Robbins - Nine minutes on Monday : the quick and easy way to go from manager to leader

To my wife, Kelly.
Without you, I am less than I am.

Copyright 2013 by James Robbins. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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I will never forget the irate golfer who stood only a few feet away from me, screaming and daring me to spray him with water. I was a 17-year-old golf course worker who had been asked by my boss to drive around and manually water the greens at the Highwood Golf and Country Club because our irrigation system was not working. It was actually a pretty sweet assignment on a hot August day, driving from hole to hole in the water truck that had the power to shoot a stream of water a good 30 to 40 feet. It was on the fourteenth green where the showdown took place. I remember a foursome of gentlemen approaching the green and preparing to line up their putts, a sign for me to stop watering. It was during the moment that I was turning off the water and walking back to the truck that I accidentally spilled some water on one of the gentlemens golf bags. The only reason I found this out was that one of the golfers yelled at me and approached with a furious look on his face.

You got water on my bag! he yelled. A bit surprised, I did what most 17-year-old kids would do who work at the golf course. I apologized sincerely, mentioning I had not seen it and promising that it wouldnt happen again. Apparently, my apology was not good enough for Mr. pink polo shirt golfer man because he continued to stand there right in my face pouring out vitriol that could only come from 13 bad holes of golf.

I had been raised well and taught the values of respect and humility, so it was fairly natural to apologize once again. After all, back then the customer was always right. My apology, although sincere, only seemed to irritate the man further, because the next thing I knew he was ranting and raving at me and daring me to spray all the bags. I distinctly remember him yelling, Just get all the bags wet!

I dont care what golf course you belong to, such behavior is bound to draw attention. In addition to Mr. Angry Golfers three friends who were looking on in stunned and somewhat embarrassed silence, we now had an audience on the twelfth green and another at the fifteenth tee box which was only a few feet away. It was like a scene out of middle school, and I was just waiting for someone to start yelling, Fight, fight, fight.

I was raised a good country kid, but I must confess that I only have so much humble in me. Mr. Angry Golfer man had pushed me to my limit. As he continued to dare me to spray the rest of the golf bags, I looked at him, still holding the large water hose in my hand, and said calmly, Maybe I should spray you.

Do you remember the cartoons where Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd were engaged in all-out war, and there was always a moment where Elmer Fudd would flip outhis face would go red, steam would come out of his ears, and his eyes would turn all bloodshot? Well, that is what happened here. The golf guy freaked.

What!!! Spray me, spray me. Cmon, I dare you. Spray me!

As he went into a frenzied arm-waving tantrum, I tuned out for a moment and imagined what the next few minutes might look like. All I have to do is turn the nozzle on this hose and water will come rocketing out from the truck. Its probably going to knock him over, send him sprawling across the freshly cut golf green, covering his lovely pink polo shirt with grass clippings. Hes probably going to charge at me, and there will most certainly be a fight. Im going to get fired, but this just might be worth it.

But then I thought about college and how I needed this job to pay for my education. With that, I snapped out of my daydream and in reply to his demands that I spray him I said simply, No, because I am not a jerk like you, and I walked away.

To this day I regret that!

In hindsight, I probably did the right thing, but wouldnt it have been a great story if I had sprayed him as he requested. Its funny how in life most of the regrets people have come from things they didnt do, chances they didnt take, or risks they shied away from. I also remember how only a few years later, while going to college, someone invited me to a leadership meeting at a local church I was attending. To be honest, I didnt know the first thing about leadership and didnt even know if it was something I could do. I agreed to come to the meeting, not knowing that I was about to embark on a lifelong journey of learning how to lead others. In fact, it is a journey I am still on today.