: Create a customer experience
so they desire to return and tell your story to others.
If you do both of these, then your business will grow
in any economy.
We accomplish this in two steps with the story
you are about to read. The first step explains how to
create the right customer experience for growth and
the second step shows you how to lead your people
so you create a culture of growth.
Enjoy this experience and please access the videos
and resources that go along with it at:
www.hittingyourbullseye.com
Jack

1
Chapter One
“What if work wasn’t just a place you went,
but a place where you could become?”
Jack Myrick
Matt always had good luck with a rooster tail. It
was his favorite, his most reliable fishing lure, and he
had never been skunked using it. That is, until today.
He sent another cast into the crystal-clear lake feeling
more frustrated with each toss. Why is it when you
most want to catch fish, they seem completely
uncooperative? He had already promised to catch and
release, but as time passed and his hunger increased,
he was reconsidering. Fresh trout sounded good right
now.
Even with his lousy fishing luck, Matt still felt a calm
start to come over him. His weekly visit to his fish camp on
Lake Northwestern in White Salmon, Washington, was
often the highlight of his week.
Lake Northwestern is a small, picture-perfect
lake nestled in the mountains of Washington. So calm
and beautiful it could be on a postcard. Its bluish,
green, ice-cold waters are perfect for rainbow trout.
The fishing camp had been purchased by his
grandfather. However, after his grandfather’s sudden

Jack Myrick
2
passing, it was given to his brother, Matt’s Great
Uncle Pete. As a surprise, Uncle Pete signed the title
over to Matt when he returned from a tour in
Afghanistan on Christmas three years ago.
As a feeder to the mighty Columbia River on the
Washington/Oregon border, the trout fishing could be
excellent at times, apparently just not today.
Matt made a few more casts and was seriously
thinking of giving up on old, reliable Mr. Rooster
Tail. He glanced over at the dock leading to the cabin
his grandfather built. The dock had been replaced
three times in the last fifty years and was still in
remarkably good shape. The cabin wasn’t much to
look at. His wife, Cindy, always said she didn’t like
coming here with the boys. She said it felt dirty. He
loved it anyway, and cherished many fond memories
with his Uncle Pete and friends growing up.
The tranquil scene seemed to calm him as he
tried to juggle his crazy, hectic, stressful world. He
was still trying to figure out how his “American
Dream” had become a nightmare.
Matt had grown up in Hood River, Oregon,
which sat on the banks of the Columbia River. He
lived under the aura of his grandfather. Being raised
by a single mom after his father checked out of their
lives, he clung to the image of his grandfather,
believing it gave him roots and identity.

Hitting Your BullsEye
3
His grandfather, known as “Papa” to the locals
and family, had become quite famous in the region
for owning and running The Fish House. It wasn’t
just a seafood joint, but a destination, an experience.
Matt could remember soaking in the stories growing
up, and wished with all his heart to have known the
man.
Papa died of a sudden heart attack not long after
Matt’s second birthday. The restaurant floundered a
few years after Papa’s passing; the heart was gone
from the business. His grandmother had sold it to
some local businessmen, and despite their efforts
they just couldn’t capture the magic that was “Papa”
in The Fish House.
Matt grew up a normal kid in Oregon, went to
college, and graduated. Following graduation he went
right into the military, and after three tours in the
Middle East, he couldn’t wait to return to Hood
River. Along the way, he had met Cindy. They had
two boys, Josh and Caleb, whom he cherished more
than life itself.
Night after night, sitting in the desert of
Afghanistan or Iraq, he would dream of returning
home settling down with Cindy and the boys and
reopening Papa’s Fish House. The dream kept him
going when he felt the most discouraged during a life
at war.

Jack Myrick
4
When his hitch in the military was up, he
returned to Hood River, took out a loan, and
reopened The Fish House. He was even lucky enough
to be able to get the same location his grandfather
had forty years before. The Fish House sat on a hill
overlooking downtown Hood River. From the
windows and outdoor seating, guests could take in
the view of the majestic Columbia River and truly
experience the sheer beauty of the Northwest.
Things were not working out as planned. He had
seen the Kevin Costner movie Field of Dreams that
promised, “If you build it they will come.” So he
built it, but people didn’t come—maybe they hadn’t
seen the movie.
The last twelve months had been a desperate
struggle.
He was working seventy to eighty hours every
week and was hardly breaking even. In reality, they
were just surviving and barely doing that thanks to
Cindy, who had gone back to work as a nurse to help
make ends meet. He felt he had a great product, yet
the business wouldn’t kick in.
He knew it wasn’t from a lack of trying. He
advertised on TV, radio, newspaper, social media,
everything. He had listened to the experts and
nothing seemed to move the dial on sales. The clock
was ticking and if things didn’t get better soon, he

5
saw the inevitable happening; he would lose The Fish
House and, ultimately, his dream.
He couldn’t help but feel like he would be letting
down his Papa if the restaurant failed. That thought
alone was enough to make him sick to his stomach.
Every night he went to bed afraid, and every morning
he woke up afraid.
Fear was not a new concept. He had known fear
during the war. It was real and it was cold. This fear
was different, though. This fear came from the inside
and brewed an anxiety that now shadowed him
everywhere he went. Only here, at the fish camp, did
he escape it.
His fish camp quieted his soul. He could feel
Papa’s presence in the place. Matt choked a sob
thinking he’d have to sell it to pay his debts.
Back on the lake, the fish weren’t cooperating,
and now a light rain deepened his mood. Matt strode
up the dock to the cabin and sat down to eat a late
lunch. He wasn’t in a hurry. It was Sunday, after all,
and the restaurant was closed. Cindy had been gone
all day taking the boys to Portland to the zoo.
The rain ushered in a damp cold, so he lit the fire
and settled in. Bored, he fidgeted around the cabin,
cleaning up and organizing a little in case he could

Jack Myrick
6
convince Cindy to come for another visit maybe next
week.
With an hour and some elbow grease, the pine-
paneled room started to look presentable by his
standards. While organizing the closet in the small
bedroom, he noticed a dust-covered box on the top
shelf. He didn’t remember it, so he lowered it down
for further inspection. After dusting untold years of
dust off, he lifted the lid to investigate. Inside the box
he found an old cassette player and a faded envelope
bulging with tapes in it.
The handwriting on the envelope looked vaguely
familiar. He opened the envelope to find six cassette
tapes. He hadn’t seen tapes like these in years. All
that was written on them were, “tape one,” “tape
two,” etc.
He almost threw the whole lot in the trash, but he
stopped. He plugged in the old machine not expecting
it to work. It did. He popped in a cassette not
expecting it to play. It did.
His life would never be the same; it would
change today.

7
Chapter Two
“I've learned that people will forget what you
said,people will forget what you did,but people will
never forget how you made them feel.”
Maya Angelou
After pushing “Play” on the dusty, thirty-year-
old cassette recorder, Matt sat back and waited not
knowing what to expect. After some static and
shuffling noises, a man cleared his throat and Matt
heard a voice. “Hello, this is Papa.” Matt jumped and
pushed “Stop.”
He bolted up, almost at attention! He walked
around the table, pacing the floor to the window and
back. Papa? Could it really be him? He strained to
process this. Adrenaline made his heart pound in his
ears. His whole life he had wished to have just one
moment with this man he called Papa, and now here he
was in this machine.
He had just heard a ghost. He gathered his
composure and slowly sat back down at the kitchen
table. With a nervous push, he hit “Play” a second
time. Papa began to speak: “I’m no writer, so I’m
going to record this program and have someone else
transcribe and edit it.

Jack Myrick
8
“My name is Matt Wilson, but everyone around
here just calls me Papa. I guess that’s because I treat
everyone as family. I own and run The Fish House in
Hood River, Oregon. Despite a slow economy and
multiple openings of national chains and competitors
in our town, sales and profits at The Fish House have
grown at an incredible rate since I opened it about ten
years ago. It’s not by luck or by chance this
happened, but rather by very real growth thinking and
training that we have carried out from day one.
“What I want to do with this time is state, then
explain each growth strategy, so we can add a little
more structure to our training, and maybe even offer
our strategies to others who might see the value.
“Seems a little silly to sit here at my breakfast
table at the fish camp and talk to a machine, but we’ll
make it work. Let me start with how I decided to
compete in the marketplace. In the restaurant
business, everyone pretty much has the same access
to products that we purchase and resell. Our
inventory arrives on a big truck from a wholesaler
that anyone can place an order with, so the playing
field at that point is pretty even.
“Having a great product today is just the ante to
get in the game. The people who stand out in this
marketplace take these generic products and find
ways to add value.

9
“I looked at how to best do this. I asked myself,
how would we enhance our products to gain a distinct
competitive advantage? I boiled it down to the idea
that our restaurant had to embody a relational, an
emotional component to make it unique or highly
remarkable to our customers. I called these our
Growth Strategies, because I believe they really
create tremendous growth for our business.
“I wish I could tell you
I developed this business
philosophy through sheer
brilliance and intelligence,
but that would be a lie. I
was taught how to compete
like this from a very wise
businessman named John
Rodgers, and yes, we called
him ‘Mr. Rodgers.’ Mr.
Rodgers had one of two
grocery stores here in town
when I was growing up.
Rodgers Grocery was founded by his father and
passed down to him.
“His store was off the beaten path, while his
competition held a prime location with high
visibility. On the surface, Mr. Rodgers store should
have struggled to compete. But the exact opposite
was true. He did double the business of his
Our restaurant
had to embody a
relational, an
emotional
component to
make it unique
or highly
remarkable to
our customers.

Jack Myrick
10
competitor, and even prospered when the big chain
stores arrived in town. That local grocery store made
him a lot of money.
“I started working for him when I was fourteen
as a stocker and a bagger, long before child labor
laws. It was a tough time in our country, and anyone
who could work did work. We had weekly Rodger
Rally’s, as he called them, every Saturday morning
from eight to nine.
“We were expected to be there when he went
over current specials and celebrated our successes.
He also spent thirty minutes on training all of us how
he expected us to do business, as he called it
‘Rodgers Rules.’ Thinking back, he pretty much
hard-wired us to behave and act in such a way that
our customers hated going anywhere else.
“Even as a teen, I saw value in his strategies and
methods. I saved the paperwork in a file, knowing if I
ever ran a business I wanted to do it just like him. I
wanted to recreate that experience. I believe the
Customer’s Experience is our greatest marketing
opportunity and sales builder.
“When I opened The Fish House, we spent hours
pre-training the staff so we would create the
experience that Rodgers created. I wanted to
duplicate his values and attitudes. I called them our
Growth Strategies. Just like at Rodgers Grocery,

11
when we opened up, people responded to them and
even in the hard times we have been blessed beyond
our expectations.
“So, what exactly are these Growth Strategies?
It’s hard to put a finger on
exactly how to describe
them. I call them rules,
attitudes, philosophies, and
principles. I’m probably a
little right and a little wrong
on each word.
“I use our Growth
Strategies to teach our team
members how to create what
I call the Ultimate Guest Experience. As people
become part of our team at The Fish House, they
essentially become part of our family and we make it
crystal clear how we expect them to behave in the
family business. We expect them to think and act
with their hearts.
“To do this, we need to decide what outcomes
we wanted from our customer’s experience. We then
planned that experience, and coined this phrase:
Advanced Decision Making.
“In Advanced Decision Making, we pre-decide
how we will respond to people and situations.
I believe the
Customer’s
Experience is
our greatest
marketing
opportunity and
sales builder.

Jack Myrick
12
“We think as a team and plan on how we can get
those outcomes with staff, customers, and everyone
else.
“The Growth Strategies work like magic when
you execute them effectively. We use these strategies
for obtaining very specific results. Those results have
two hopeful outcomes, which are the foundation to
our growth:
1. The customer has a great experience
and desires to return.
2. Create a remarkable experience so our
customer will recommend us to family and
friends.
“When we achieve both of these outcomes,
our business will grow.
“We all know word of mouth is the best form of
advertising. The challenge is that you have to give
people something to talk about. An experience must
be worth talking about. Be remarkable. ‘Remarkable’
means customers want to tell people about us and
their experience. If you can do this, well, you’ve
created the best and most effective marketing system
there is.
“So what are our Growth Strategies we use to
achieve those two outcomes?

13
The first Growth Strategy is:
Connect with people emotionally
“Every purchase a person makes is an emotional
decision for them. Often we aren’t even aware of the
emotions involved. They impact our decisions from
the car we drive, to the clothes we wear, to the places
we choose to eat. It’s our job to help our customers
have the correct emotional response to our restaurant
experience.
“We have all had a bad experience visiting a
restaurant or business. Those negative feelings
caused us not to want to return to that establishment
and often we told the people in our lives to stay away
as well.
“We’ve also experienced going to a restaurant
and really loving the food and connecting with the
staff. We couldn’t wait to return and probably told
our friends about our experience, as well.
“Many businesses ‘hit it out of the park’ every
once in a while. Our goal was to hit it out of the park
with every guest every time. I mean, let’s be real
here, we sell fish, hush puppies, fries and slaw.
Connecting with a person emotionally each and every
time takes thought and planning and a lot of it.

Jack Myrick
14
“That’s why we are dedicated to meeting every
week to review our growth strategies. We also
celebrate our home runs and successes. Furthermore,
we are brutally honest about where we dropped the
ball, about how we should have done it, and how we
will do it better next time.
Connecting with people on an emotional level is the
bull’s eye. It’s the center of the target that we use to
focus all the other strategies.
“Our objective here is to
see where the customer’s life
might intersect ours. It’s
often obscure and hard to
spot if you are not looking
for it. We don’t just look for
it; we actively search it out.
“Connection is one great relational accelerator.
When you connect with someone on an emotional
level, you step into their world and see it as they see
it. Great service doesn’t look
the same to each customer.
Someone sitting alone may
appreciate a little more
personal attention so she
doesn’t feel as if she is dining
alone. Conversation may be
perfectly appropriate.
Connecting
with people on
an emotional
level is the
BullsEye.
Connection is
one great
relational
accelerator.

15
“By contrast, though, a young man courting a
young woman might call for something different. In
that case, what they need is privacy. We watch from
afar. Asking, ‘What brought you to Papa’s tonight?’
helps us discover what they hope to experience.
“Let’s look at the young man and young woman
out on their first date. When she goes to the powder
room, you might approach that young man and tell
him you are intentionally being respectful and
managing them from a distance. All he needs to do is
make eye contact and you will be right there. At the
end of their meal, show up with a hot fudge sundae,
tell them you hope their experience was something
they will remember, and ask them to please return.
“Any time in the couple’s future they want to
celebrate something, where do you think they might
want to go? If they don’t see each other in the future,
where do you think that young man will take his next
date to impress her?
“How do you connect emotionally? It helps to
think of yourself as a very polite people detective.
Read their body language. What is it telling you?
Ninety-three percent of communication is tone and
body language, so you can tell a lot by these clues.
“We must make it personal to connect. Good
service meets your customer’s expectations. Great
service exceeds those expectations by making it

Jack Myrick
16
personal. We have a saying posted all over the
kitchen and stock room that reads:
“If it’s business, it better
be personal!”
“This concept wasn’t
shown to me; it was thrust
upon me one day at
Rodgers Grocery. I was
sixteen and had been
working there for a couple
of years and knew
Rodgers Rules by heart.
We had this young cashier
named Phyllis who
worked there. Phyllis did
an interesting thing every
day. She sat down in the
evening the day before she worked, and wrote out on
slips of paper a favorite scripture. She would copy it
fifty to a hundred times depending on how many she
thought that she might need on her next day at work.
Now remember this was before copy machines. She
had to diligently write each one by hand.
“As customers came through her line, she
handed them one of her written slips with their
receipt and said, ‘You have a great day.’ Most
Good service
meets your
customer’s
expectations.
Great service
exceeds those
expectations by
making it
personal.

17
customers would look at their slip, smile, and say,
‘Thank you, Phyllis.’
“Phyllis said it was her little ministry to
encourage people through their day. She strategically
created these small moments throughout the day to
encourage those around her.
“Mr. Rodgers didn’t seem to have a problem
with it, especially when people would line up to wait
in Phyllis’s line even when other lanes were open.
They wanted that little word of encouragement.
“One day, I’m standing by the office up front
waiting on Mr. Rodgers to give me a to-do list for the
afternoon, when Mrs. Adams walks in. Mrs. Adams
was a high school English teacher. She was a five-
foot-tall woman with her white hair in a tight bun.
She probably didn’t weigh a hundred pounds soaking
wet, yet every kid in school was scared to death of
her. She could make football linemen cry. This day
she walks in and I scrunch down hoping she doesn’t
see me. We rarely saw her at the store because her
husband, Mr. Adams, almost always did the
shopping. Mr. Adams passed away about a month
ago, so I just figured she had to do the shopping
now—yippee for us.
“She got her groceries and made her way to
checkout, ending up in Phyllis’s line. As she checked
out, Phyllis told her how much she missed seeing Mr.

Jack Myrick
18
Adams and handed her a slip. Mrs. Adams looked
down and read it. It seemed to catch her off-guard as
she stumbled back a little. Those behind her reached
out and gave her a little support. She gathered herself
and looked at Phyllis and said, ‘Dear, today has been
a very difficult day for me. I just can’t seem to shake
the sadness. I asked God to please speak to me, to
just let me know He’s there . . . and He did through
this slip of paper you handed me.’
“I will never, never fail you nor forsake you.”
Hebrews 13:5
‘Thank you, you have made this little old lady’s
day.’
“I thought she was headed out the door and was
feeling slightly relieved, until she stopped and
walked straight for me. I was standing by a bench and
she walked right up to me.
“She said, ‘Matt Wilson, you help me up on that
bench young man.’ I just stood there like a deer
caught in headlights. I looked over at Mr. Rodgers
and he gave me this look like, go for it, I ain’t telling
her no. She stood on the bench and then said, ‘Matt,
do that whistle thing you do. Yes, I know it’s you at
the assemblies.’ Again Mr. Rodgers gave me a look
to just do it.

19
“I have a really loud whistle and it comes in
handy when looking for a dog or little brother. So I
let out my signature whistle in the store. Now this
was Saturday, and we were packed, so when I
whistled, everyone stopped and looked at Mrs.
Adams standing on this bench. She stood up tall and
straight and said to the entire store: ‘People, most of
you know my wonderful husband of fifty years
passed away a month ago. He always did the
shopping for the house. Since he passed away, Mr.
Rodgers right there,’ she pointed right at him with
her boney finger, ‘that man has brought me groceries
twice a week ever since my dear husband died, and
refused any money.’
“‘I’m here to say, Thank you, Mr Rodgers, and
tell you that I’m ready now to start shopping for
myself and may God strike me dead if I ever enter
another grocery store other than Rodgers. My dear
husband bragged about this place for years, and today
I found out why. God bless you, Mr. Rodgers.’ After
this, she pointed her dreaded finger at the crowd to
say, ‘And the rest of you, if you have a lick of sense,
won’t shop anywhere else either.’ I reached up to
help her down and she pushed my hand away and
jumped to the ground, turned, and was gone. I knew I
had just experienced an important moment. It took
me years to completely unpack it though.

Jack Myrick
20
“Mrs. Adams came into the store every Saturday
after that. I actually started looking forward to her
visits and made it a point to help her take her
groceries to the car. She passed away a few years
later and set up a scholarship fund in her will to help
employees working at Rodgers who wanted to go to
college. I was the first recipient of that scholarship. I
never would be able to go to college if it weren’t for
her.
“As the years passed and I revisited that
experience and my time at Rodgers Grocery, I felt
like something magical happened in that business. It
wasn’t just a grocery store; it was a place that
connected with people right where they were during
the daily grind of life. Rodgers Rules gave structure
to our way of emotionally connecting the staff and
customers. It wasn’t customer service training—it
was connecting-with-people training.
“Each of us who had the privilege of working for
Mr. Rodgers were blessed to not only have met him,
but to have come under his tutelage. Some of our
community’s most successful people went to school
at Rodgers Grocery, and I know his training has had a
ripple effect in us all.
“I knew when I first managed people that I
wanted to be able to impact the people I worked with
and the people I served like Mr. Rodgers did with

21
me. Managing people is a great privilege and a great
responsibility. My impact on people can last a
lifetime. I must make it count.
“For most of my
people, the job at The
Fish House is just a
transition job. They will
eventually move on to
do greater things. I have
decided, hmm, that’s not
strong enough. I have committed that everyone who I
am blessed to manage will carry with them
something that will not only help them be a better
team member, but a better person. I have learned to
accept the fact that I may not know that impact I have
had on their life until I see my Creator. My belief, my
hope, is that He will be pleased.”
The cassette rolled in static until the little button
popped up. Matt realized he had been holding his
breath. Water dripped off the roof onto the grass
outside. It felt like time had stopped. Matt was not
emotionally able to listen to any other tapes that day.
He had to process what was happening in his
mind and in his heart. It was like trying to sip from a
fire hose.
He headed back to Hood River and stopped off at
his Uncle Pete’s. Pete had a beautiful vintage home
Managing people is
a great privilege
and a great
responsibility.

Jack Myrick
22
on Cascade Avenue where he and Aunt Emma had
lived in for over thirty years. Matt had spent as much
time as possible with Pete since Aunt Emma passed
away a year ago. After her passing and Matt’s mom’s
move to Hawaii to work in a local hospital, Pete was
all that was left of the extended family.
Matt walked up to find Pete rocking on the front
porch. Fifty years in the banking industry had set Pete
up well, and now in retirement he enjoyed sitting on
the front porch and “watching people.” Pete saw
Matt’s serious face deep in thought, leaned forward,
and said, “Son, you look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Matt sat down and said, “I didn’t see one; I heard
one.” He told Pete the story of the tapes.
“Oh my,” Pete said several times during the
story. “Matt, I can’t say I ever saw a need to go
though the stuff in that closet. Come to think, Papa
told me he wanted to formalize his training and I
remember him talking about using a recorder, but I
never knew what became of it.”
Pete leaned forward and looked directly into
Matt’s eyes. “Son, Papa was one of the best managers
I ever saw in fifty years of business. Except for
maybe Mr. Rodgers, no one could hold a candle to
him. If you can find a way to use his wisdom and
methods, why, it’ll be invaluable to you.”

23
Matt and Pete talked about the tapes. They
processed the strategy and discussed how Matt might
use it in The Fish House. Pete suggested that Matt try
to fit more time in his crazy schedule to return to the
fish camp and listen to the tapes, transcribing as he
went. Matt agreed.
As he walked back into the gentle rain, he vowed
to do exactly that.

24
Chapter Three
“The best way to predict the future
is to create it yourself.”
Peter Diamandis
The boys were down for the count in the
backseat when Cindy, Matt’s green-eyed, black-
haired beauty, came home from the Portland zoo.
Matt heard her pull up and went out to help carry the
two sleeping boys into the house. After they tucked
them into bed, Matt sat with Cindy in the toy-
cluttered den and poured her a glass of wine. Smiling,
she sat back and said, “It was a great day, but
exhausting all the same. I never would have guessed
that the most exciting things of the day would be to
watch a black bear poop and a coyote throw up!
What’s up with boys?”
“Nothing,” Matt said. “Sounds like you nailed
it.”
They both laughed. She looked over at him and
asked, “How was your day at the fish camp?”
Matt said, “Life-changing,” and then paused for
effect.

25
She sat there for a moment then said, “Excuse
me, more information! Or are you just pulling my
chain?”
He looked at her and said, “I heard from my
Papa today.”
She looked at him confused, “Papa who?”
“Papa, my grandfather.”
“Okay. Now you’re totally not making sense.
You know he passed away when you were a child?”
Matt smiled, “Yes, I’m well aware. I found some
tapes he recorded.”
“What was on them?” she asked excitedly,
grabbing his hand.
He patted and kissed her hand gently, “From
what I can tell, they have all of his business strategies
recorded so he could have them transcribed and
developed into a training program.”
“Oh, Dear Lord!” she gasped, leaning back stung
with amazement.
Matt took the recorder out and played the first
tape for her.

Jack Myrick
26
“That’s amazing, that’s totally amazing,” said
Cindy. She took both of his hands in hers and kissed
them to capture his full attention. “I know you’re
doing the best you can and you have worked harder
than most would or even could, but now I think it’s
time that we worked smarter not harder.”
“Well, what do you have in mind?” he asked.
“Matt, you’ve got to transcribe these lessons and
then immerse The Fish House in them. Then we let
the cards fall as they may. For years we’ve heard
nothing but raving stories about Papa, about his
special connection with people. Maybe something on
those tapes will help us get a little of that magic
back,” she said with a small tremble in her lips.
“I don’t think it was an accident you found those
tapes,” she whispered.
Matt raised his glass, “To Papa.”
He put on his best little boy face and said, “Can
we go to bed now? I really missed you today.”
“Come show me how much,” she said as she
pinched his stomach and ran up the stairs.

27
Chapter Four
“High achievement always takes place in the
framework of high expectations.”
Charles F. Kettering
It was Wednesday morning before Matt could
get back to the fish camp. He had blocked out the
entire morning to transcribe the second tape. A light
mist formed in the air like it did almost every
morning this time of year. He built a fire and settled
in with his computer and the ancient recorder.
Matt began to wipe the little recorder clean with
a paper towel. He got a couple of Q-tips and cleaned
the head with alcohol—just like when he was a boy.
He sighed, sitting with his finger on “Play.” He
realized he was sitting at full attention. What was he?
Excited? Yes. Anxious? Yes, of course.
Overwhelmed? A little. Hesitantly he pushed the
“Play” button.
“This is Papa again,” said the voice on the
recorder. “I want to discuss our second growth
strategy. As you remember, the first strategy was
connect with people emotionally, which included
customers, teammates, suppliers, and the community.

Jack Myrick
28
“The second Growth Strategy is:
Manage expectations
“Living out our lives, we are either pleased or
disappointed with how it is turning out based on our
expectations. We view our lives through our
expectations. We perceive how things should be
based on our expectations. We get expectations from
all over our culture: it could be how we were raised,
how the media presents life around us, or from
others’ experiences. Expectations develop in a
million ways. The secret is ‘everyone has them,’ and
there’s often a chance that theirs might not match
yours.
“When people come to
work with us, they hold
certain expectations. When
guests come to eat at our
restaurant, they bring
certain expectations. It is
our job, as a team, to at
least meet and hopefully
exceed those expectations. The best way to begin this
is to work to clarify expectations up front.
“Let’s start with our teammates. Say for instance
that someone is hoping to become a part of The Fish
House family and they expect to work Monday to
We perceive
how things
should be based
on our
expectations.

29
Friday nine to five. If that is their expectation, I know
for certain that the person will be disappointed if we
hire him or her because our business isn’t nine to
five. It’s busy in the evenings and on Saturdays;
meaning at times we need all hands on deck. The
only way that the person will be happy with us long-
term will be for them to adjust his or her expectations
because we can’t adjust our business to match nine-
five expectations.
“The same can be true with our customers. If
people come in and want a great steak, they will
surely be disappointed. We don’t have steaks. People
must understand what we are, and what we are not.
Once we’re on the same page, then we can go to
work.
“We ask our employees what their expectations
are for working here. We want to make sure that it is
a good fit. We may not take them on board as a
teammate if it’s just not a good fit, but we still want
them as a customer.
“If we feel their expectations about the work
they will be doing are realistic, we walk them
through our written list of expectations that form the
core of our culture. We don’t just ask; we also give
them the list and ask them to study it and make sure
they are okay with each and every item on it. You
see, working with this team, we have clear

Jack Myrick
30
expectations on things like appearance, behavior,
work ethic, teamwork, and customer treatment.
“If someone returns for a second interview, I
meet with them and two other teammates, so they can
hear how things will be from other actual team
members. If we feel it is a good fit, we ask them to
join us. We then review our expectations every week
at our mandatory staff meeting on Saturday morning
from eight to nine in the morning.
“Furthermore, we are honest about our
expectations. We always discuss where we nailed it
and where we dropped the ball. We cover things like
quality, service times, appearances, and any other
pertinent growth strategy issues. A new team member
never serves a guest until she passes our expectation
exam. We feel it may be most important training we
do.
“We use our clear and specific expectations to
empower our team members and to give them a road
map for the customer’s experience. We also train our
teammates to discover our customer’s expectations so
we can meet and exceed them if possible.
“Here’s an example: We had a problem with a
customer and his family a year or so ago. It was a
Thursday night and we were busy with a short wait
for a table. One of my servers came to me with a very
serious problem. He said there was a piece of broken

31
glass in a customer’s salad. When I got there, sure
enough, a piece of glass sat right on top of his salad.
“I apologized profusely and grabbed Eric, one of
our newest team members, to remove their salads
from the table. The man said the others looked fine,
but I insisted as Eric whisked them to the kitchen to
be thrown away. I immediately began setting the
table right next to them and offered them a new table.
“The man was very kind and said such a fuss
was not necessary. I told him that I appreciated that,
but they came to The Fish House to have a wonderful
experience and we had dropped the ball. I asked him,
with his permission, we would like to have a do-over,
with their meal on us this time.
“I told him we hoped to get a chance to create
that wonderful experience we had failed to give them
so far. He laughed and said sure go for it. We made a
fuss over that family for the next hour and they left
laughing and talking about what a great experience it
was. We have seen that family at least once a week
ever since, and often with friends.
“There was no guarantee they would ever eat
with us again, but when we mess up, the customer
wins big time. Handled correctly you can really
connect with a customer when they have a problem.
We see customer problems as a way to connect with
that customer emotionally. As we connect, we see it

Jack Myrick
32
add value for us and for them. Exceeding
expectations builds trust and creates customer
loyalty!
“Later in the evening, Eric, the employee who
helped me reset the table, came to me and asked me
why I gave so much away when the man clearly said
it wasn’t necessary. I said it may have been okay with
the guest, but it wasn’t okay with me.
“Everyone who sat at that table had expectations.
Their experience was in my hands, and I wasn’t
about to drop the ball. My goal is for each customer
to have a wonderful, fun experience when they come
to The Fish House. If it costs us a few meals now and
again, well, that’s a small price to pay.
“Sometimes when you try to explain your values
to a person, he’ll stare at you with a blank expression.
Eric didn’t do that. When I asked him, ‘How did the
family leave tonight?’
“He said, ‘Very happy—even a little giddy.’
“‘Do you think they will be back?’ I asked him.
“‘Without question,’ he replied.
“As Eric headed out of my office, I asked him,
‘Eric, do you think they will tell anyone of their
experience tonight?’

33
“He stopped, turned, and winked at me,
‘Everyone, boss.’
“Eric didn’t just grasp the concept that night; he
nailed it.
“Eric became the Expectation Police, we often
joked. Whenever he worked he was on constant
patrol to make sure a customer was satisfied and that
their experience and expectations were not just met,
but exceeded. It didn’t matter if it was his customer
or not—he just nailed it. The kid made a fortune in
tips and turned out to be one of the best teammates I
ever had. My life was blessed having Eric being part
of it. I would say the free food for that family paid for
itself a hundred or a thousand times by the lesson
Eric learned that night, for him and for me.”

34
Chapter Five
“Your People are the Product.”
Papa
Matt headed to his Uncle Pete’s and found him
on the porch again. He explained the concepts of
expectations and asked what Pete thought.
“Sounds like Papa had a clear idea of the
experience he wanted people to have, and trained his
folks to create that experience,” Uncle Pete mused.
Pete continued to rock back and forth as he
pondered a moment. “You know, Matt, I remember
that Eric kid,” he said. “Not only do I remember him,
but I remember that, with Papa’s encouragement, he
went and opened up his own restaurant in Olympia.”
He laughed. “That kid grew it from a little hole
in the wall to one of the best, if not the best, seafood
restaurants on the West Coast. Your grandmother and
I used to go up there at least twice a year to shop and
eat. The place is exceptional. Maybe you should take
a trip and go see him.”
“Wow, I never thought about actually talking to
the people in Papa’s stories. This could be cool,”
questioned Matt. “What is the name of his restaurant?”

35
“Great Expectations,” drawled Pete with a
twinkle in his eye.
The next morning found Matt on the road to
Olympia. He decided that just showing up and
explaining in person was best. Maybe Eric wouldn’t
think he was crazy, that way. He still might think
that, but at least he would get a chance to explain
before being hung up on.
He found his way to Great Expectations and it
was even more impressive than he ever imagined. It
sat right on Puget Sound and had glass on the entire
side facing the water. The look of it was
contemporary and magnificent. The front door was
locked, as it was still hours before they opened. He
worked his way around to the back and saw several
delivery trucks being unloaded.
He approached what appeared to be a very busy
staff person and asked, “Is Mr. Eric around?”
“May I tell him who’s calling?” a very polite
young man responded.
“Tell him it’s Matt Wilson from Papa’s Fish
House.”
The young man smiled, “I’ll be right back, sir.”

Jack Myrick
36
A few minutes passed before an obviously
irritated, well-dressed man approached him with a
no-nonsense look. “What kind of joke is this? I don’t
appreciate your rudeness,” he sputtered before Matt
could respond. “Papa passed away almost thirty years
ago!”
He peered at Matt with his penetrating eyes,
daring him to respond. Matt reminded himself he was
a combat veteran and he could handle this.
He swallowed hard and finally spit out the
words, “Mr. Eric, I’m not Papa. I’m Matt Wilson,
Papa’s grandson.”
Eric looked like someone had just thrown ice
water on him. He blinked. He went pale and reached to
grab a rail for support. “Grandson,” he repeated.
“You’re Matty? Why, you were just a baby when he . .
.” Eric said, trailing off in thought.
“Matt, please come in.” Eric ushered him up to a
spacious and beautiful office with a fantastic view of
the clear, blue Sound. He sat down and asked Matt to
have a seat. “Matt, your Papa was easily the most
influential man in my life. Not a single day goes by
that I don’t miss him. What have you done with your
life? Why are you here?” Eric smiled and held up his
hand. “Please forgive me, I have so many questions.

37
“Matt, tell me about yourself, please.” In the next
few minutes, Matt gave him the short version of his
life and the reason for coming there, namely the
tapes.
“Fascinating!” said Eric. “And you have these
tapes with you?”
“Yes,” said Matt as he reached into his
backpack. “I have them right here with the recorder.
Papa mentions you, and I was hoping you could give
me some advice. I’ve reopened The Fish House and
things,” Matt paused, “well, things aren’t going so
well,” finished Matt.
Eric swallowed hard and nodded. “Let’s play the
tape.”
Matt pushed “Play” and watched Eric as Papa’s
voice came over the small speaker.
“Amazing,” said Eric as he wiped tears from his
eyes. “I’m sorry, Matt, it’s just that Papa was there
for me when no one else was. I was a foster kid
bounced around town and Papa was like a father to
me. What’s most amazing about that is, I believe he
really enjoyed working with me and spending time
with me. He even came to some of my track meets. I
wasn’t a very good track star, but Papa still out-
cheered the entire crowd. His passing was one of the
saddest days of my life.

Jack Myrick
38
“None of this would exist,” he said, as he
pointed to their surroundings, “if it weren’t for Papa.
He gave me my first loan and a truckload of
encouragement. There is nothing I would rather do
than help his namesake and grandson. Tell me, Matt,
how can I help you?”
“Eric, I don’t really know what to say. All that
time I spent in the combat zone, I dreamed of coming
home and reopening The Fish House and living
happily ever after with Cindy and the boys. Things
aren’t really turning out as I planned.
“We reopened The Fish House and to say it’s
struggling even would be optimistic. If things don’t
change soon, I’ll lose the restaurant and my dream. I
really don’t know what the problem is. I mean, we
brought back the basic menu from the original
restaurant and those items still seem popular today,
but I just can’t get enough people in the seats to pay
our bills. And for some reason no amount of hard
work seems to fix that.”
“How much of Papa’s training have you
implemented?” asked Eric.
“None,” responded Matt. “I didn’t know there
was any. I just have all his recipes passed down
through the family. I guess I expected the great food
he served people back then would bring people in
today.”

39
Eric smiled and winked
at him. “Matt, it’s hardly
about the food. Now don’t
get me wrong, the food has
to be awesome, but great food is just the ante to get
you in the game. Any real recipe for success always
includes our people. Here’s Papa’s secret: your
people are the product! The team members, their
training and execution—all of that put together is
what made The Fish House such a phenomenon.
“Papa said it this way:
‘Were not in the fish business serving people.
We’re in the people business serving fish.’
“Big difference,” smiled Eric.
“I’ve heard that on the
tapes, but I’m not really
sure I understand what
that means,” Matt retorted.
Eric reached over and
patted him on the leg.
“Matt, between what you
have on those tapes and
what I have retained and
Your people are
the product!
We’re not in the
fish business
serving people,
we’re in the
people business
serving fish.

Jack Myrick
40
use today, we can develop a people plan that will
transform your situation, and prosper you to the level
of your dreams.
“How hard are you willing to work to turn this
situation around?” asked Eric.
“Hard as it takes,” Matt replied.
“Matt, understand this upfront, the work we will
do is not just physical labor, but a heavy amount of
emotional labor. We’re not just going to work on
operations, but on your head, on your heart, and
everyone in the organization.”
Eric smiled, “What Papa was really doing was
creating a culture. We are going to create a culture of
growth at The Fish House that stands out like a Pink
Buffalo.”
“I can’t wait to see that,” said Matt, returning the
smile.
“You won’t just see it my friend, you will create
it,” Eric said as his eyes communicated complete
confidence.
Then the inevitable came from Matt, “Eric, I
can’t pay you.”

41
“Matt, you are like a kid brother I didn’t know I
had. My life has been instantly blessed by you
walking through that door, and nothing would give
me greater pleasure than to work with you on
revitalizing Papa’s, and now your, Fish House.”
“Where do I start?” asked Matt.
“Well, let’s set a new grand reopening date for
six weeks from Saturday. That weekend we will pull
out all the stops and let everyone in town know Papa
is back in the house!”
Matt looked shocked, “I can’t be Papa!”
Eric continued looking him in the eye and said,
“You are just like Papa. You only need a little polish
and the right tools in your toolbox.
“Matt, transcribe the tapes and then email them
to me. I will edit them and update them. I doubt much
updating is needed because people are people. Our
emotional needs haven’t changed since we were
selling fish thirty-five years ago. I’ll tweak them and
email them back to you. You can call me Wednesday
evening and I’ll walk you through the training
process. You will do it every Saturday from 8:30 to
10 AM. Matt, you must focus on staff training and let
me work on some grand reopening ideas.”
“Eric, this is amazing! How can I thank you?”

Jack Myrick
42
“You don’t have to thank me. Papa invested in
me, and it will be my pleasure to invest in you. Papa
always stressed the law of reciprocity. You get back
what you plant. Ten times or even a hundred times
what you put in. I know investing in you is going to
reap great rewards for so many people.”
They stood, paused, and shook hands. Eric held
Matt’s hand with both of his, “By the way, if Papa
mentions any other people on those tapes, give them
a call. If possible visit them to get their perspective.
If he mentioned them, they were important to Papa,
and I guarantee he was important to them, too.”
Matt’s head was spinning on his drive back to
Hood River. He would have been happy to just have
met and talked to Eric. He was now leaving feeling
like he had an investor, an older brother, a kindred
spirit. Almost like Eric was family. Matt felt an
emotional connection. He now understood how
powerful that first ingredient must be. He had entered
that gorgeous office as a stranger and left as a friend.

43
Chapter Six
“The happiest people are always those who
get to use their gifts to serve others.”
Anonymous
Sunday, Matt watched the sunrise over the
mountains at the fish camp. He transcribed the first
two strategies and sent them to Eric. He excitedly
began to prepare to transcribe the third strategy, All
right, Papa, here we go. Let’s see what’s up your
sleeve today, he thought to himself. After pushing
“Play,” he still felt a weird jolt hearing Papa’s voice.
“Well, first of all, we talked about how important
it is to connect with people on an emotional level.
We’ve all heard the phrase ‘a million dollar smile.’
Well, if we make people smile in our normal course
of business, well, that truly is priceless.
“Second, we learned how we must meet and
exceed people’s expectations. One’s perception is his
reality. We try to navigate people’s expectations, so
they feel they got what they expected—and more.
“To do these two strategies, we need people. We
need people who will to learn and practice
relationally smart strategies. Mr. Rodgers said, ‘Hire
personality. You can train skills.’ At The Fish House,

Jack Myrick
44
we strive to hire great people. We look for talents and
strengths to match what we want them to do for us.
Then we implement the third strategy.
“The third Growth Strategy is:
Focus on strengths
“You never want a quarterback to play as a
defensive lineman or vice versa. Find people’s
natural-born talents and tap into them. They’ll be
happier and more productive. Get this: helping
people work in their strengths is the area where they
have the most potential for growth. We do consider a
person’s weaknesses, but we try to manage
weaknesses and build on strengths. In that scenario,
everyone wins.
“Doc was in medical school when he came to
work for us. He wasn’t a doctor then, just Alan
Grimes. We all called him Doc because he was
working so hard to become a doctor. He attended
school all week and then roared back to Hood River
to work double shifts for us Friday and Saturday.
“He came to us a little bit shy, so we started him
in the kitchen. He caught on quick. We worked with
him, he became more comfortable, and we started to
see how relationally smart he was. He really did have

45
the gift of empathy. That’s an awesome quality for a
server.
“He wasn’t really excited about the idea of
serving, until I told him how much a good server he
would make over a weekend. The eyes of this dirt-
poor medical student lit up like a five-year-old’s on
Christmas morning. He couldn’t believe that he could
make as much in two days as working five days in an
hourly position.
“He worked a few weekends and he turned into
one of the best servers we ever had. People loved
him! They got to know him and were always asking
him about this or that ailment. He was popular, and
he banked all those tips when people found out he
was supporting himself through school. Our town
adopted him. We were all so proud of Doc. It was
only after we developed his strengths that he
blossomed as a team member.”
Matt lurched forward, fearing the tape had
jammed, but that was all there was.
Matt finished transcribing the strategy and called
Uncle Pete on the way home, “You ever hear of
‘Doc’ or Alan Grimes, Uncle Pete?”
“Sure,” he replied. “He worked for your Papa
and worked his way through medical school. What a

Jack Myrick
46
fine young man. I think he runs a clinic in a tough
part of Portland nowadays.”
“I’m thinking of paying him a visit tomorrow
afternoon,” said Matt.
“If he’s half the man I knew years ago, you’ll
like him,” stated Uncle Pete.
Matt had great luck cold-calling Eric, so he
thought he would drive up to see if the doctor was in.
He got home, played with the boys awhile, and
later that afternoon, found Doc on the Web. Matt read
about him and his clinic. Pete was right. It was a
clinic in the most depressed area of Portland. Matt
wondered if he wasn’t such a great doctor after all.
Surely, no one in their right mind would choose that
gig.
Late Monday, Matt descended into that dark part
of Portland. For blocks the area looked bleak and
hopeless. As he approached the clinic, he started to
wonder if his car would be safe while he went inside.
He decided to chance it as he parked and walked into
the clinic. Once inside Matt noticed the brightly
painted walls. He’d never been to a free clinic and
wasn’t exactly prepared for the sight. The place was
busy and chaotic. If he hadn’t driven an hour to get
here, he would have turned around and left. Then he

47
heard Eric’s voice in his head ask, how hard are you
willing to work?
He knew he needed to do this.
The nurse at the desk looked more like a drill
sergeant than a nurse. “Is there any way I can see Dr.
Grimes?”
“What’s ailing you, son?” she asked, peering
over her readers.
“Nothing, this is a personal visit.”
“You look kinda sick, son; you got some junk
going on downstairs?” she questioned.
“No, ma’am, my junk is fine. I was hoping to
speak to him. He was a friend of my family.”
A man stood with his back to the two of them.
He turned. He was fiftyish with pepper-gray hair and
piercing, blue eyes with a look on his face that spoke
kindness. “Friend of what family?” he asked.
The nurse pointed at him with her thumb and
said, “The good Dr. Grimes.”
“Are you Doc?” asked Matt.
“Yes, I am a doctor.”

Jack Myrick
48
“No, I mean, are you Doc from ‘The Fish House’
in Hood River?”
The man now stared at him with a curious look
on his face, “That’s me. Who’s asking?”
“I’m Matt, Matt Wilson—Papa’s grandson.”
The doctor looked Matt up and down and said,
“Margaret, call the deli and double my order. Mr.
Wilson will be joining me for lunch.”
He strode briskly to offices down the hall and
motioned for Matt to follow. Matt entered and Doc
closed the door behind him, motioning him to sit.
Matt sat. Doc sat next to him in a chair instead of
sitting behind his desk like he must with his patients
or salespeople.
He studied Matt awhile, which made Matt feel a
little uncomfortable. Finally, he broke the silence,
“You look like him, you know.”
“I’ve heard that,” said Matt softly.
“I remember you, Matt. Papa carried you around
the restaurant. Never saw a man more proud of his
grandson. You gave him so much joy. Tell me your
story. I feel like I need to hear it.”

49
Matt gave him the short version just like Eric
had gotten. He explained about the tapes and said
‘Doc’ was part of Papa’s third strategy.
Doc, seeing the backpack, asked, “You have the
tapes with you?”
Matt nodded. “Can I hear them?” Doc asked.
As Papa’s voice filled the drafty room, Doc
removed his glasses and dabbed his eyes. As the
“Play” button popped up, Doc was freely weeping.
Matt reached over and put his arm on Doc’s
shoulder, “I’m so sorry, Doc. I didn’t mean to upset
you.”
“Matt, you don’t understand. One of the biggest
reasons I’m a doctor today is because of your Papa.”
Doc apologized for his emotion, as Matt waved
his hand as if to say, “No problem.”
Doc sat back in his chair, “Let me tell you about
your Papa. When I was in med school, I was a good
student, but not great. I really wanted to become a
doctor, but it was so hard. My dad had left. My mom
was barely getting by with me and my two younger
brothers.

Jack Myrick
50
“I worked in Papa’s kitchen to make ends meet. I
actually enjoyed the work. Papa’s team made work
fun, and it was a great escape from all my stress. I
learned the kitchen. I got to know Papa and he got to
know me. He began nudging me to move out front to
become a server.
“I just couldn’t see myself doing it, but Papa was
such a great encourager. He told me he was ‘an
expert on talent.’ He saw my unique set of skills and
I just believed him, even more than myself, I guess.
Papa could make you feel special and that made you
want to live up to his expectations.
“He read people. He put us where our strengths
benefited the team the most. When I first began my
new position, he or another manager, like Eric, was
always close by. They trained me well, but they also
allowed me to fail sometimes. They were great fixers,
so if I messed up, the customer always came out
ahead.
“Matt, it was Papa who taught me to help people.
To help them discover their strengths and encourage
them to grow in those areas. He always knew when
we worked in our strength areas, we benefited the
team and ourselves the most.”
Doc leaned back and took a deep breath, “He
always told me that I would be a great doctor, that I
had a knack for people. He asked me about each team

51
member and would grill me on what I saw as their
strengths. He would then ask how I would best use
them on the team. I learned half of what I know about
diagnosis from a fish salesman,” he chuckled.
“I felt like I was always in training, like he was
preparing me for something bigger down the road.”
Looking around his office for a moment, he smiled,
“He was.
“After graduating med school, I got two job
offers. One was a huge hospital in Seattle for big
bucks. The other was an urban clinic in Portland
where I would barely make a living. It was a no-
brainer: take the money.
“Having been poor for so long, I told my wife I
decided to take Seattle’s offer. The next few nights I
couldn’t sleep. Finally, one night my wife came
downstairs to find me in the study, looking frustrated.
This should be an easy decision. ‘Take the money,’ I
told her.
“She rubbed my shoulders, ‘The money would
be nice, but if money wasn’t a factor, which job
would you choose? What is your heart telling you to
do?’
“I sighed, ‘I just keep thinking of Papa.’

Jack Myrick
52
“‘Papa, you mean your boss in college from
Hood River?”
“‘Yes, he was the most joyful person I have ever
met. He was always finding ways to serve others. I
don’t want to miss that and I might! I mean, look
how busy I’ve been—and will be.’
“‘I vowed to try to become a man like him. My
heart tells me I want a heart like Papa’s.’
“She reached over, hugged me, and said, ‘I got
news for you. You do have a heart like Papa’s. That’s
why I married you. Let’s do the clinic.’
“I never regretted that decision, Matt.”
It was Matt’s turn to wipe tears from his eyes.
“I’ve been here ever since. I know it looks
chaotic out there, but it is managed chaos. We have
the best clinic in the North West, and a lot of it is
because of what Papa taught me. He trained me to
focus people on their strengths, and help them
manage their weaknesses.”
Matt took in the room again and saw he was
looking at a very special man. Few could make the
sacrifices that Doc had. He felt guilty about his
earlier thoughts—about Doc being a sub-par. He sat
in the presence of a truly great doctor.

53
Doc leaned in closer, wanting to communicate
his words from his heart. “My fourth semester, I
wanted to quit. I was totally burned out, tired of
school. Tired of stress and so tired of being dirt-poor.
Papa could just sense when I was approaching the
abyss. He would take my car, fill it with gas and
groceries more times than I can count.
“One particular time, I was dreading some
monster finals on Monday. I was totally unprepared
and had to pull doubles on Friday and Saturday for
Papa. It was make-or-break-it time, and I was sure it
would be ‘break’ after Monday.
“I came in to work and Papa read the stress on
my face. I told him I was going to quit school that I
couldn’t do it anymore. He just asked what I wanted
to eat.
“I looked at him and raised my voice, ‘EAT! I
don’t have time to eat!’
“He patted me on the back and pointed to his
office, ‘Go there, I’ll be right in.’
“He found me sobbing with my face in my
hands. ‘Doc, you will not only be a doctor,’ he
paused, ‘but a great doctor. As your friend, I will not
allow you to talk around me of anything else.’ That
was it.

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54
“Amy, one of our servers, came in with a plate of
fish and chips and a big cup of coffee.
“Papa said, ‘Amy, I have a very important job
for you tonight. Check on this man every thirty
minutes, and bring him anything he wants, anything,
you understand?’
“She nodded with a big smile and said, ‘I’ll
make sure he studies non-stop.’
“I said, ‘This is all wonderful, but I have to
work. I’m broke. I can’t afford to miss a shift.’
“Papa smiled and spoke to me in a very soft and
gentle voice, ‘I’m the boss, right?’
“‘Yes, sir.’ I replied.
‘Well, tonight your boss is telling you to study.
That is my request. I’ll cover your tables myself. I am
clocking you in and you’ll get all the tips.’
“For the next two days, twelve hours a day, I
studied like a mad man. Papa worked my tables and
he gave me a ton of money. Said it was all tips,
because he was such a great server. I’m not sure
about that, but I learned to never underestimate Papa.
“Matt, that was my defining moment in life.
When I saw how hard he was working for me, I knew

55
I would never let that man down. I nailed those
exams.
“I’m telling you with one hundred percent
honesty that if it wasn’t for Papa and his love for me,
I wouldn’t be a doctor today. My life is better in
every way because of what I learned working at The
Fish House.”
Doc waved his hand at his surroundings. “We
serve thousands of people a year for little or no cost. I
truly believe I wouldn’t be here, and most certainly
this clinic wouldn’t have survived, if it wasn’t for the
influence your Papa had on my life.
“He saw me as a doctor even before I did. He
saw qualities and talents that I didn’t know I had. He
saw my strengths as a person, as a team member, and
he cared about both. He truly saw each of us, ‘his
people’ as pre-great. When you see a person as
someone of great value to your company and to
others, you empower them to a level that not even
they believe possible.
“Allow me to translate. Matt, when you visualize
your teammates, look into the future, five, ten, twenty
years from now. See them as the wonderful people
they will become. When you unselfishly invest in a
person’s life, it can become a pivotal time. They
won’t just become better teammates; they will
become better people. How did he say it? Yes,

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56
managing people is a privilege and a responsibility.
We were to never take it for granted.”
Matt left Doc
feeling like he was
stepping out of a time
capsule. He could feel
Papa having the same
conversation with him. He had never thought about a
person’s future and his own connection to it. Yet
driving home, he realized that through his school and
Army years he probably had over a hundred teachers.
He couldn’t recall the first and last name of most of
them or knew where they we`re currently, yet, he
could remember the first and last name of every boss
he had worked under, and where they were and what
they were currently doing.
He had never even thought about the impact of
his commanders and business managers in his life.
They had influenced him both positively and
negatively. Molded him so much into the
businessman and person he was today, more than he
had ever considered.
From now on, he would seriously take his
influence over his team. He prayed for some Docs
and Erics to cross his path, and vowed to make it his
privilege and responsibility to help them get to the
next level.
Managing people
is a privilege and a
responsibility.

57
Matt spent several hours corralling his thoughts.
He began to grasp what he had learned so far. He
forwarded these to Eric, who called an hour later, and
told Matt how impressed he was and felt Matt had a
good grasp of Papa’s overall concepts for training.
Eric then outlined, in detail, how Matt should
facilitate his team training on Saturday. Matt felt
confident that he could explain the concepts he had
so far. He just hoped no one asked, “What’s next?”
He didn’t have a clue and Eric gave no hints. He
said, “You get to hear it from Papa first!”

58
Chapter Seven
“Unforgiveness is like drinking poison,
and expecting the other person to get sick.”
Quinn Schipper
Sunday afternoon found Matt alone again at the
fish camp. After church Cindy chauffeured the boys
and their friends to the fish hatchery on the Columbia
River. Sadness started to creep in for missing the
adventure, but on the other hand, he was eager for
this session with Papa.
His computer set up and the recorder on the
table, he pushed “Play.”
“This is Papa, and I won’t go back over the
previous strategies. Let me focus on the one at hand.
This ingredient may sound weird as a business
strategy, but stay with me. This ingredient is the
bedrock for a happy, productive team and even more
so for a happy, productive life.
“The fourth Growth Strategy is:
Become a great forgiver
“Like all business, The Fish House is awash in
people. As you interact with folks, it’s only a matter

59
of time before you (accidently) offend them—or they
offend you. Develop a strong forgiveness muscle so
you can swim past these offenses as quickly as
possible, with as little damage as possible.
“Only a good forgiveness muscle allows us to
recover quickly and get back to living life. I know
this is such an important part of your success,
because it’s impossible to grow healthy relationships
if you carry a lot of baggage. I’m not talking lightly
about some of the circumstances people have faced.
We all have experienced challenges and hurts from
this world. The secret? Never carry them a second
longer than necessary.
“Let me offer some clarity on forgiveness.
People are so fuzzy on what it is and what it is not, so
let’s start with what it is not.
“Forgiveness is not forgetting. Our culture holds
a destructive saying: ‘we need to forgive and forget.’
That’s just crazy, because we can’t just strike things
from our memories! That never happens!
“In the same way, forgiveness doesn’t always
mean reconciliation. Just because you decide to
forgive someone doesn’t mean you also choose to
continue to do business with them, or maintain the
relationship. That often depends on the other person.
Is he continuing the behavior? Will she hurt again, in

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60
the same way? If you’re hurt, there needs to be some
remorse and no more repeated offenses.
“Now let’s talk about what forgiveness is.
Forgiveness is a choice. We must choose to do it. We
choose to do it for the other person. We choose to do
it for ourselves. This gets tough when the other
person doesn’t think he needs forgiveness. In this
case, I suggest forgiving them for our benefit. This
may be a hard sell. So think of it like this:
unforgiveness is like drinking poison and expecting
the other person to get sick. Unforgiveness is the
cancer that can kill you from the inside.
“You will often
choose to forgive for
your benefit, even if
the offender doesn’t
deserve it or ever want
it. Choose to forgive,
so you no longer carry
the increasing weight
of his or her offense.
“What exactly do I mean by forgiveness? When I
forgive, I give up any right to get even. It is not
something the other person earns. It is something I
give them: deserving or not.
“Forgiveness allows me to start over with people
if we both choose. It offers us an opportunity to begin
Unforgiveness is
like drinking
poison and
expecting the
other person to get
sick.

61
again with a clean slate. We all need to learn to be
great forgivers, because we all will at some differing
times need to be forgiven. It’s hard to ask for what
we, ourselves, refuse to give.
“My people on our team must be able to start
each day, to start each week without the baggage of
our past. Only forgiveness gives all of us the
opportunity to look to the present and look forward to
the future. I know this is a hard concept for some, yet
it’s truly a muscle you must develop. We need to
work out by using the proper language. If you’re
struggling with this right now, simply start thinking
about forgiving. Take this small step. Just consider
thinking about it.
“In reality, forgiveness is a process. It can’t ever
be rushed. Even when I forgive someone, there may
still be consequences and/or pain involved! Our goal
here is to simply consider thinking about it. Start this
process. Work this muscle.
“I tell this story with her permission. We had a
server named Paula. She was perky, upbeat, and
always in a good mood. She worked for us before she
went off to college. One Saturday morning after our
huddle-up meeting, I noticed she was down, not very
engaged. When I looked at her, she wouldn’t make
eye contact. I found her in the stockroom an hour or
so later, and asked her to please tell me what was up.

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“Staring at her feet, she confessed that she had
kept ten dollars out of the drawer last night, because
she had no money and no gas. She apologized and
offered to quit on the spot.
“That took me back a second.
“Normally, taking money is a non-negotiable in
our business and should have resulted in immediate
termination. Now here in the stockroom there was no
way I was going to let that happen to Paula.
“I asked her if she could work an extra three
hours that day, ‘off the clock,’ to make up for the
money. She looked at me with a glimmer of hope in
her misty eyes. All she could ask was, ‘I’m not
fired?’
“I told her what she did was wrong and it would
have consequences. I expect three hours of her time
and she had to promise if she found herself in a tough
spot again, she would come to me first.
“‘I can do that Papa,’ she promised.
“Paula worked the three hours I asked. When she
finished, I told her that I wanted her to understand
that I had forgiven her—and that we didn’t ever need
to talk about this incident again.

63
“Something happened to Paula after that. She
showed more joy, more concern for those around her.
I believe when she saw the power of forgiveness
toward her, it opened up a door in her own life that
had been shut tight. She felt the impact of forgiveness
first-hand and dispensed it in her own life freely after
that.”
Matt left the fish camp a little overwhelmed and
confused about how forgiveness really related to his
business world. He needed to find Paula and get her
spin on this.
Paula wasn’t hard for Matt to find. She was a
counselor for troubled teens in town and everyone
highly regarded her. She met Matt for coffee as soon
as he explained who he was. Over a latte, he played
the tape for her and watched her reaction.
The tape ran out and the player clicked off. She
stared into Matt, but said nothing. He sat, waiting for
her to respond. It felt like she wanted to tell him
something, but felt uncomfortable with her emotions
welling up. Finally, she began: “I remember that day
like it was this morning. Papa was so right; it
changed me. Papa sent me in a new direction, a
whole new life trajectory. After that day with Papa, I
decided to go into social work and eventually ended
up helping my troubled teens.

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64
“I had such a difficult upbringing and never
really knew how to manage it or deal with it.
Understanding that forgiveness piece put me on a
new path. I could finally acknowledge what had
happened to me and realized that even though it was
bad, it still didn’t have to define me! That powerful
effect washed over me. I wanted others to experience
freedom from their pasts, as I had. So I went back to
school and got my social degree.”
She bit her lip and looked out at the window at
cars driving by in the mist. “Matt, Papa didn’t tell the
complete story. When I finished my three hours, I
went back to the office—and he hugged me! He said,
‘There are two things I had to forgive you for.’
“I‘m sure I looked confused, because he went on
to say, ‘The first was the violation of trust with the
money thing, but more important to me was the fact
that you didn’t trust me enough to come to me when
you were in trouble!’
“If you could have seen the pain in his eyes . . .
Papa reminded me of all the times I had bailed him
out when someone called in sick or business just got
unexpectedly crazy. He said he could always count
on me, and it hurt that he couldn’t be there for me.
“He then asked me to forgive him for not being
as approachable as he wanted to be.

65
“After that there was no more talking. We just
looked at each other, and for the first time in my life,
I realized what unconditional love was. He loved me
for being me.
“Major event!” she laughed, a warm touching
laugh. “Major event doesn’t come close. My world
changed.
“As I left his office, I turned, ‘I’m sorry, Papa—’
“Smiling, he raised his hand and interrupted, ‘I
reckon we’re even. I did steal your car while you
were working.’
“He then tossed me my keys and waved me out.
When I got to my car, I found it full of gas and sacks
of groceries. I sat and wept for I don’t know how
long! Then decided that was it. No more crying. Papa
wouldn’t want it. I drove home that night realizing he
had helped me open a door that had been closed for a
very long time, the door to forgiveness. Learning to
forgive others is one of—no, it is my most—valuable
gift.”
Matt typed up the
transcripts from the tape
and his notes with Paula.
He sent them to Eric.
Matt sat back and thought
about forgiveness as a
Learning to
forgive is one of
my most valuable
gifts.

Jack Myrick
66
growth strategy. He really was having a hard time
getting this one. He couldn’t wait to ask Eric about
what he thought. It didn’t take but a few hours. Eric
called. Matt filled him in on his conversation with
Paula, and waited for Eric’s response.
Eric finally said, “I remember it. It was weird. I
wondered why Paula was working when we didn’t
really need her that day. Later, I saw her crying in her
car, and almost approached her, but she started the
car and drove off. Matt, she came back different!
Kinder. More attentive. I know this sounds strange,
but I sensed a peace and joy in her that wasn’t there
before.
“I thought maybe she got an inheritance, maybe
a new boyfriend, none of us knew. She was private
like that.
“I can tell you this, we all noticed a huge
behavior change after that day. I found myself
enjoying getting to work on the same shift as her. She
was a pleasure to be around.
“Papa added this strategy not long after, which
pushed me to do my own soul searching. Papa and I
had some great conversations about my past and
areas where I was holding a grudge. Forgiveness
helped me see that ‘your starting point doesn’t
determine your finish line.’ Soon after, I began to

67
openly talk to him about my own place, and we
worked up my action steps to get me on that path.”
“Eric,” Matt finally let it go. “I get that learning
to forgive others is sound advice for people, but I
don’t see a connection to how it helps me grow my
business!”
“Great question, Matt. I think it all boils down to
your expectations for yourself as a manager. If your
expectation and goals are to make as much money as
you can, no matter who you run over, well that’s a
different path than Papa is presenting. Remember, his
mission statement wasn’t to make money at any
expense. His personal mission was: to help people get
to the next level.
“He saw us all as
family. He knew if we
couldn’t learn to forgive,
life would be very
difficult for us.
“Ironically, when Papa put people first, it
propelled his business to levels he never dreamed
possible. I believe he realized that these strategies
went beyond The Fish House’s success. They were
his life strategies for his family’s success. He saw
these life skills affecting his family, not just in this
season of their life, but in the seasons to come. It
juiced him. It got him up in the morning.
Our Mission is to
help people get to
the next level.

Jack Myrick
68
“As Papa watched his team, his family grow
around him, his excitement bubbled over. Matt, it
truly was contagious. He got such joy out of
watching us grow and grasp these concepts.
“Matt, let’s come back around to the forgiveness
strategy for a minute. On the surface it may sound a
little weird to talk about in business training, but once
you build up that muscle—that’s what Papa called
it—you find people become receptive.
“We all carry so much baggage. You know, it’s
hard to be productive at work or in life while this
baggage weighs us down. If we help people reduce
some of this unforgiveness baggage, they become
happier people, and in turn, happier, more productive
employees.
“Matt, I sense your skepticism. You didn’t enjoy
the reference point we did working at The Fish
House. We who had the privilege to work there knew
so many things were different. We sensed it. Felt it. It
was unlike other places. I learned that I wanted to
figure out ‘what’s different here?’
“What’s really going on here? This is unique. It
feels good!
“You missed that mix. You only see words on
paper, not life in action. Let me ask you, ‘Do you
trust your Papa?’

69
“He loved you and his family, more than
everything on this earth. He would never do anything
that wasn’t in our best interest.
“You have told me what you’re doing isn’t
working. Here’s a better way. It’s not an easier way.
People will disappoint you. Your feelings will get
hurt and your investment in them squandered and
ignored. So you must build this forgiveness muscle!
So you can have victories and focus on them. Forgive
the failures or they will kill your attitude toward the
next opportunity you have with the next person.
“A very wise man told us, ‘Faith is believing in
what we cannot see.’
“I’m asking you to have some faith! Believe
before you see it.”
Matt smiled and said, “Too late, Eric.”
“What do you mean, ‘too late’?
“Well, just in the last three weeks I have been
practicing and training the first strategies. I have
noticed a huge change in attitudes and the team’s
engagement around the restaurant. Sales are actually
up nine percent over last year this month, for the first
time ever. So I guess as my poker buddies say, ‘I’m
all in dude!’”

Jack Myrick
70
Matt cleared his throat and asked, “Any
suggestions on how I train my family?”
Eric laughed as Matt had shifted team to family.
“Sure, let me tell you how I do it.”
“You still do all this stuff?” asked Matt.
“Of course, how do you think we became the
best restaurant in the North West?”
“I just thought it was your sweet personality.”
“Dude! You really do need help!” Eric joked.
“So, let’s talk training for a second. Are you using
the one sheets I sent you and the role-playing
activities?”
“Yeah, they’re great. We have some real hams in
the family and they get pretty deep into their roles.”
“Matt, mix it up. Try to make it fun. But you
have to stress, these aren’t suggestions! They’re how
we do the family business. Watch your team and
work one-on-one with whoever needs extra help.
“Papa used to give people a dollar-an-hour raise
when they could recite, explain, and demonstrate all
of our strategies in action. That was a huge raise back
then, but he felt that once they got these concepts, it
was money in the bank.

71
“Matt, ramp up your training. I know it’s a hard
investment for you, but you won’t regret it. It’s
especially important for the Grand Reopening in
three weeks.”
“Eric, how am I going to plan a Grand Opening
on top of all the training and working I’m doing?”
“Not a problem, Matt. I told you, I’ll handle the
Grand Reopening of The Fish House. I guess now is
as good a time as any to lay out what I’m planning.
So let me know what you think.
“We start Thursday with a fundraiser for a local
nonprofit. I think Paula’s group would make an
awesome focus for your efforts! We will close to the
public that night and only let invited guests join us.
Then we feed them for free and ask them to donate
anything they can to Paula’s organization.”
“Won’t that get expensive?” asked Matt. He
started to feel some serious anxiety about the money.
Understanding his stress, Eric said, “You should
make more than enough on Friday and Saturday to
cover any costs incurred for the fundraiser.”
“Who are we going to invite on Thursday
night?” Matt questioned with more than a little
concern.

Jack Myrick
72
“The family.”
“The family?” Matt missed it. “I don’t have
much family. We could barely fill two tables if
everyone showed up.”
Eric actually laughed. He was savoring this. “No.
Not just your immediate family—Papa’s family.
We’re going to have a Fish House family reunion!
“Word is spreading as we speak and I think you
will be, uh, stunned at the turnout. Your Papa’s reach
extended far, so don’t you worry about that. What
you need to do is ramp up training and make sure you
have access to ten times the amount of inventory you
have on hand.”
“Ten times! Are you serious?” freaked Matt.
“That’s what I said.”
“That’s so much money, Eric, I don’t have it.”
“I know, Matt. I called your salesman and told
him to use my credit line if needed.”
Matt had to hold on to the table. His world was
spinning. “You don’t need to do that, Eric.”
“Not about need, brother, it’s about want. I want
to. Won’t matter anyway. You will make enough on

73
the Grand Reopening to pay all the food bills you
get.”
“You seem so confident about this,” said Matt.
“Is there something you’re not telling me? Are you
hiding something?”
Eric laughed a little and said, “I’m not hiding it
from you; I’m hiding it for you. I want you to be
surprised.
“Matt, it’s crunch time. We only have three
weeks. Tomorrow after church, hurry to the fish
camp. Finish the last two tapes and send them to me.
Get your entire crew up to speed by the Grand
Reopening and comfortable in Papa’s Growth
Strategies. You won’t get another opportunity like
this, so we gotta hit it out of the park.”
“You think we will really be that busy?”
Eric laughed, “You have no idea what’s coming
at you, brother. You best get ready.
“I’ll nail down the official game plan by next
week. You should make sure Cindy can be there and
Uncle Pete. They won’t want to miss this.”
“I think Cindy’s sister can watch the kids. I’ll
make sure she clears her schedule.

Jack Myrick
74
“Eric, I can’t begin to thank you for all that you
are doing.”
“That’s what family’s for, brother. Got to go.
Send me those last strategies Sunday evening, see
you soon,” Eric hung up the phone with a lump in his
throat. This is going to be friggin’ awesome, he
thought.
Matt started to freak a little. He had to calm
himself down. He needed to believe that Eric was the
professional he seemed to be. For the first time in a
long time, Matt felt something he had greatly missed
in his life-hope. Learning and using the strategies had
opened a door of hope. It was a welcome breath of
fresh air.

75
Chapter Eight
“Nothing else can quite substitute for a few
well-chosen, well-timed, sincere words of praise.
They're absolutely free and worth a fortune.”
Sam Walton
The pastor’s sermon on Sunday was on the
power of faith and hope. Matt couldn’t help but smile
through it. He knew it was a direct message to him,
and he secretly wished the guy would hurry so he
could get to work. Maybe next week he would preach
on patience, but for now Matt felt like a race horse
waiting for the starting pistol to fire.
After some quick handshakes and a fast exit,
Matt raced off across the Colombia River to the fish
camp. He was glad he and Cindy had taken separate
cars today. She would still be talking to her friends
while he was crossing the river.
Matt opened all the windows to let the cool air
off the lake flow through the cabin. He hesitated
because he knew today he would finish Papa’s tapes.
He felt a twinge of regret for rushing this. He knew it
had to be done, so he pushed “Play.”
Papa’s voice filled the cabin. Did Matt imagine
it? Did Papa sound a little weaker, frailer than

Jack Myrick
76
before? “This next Growth Strategy has turned out to
be the most fun for me. If you capture this concept, it
will profoundly affect you and those you serve. I like
to call it Strategic Appreciation.
“The fifth Growth Strategy is:
Strategic Appreciation
“William James, the great American philosopher,
said that we have no greater need than the need to be
appreciated. We need, not just want, positive
affirmation and encouragement. It’s at our core, and
yet is often our most neglected need. It’s like our
culture shares a taboo on appreciation. Managers
seem to fear telling their team they’re doing a great
job, and that they really appreciate them, because
their team will quit working so hard. Or if we tell one
person, and don’t tell everybody, the team will feel
we are playing favorites. The result is we don’t do it
at all.
“People respond to positive encouragement in
dramatic fashion. When we provide positive
affirmation to the people we work with, it becomes a
total game changer. People will walk on hot coals for
you if they feel valued and appreciated. I believe the
reason we don’t do this is twofold. One, we don’t
know how to do it effectively, so we feel

77
embarrassed to try. Second, we don’t think about it
till later when it’s too late.
“I solve both of
these problems with
Strategic Appreciation.
Use this ingredient to
show appreciation and
not let it slip through
the cracks. Let’s make
appreciation and
encouragement
strategic and intentional. Let’s break it down and
address the first problem: we don’t know how to do it
effectively!
“When we give encouragement or express
appreciation, it must be genuine. People sense when
you are just blowing smoke. So we teach our team to
use the ‘You did, I felt’ formula. It’s really simple
and very specific. When you see someone doing
something you truly appreciate, tell them exactly
what they did, and how it made you feel. The secret
is twofold: one, you are very specific; and two, you
wrap it up with an emotion.
“Whenever we make an emotional connection,
we super charge the experience. Let’s be clear; don’t
wait for dramatic examples to use this tool. Make it
part of everyday life. As managers we tend to focus
When we provide
positive affirmation
to the people we
work with, it
becomes a total
game changer.

Jack Myrick
78
on the negative. If ten people are on a shift and nine
are on time, we give all our attention to the one that
was late. It’s like our brain focuses on the negative.
I’m not saying we don’t need to manage the
negatives. We do. However, when the negatives
become our main focus, we suck the joy and passion
out of the workplace. We must always remember the
impact that encouraging, positive affirmation will be
for a person.
“I had a giant of a cook named Kevin who
worked for me several years ago. Kevin would light
up a room when he entered it. He was pure fun to be
around. He was easy to encourage and appreciate
because he was always so upbeat and positive.
“But Kevin came in one night and seemed a little
down. We were so busy that night. I got sidetracked.
When things finally slowed down, I asked him if
everything was okay.
“Kevin asked, ‘Can we go to your office and
talk?’
“I said, ‘Sure.’
“Once I closed the door, he came out and said,
‘Papa, I have another job offer and it’s a lot more
money than I make here.’

79
“I looked at him and said, ‘Kevin, I want you to
know that I will always want what’s best for you.
This is hard for me because you do such great work,
but if you have a great opportunity, you should take
it. I know working and going to school is hard on
you.’
“Kevin relaxed, so I asked him to tell me about
his opportunity. He seemed a little excited and told
me he was going to be a bouncer at a strip club. It
would almost double his pay. I was caught off-guard
and don’t remember what I said to him, but I felt so
unsettled the rest of the night. I couldn’t shake it.
“As we were closing, Kevin stopped by the
office to tell me everything was done in the kitchen,
and he was heading out. I asked him to come in and
close the door. I wanted to speak to him as a friend, if
I could.
“Kevin looked a little surprised and said I had
earned the right to do that. I began, ‘Kevin, you’re
not like most people. You are special. Something
about you speaks greatness to me. You’re going to
matter in this life. I can’t tell how or when this will
happen, but I’m very concerned that you’re making a
mistake taking this job. My concern is years from
now when you try to become a school principal or
senator, this will come back to haunt you.

Jack Myrick
80
“‘I know money is very tight for you, so this is a
very difficult decision, but let me ask as your friend
to consider your future. Will this job take you closer
or farther from becoming the man I am sure you can
be? Please think about it for a day or so before you
accept the offer. Will you do that, please?’
“He looked at me with sheer surprise on his face
and mumbled he would think about it.
“Kevin didn’t take the job. He stayed with me till
he graduated and became a math teacher. While still
in school, he tutored kids in math for extra money.
He used positive affirmation in his tutoring and saw
amazing results in his students. He had a waiting list
and worked weekends for us, because he loved the
encouragement he got. He loved being around the
family.
“There was one student he was tutoring named
Jimmy Hicks. Kevin told him if he got an A on his
next paper, he and Kevin could celebrate with a
sundae at The Fish House. That Jimmy responded to
Kevin’s tutelage and indeed got an A on the next
paper. True to his word, he brought Jimmy up and
bought him a sundae. I missed it, much to my
chagrin, and had to hear the story from Kevin.
“A few months later, Kevin brought Jimmy back
in, because he had risen from a D to an A in math.
When they entered, Kevin explained loudly why they

81
were there. They ate fish and chips on the house at a
table we set up in the middle of the dining room.
When it was time for desert, I asked for the attention
of the entire restaurant.
“After getting everyone’s attention, I explained
Jimmy’s amazing accomplishment, and to celebrate
not only was his and Kevin’s desert free, but all the
customers, got a desert in his honor. Jimmy sat there,
grinning from ear to ear and soaking in his moment.
Cheers erupted from everyone, and many came by to
shake his hand and congratulate him.
“Kevin kept us updated. Jimmy became an A
student not only in math after that, but in all his
classes. What a great investment Kevin made in that
young man’s life. Little Jimmy Hicks is a prime
example of how Strategic Appreciation helps people
chart a different course.”
“Could it be?” Matt pushed the “Stop.” Jimmy
Hicks? “The same guy?” he asked himself. The
Jimmy Hicks he knew was now mayor of Hood
River. Matt had never met him, but everyone
respected him. Matt would have to work up the
courage to call him.
Matt pushed “Play” again.
“This truly ranks as a powerful ingredient,”
continued Papa. “But it’s worthless if you don’t use

Jack Myrick
82
it. To make sure it gets used, we developed a
strategy. We call it Five Cents of Encouragement.
We start each day with five pennies in our left
pocket. Going through our day, we look for things we
appreciate about the people around us. Could be
something major. Could be something simple like
staying over ten minutes to help set up for a party.
“Acknowledge it with a ‘You did, I felt’
statement. Tell the person what he or she did and how
it made you feel. After you encourage that person,
move one penny from your left pocket to the right.
“It might look like this: ‘Cindy, when you stayed
past your shift to help me get ready for the Smith’s
party, I feel so blessed to be on the same team as
you.’ It’s very simple and straightforward.
“The goal was to have all five pennies in the
right pocket by the end of your shift. It’s a simple
tool, yet it becomes an incredible force in your
relationships and your company’s overall culture.
Forging a culture of appreciation is such a game
changer at every level of life and business.
“This strategy is
truly special, special
for a sad reason. Our
country today is in a
famine. Our people
are starving for just a
Our people are
starving for just a little
encouragement and
appreciation.

83
little encouragement and appreciation. It is one of our
primary needs . . . not want, need. Yet, people often
live their entire lives in a world void of any
encouragement. They don’t get it at home, school, or
their social settings and certainly not in the
workplace.
“If you become someone’s source of
encouragement, his appreciation source, you become
a powerful influence in his life. If your people feel
truly appreciated, they will go the extra mile. Why?
Because it’s often the only place in their life they feel
valued, the only place where someone cares about
them. Create this culture and life for you, and your
teammates will never be the same.”
Papa laughed,
“Some of these
strategies sound so
simple, maybe even
goofy. Yet, when you
ever start using them,
you’ll never want to
quit. You truly do
reap what you sow.
When you plant seeds
of encouragement,
and cover them with gratitude, you will live life at a
level few experience. I want everyone in my family
If you become
someone’s source of
encouragement, his
appreciation source,
you become a
powerful influence in
his life.

Jack Myrick
84
to know how that feels. That’s why we plant these
seeds.”
It was a lot to soak in. Matt needed a break, so he
grabbed his pole and headed for the dock. He spit on
his fishing lure for luck and gave it a cast. Strategic
Appreciation, he never thought of appreciation that
way. He knew it was important and he tried to do it
as often as possible. He had to admit to himself,
though, that his habit was to get caught up in the flow
of the day, in its problems and challenges, and
appreciation most often got pushed down the list.
He did wonder what impact it would really have
if he learned to do it, and do it well. He thought about
Eric and all that Eric was doing for him. He had told
Eric that he appreciated his help, but admitted it
actually fell way short of his true feelings of
gratitude.
Matt decided to practice on Eric tonight when
they talked. He also decided to tell Cindy tonight
how much he appreciated her patience and support.
His life would be so empty without her, and he knew
he could never express this to her in mere words.
Well, maybe not before today.
Lost in thought, he was totally caught off-guard
by a serious tug on his line. It almost jerked the pole
out of his hand. Once he realized what was
happening, he went into catch-that-fish mode! He

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