Banyan Tree Strategies
  • HOME
  • SERVICES
    • Strategy
    • Tactics
    • Execution
    • Sales
    • Teams
    • Leadership
    • Executive Coaching
  • CONTENT
  • NEWSLETTER
  • ABOUT
    • My Story
  • CONTACT US

Victim or Victor Checkpoint 4: RIP JRS 1.12.36 - 12.28.20 Lessons Learned From Dad

1/1/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
My father John Roy Sanders was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer in June of 2020 and succumbed to the disease 7 months later. 

Along with so many changes that came with 2020 our family has been navigating the pending and alarmingly immediate loss of a happy and kind patriarch.

In keeping with our V2 theme I would like to share a few lessons learned from my father as we leap into 2021 with the hope of Covid free world but the experience to know that more storms lurk.

John Sanders (Oil man by day, builder and family man by night) 
  • Riverdale High School, North Dakota
  • Iowa State Class of 1959 Electrical Engineer
  • Chevron Corporation 1959-1995 
  • Married to Carolyn Smith Sanders 1959-2020

A Sanders - "Can Do Anything" 
  • Work the problem, and trust the process 
  • If the pandemic has shown us anything it is that we need to be able to use the constraints of having things taken away from us as a way to develop our abilities and skills.
  • Being ready to adapt and not have all the pieces of a puzzle is a mindset and I received weekly training for this in the backyard as we tackled whatever project that was next.
  • It wasn't arrogance that a Sanders could do anything, it was a commitment to stay with a problem and where a process was known to stay with that process and see it through.
  • CURIOSITY and PERSISTENCE were hand in glove 
  • We imagine that for most of you 2020 provided countless situations where you applied these skills and are preparing for 2021 to not be as smooth as everyone seems to think it will be. 

School is a means to an end 
  • Skills vs Habits 
  • When struggling with a class in school my father would repeat the phrase, "School is a means to an end"
  • It was lost on me what that meant for a long time but I got the point, he cared about more than my grades and a work ethic with a good attitude were at the top of the list.
  • What he knew was that in life it didn't matter if you had skills in all areas but that you had the habits to build upon the areas that you had strengths.
  • What we have noticed as well is that desire and drive are sometimes developed out of struggles and mistakes and lower grades than one hopes.
  • Sir Ken Robinson's book "The Element" with the accompanying Ted Talk (70 Million Views and Counting) really nails what my dad was driving at.
  • Observe where a person loses track of time, build around that a series of constraints to develop your abilities and then get your hands bloody in the pursuit and practice of improvement. 

Show up to work days and enjoy the work
  • Piedmont Community Church had a work day in 1978 and as an 8 year old I tagged along with my dad and we were given the task of weeding a hillside and trimming some ivy.
  • We were new to town having moved from Alaska the year prior but yard work was nothing new for us.
  • The people we worked alongside became friends for all of us and the shared experience of giving back to our community was unique.
  • Fast forward to 2020 my son Ryan has been helping me in the yard for years and was looking to earn some gas money now that he was 16.
  • I told him to make a flier and knock on 30 doors in the surrounding area offering to mow lawns and do general yard work and he would be just fine.
  • How will this work? He asked. 
  • "Because you have been working next to me for years and we know how to work and when you take that same level of energy to their yard, word will spread".
  • 8 months later he has a nice business going and his confidence is soaring.
  • 2021 is going to ask all of us to pitch in to help the community again and again and most of the tools we will bring will be either John Sanders tools or the tools John Sanders gave us. 

Looking forward we imagine that you are champing at the bit to get going in 2021, these first 105 days appear primed for great activity especially since the lock downs happened in Q1 last year. 

Our aim is to work our plans hard but to also have another Plan B and Plan C in the drawer for when the next curve ball comes our way and when it does we will be emulating John Roy Sanders often.
​
0 Comments

    Archives

    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    August 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    February 2024
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    May 2023
    February 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    September 2022
    June 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    January 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    August 2021
    April 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    April 2020
    February 2020
    November 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    February 2014

    Categories

    All
    Branches And Roots
    Secret Ingredients Of Winning Teams


    Complete Annual Newsletter Volumes
    Volume 1 - 2014
    Volume 2 - 2015
    Volume 3 - 2016
    Volume 4 - 2017
    Volume 5 - 2018
    Volume 6 - 2019
    Volume 7 -2020
    Volume 8 -2021
    Volume 9 -2022
    Volume 10 -2023
    Volume 11 -2024
Banyan Tree Strategies  510.246.1446
© 2018 All rights reserved - Banyan Tree Strategies
Picture

Subscribe to our mailing list

  • HOME
  • SERVICES
    • Strategy
    • Tactics
    • Execution
    • Sales
    • Teams
    • Leadership
    • Executive Coaching
  • CONTENT
  • NEWSLETTER
  • ABOUT
    • My Story
  • CONTACT US