I found this picture on the Internet. I tried to find the original location and name of the person who took it to give credit without any luck. Beyond the graphics this has a power statement based on a German proverb.

What a true statement! A pause for reflection about what could have been, what I may have missed out on if it wasn’t for fear. At the same time though, an opportunity to reflect on the opportunities when I took a deep breath an carried on or took a step in a different trajectory.

My family and I are working through a relocation. This isn’t out first relocation, but it is the first one during a pandemic where my wife and kids are in one state while I am in another with stay-at-home orders and travel restrictions. The situation is stressful, yet manageable.

We are moving to California, leaving Texas. Texas grew on me and I learned to love it–my favorite city is Dallas and the surrounding area. I have a comfortable life in San Antonio, great friends, great neighborhood, but I was looking for that next challenge and opportunity. I was lucky to find that opportunity in California with a phenomenal company where I am surrounded by brilliant peers, coworkers, and leaders–subject matter experts in our industry.

We pulled off our relocation to San Antonio from Dallas in two weeks. Just like now, we had some trepidation about the move. We didn’t know anyone in San Antonio; we were pulling the kids out of school again; we pulled our son when he was starting his senior year; and I took a role with a smaller company–ISS. My colleagues questioned my motives. Why leave CW when I have it so good, when I made a name for myself? Why leave to a company like ISS who doesn’t have a good reputation in the US? Did I not hear of all the trouble the company has? Did I hear the CEO and COO were fired?

All valid points, but as I stood firm with my decision, I thought of the opportunity to contribute to a new organization. Sheryl Sandberg’s word in Lean In. How she left Google for opportunity for a smaller company–Facebook. I took a deep breath and carried on.

When I arrived at ISS, I stopped in middle of the street and questioned whether I made a mistake. I traded my office on the 10th floor in a class A building in Dallas for an office of what used to be a mechanic’s shop with the roll up gate serving as a wall behind my back. I inherited an operation with high turnover, low morale, old technology, and a P&L in the red. There was no turning back.

One of the first challenges I took on was the high turnover. The high rate was affecting morale, service delivery, and the customer experience. The turnover was so high the operation consisted mainly of temp labor. There was no consistency in service and customers were upset. I performed a market wage analysis and discovered that we were paying minimum wage, we were below market, and below our competitors. I understood why we could not attract nor keep employees.

In addition to starting new training and onboarding programs, I decided to give my team a wage increase to be competitive. My team expressed their worry. How could I justify giving a wage increase when the operation was losing money? I informed them of my findings and that I was taking a calculated risk that by increasing wages we would attract and retain employees. If successful we would eliminate the temp labor that came with a 35% markup. They were not convinced but followed my directive.

We had just relocated to San Antonio, I went home and told my wife not to fully unpack. I told her what I was doing at work and told her that we are if I still had a job at the end of the quarter.

Thankfully my gamble paid off and turnover reduced to industry standard with the added benefit of eliminating the temp labor markup that went back to my profit margin. We were on our way!

There were many deep breaths in my life. When I relocated to Argentina, I stopped in my tracks when I landed in Ezeiza–the sounds, smells, and signs hit me. I realized I was not in the US. I was in a different culture, with a language that I used only occasionally. When Scrappy and I were in the helo, locked and loaded, looking out the window before we landed–I could have frozen.

Fear makes the wolf look bigger.