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Lesson #4: Nice Guys Finish Last

Article Overview: “My father wasn’t a believer in ‘monetary allowances’ for my sisters and me, so he set us up raising chickens,” recalls Steinbrenner. “We sold the eggs to our neighbours…If one of our neighbours wanted a fresh chicken, then we also had to kill and dress the chicken.”

Lesson #4: Nice Guys Finish Last

“My father wasn’t a believer in ‘monetary allowances’ for my sisters and me, so he set us up raising chickens,” recalls Steinbrenner. “We sold the eggs to our neighbours…If one of our neighbours wanted a fresh chicken, then we also had to kill and dress the chicken.”

Steinbrenner was nine years old when he got his first job raising chickens. “That chicken would run around with no head,” he recalled. “Suddenly he’d flop down and you had to pick up the feathers.”

Here, Steinbrenner earned just a few dollars a week, charging 50 cents per dozen eggs. “Every night we had to update the books on everything we sold, and the earnings were equally split three ways,” he says.

Of that experience, Steinbrenner says he learned the value and satisfaction of earning your money through hard work. “My best and worst boss was the same man – my father,” he says. “He never – and I mean never – took ‘I can’t’ for an answer. He taught me the value system that, to this day, I have continued to practice.”

Steinbrenner’s working habits reflect that value system. He works from home from 8am until noon, when he leaves for the office and works there until 7pm. “I take my last phone call at home at about 11pm,” he says. “There is not enough [time] to accomplish everything you’d like to get done.”

Still, beyond the value of hard work, Steinbrenner learned another important lesson. He was 15 years old and his father was sending him off for military school. “I sold my egg company to my sisters for three times what it was worth,” he said. “They’ve never liked me since.”

Despite the fact that it was family, Steinbrenner had no problem doing whatever it took to make a profit. He was a businessman, bottom line, and he did not let anyone – not even his own sisters – stand in the way of his business aspirations.

It was that attitude that Steinbrenner carried with him into his professional career. He fought hard to keep his father’s shipping company alive because, as he said, “I detest bankruptcy. To me, it signifies failure – personal failure, corporate failure.”
Even when he made the transition into the sports world, he continued to believe that “Winning was everything. I don’t care what they tell you.”

That is why whether it was his sisters or the countless managers who worked for him at the New York Yankees, Steinbrenner made no bones about doing what was best for the team, and what was best for the team’s bottom line. If it meant firing two managers in the same year, he was not above doing it. If it meant being banned from baseball, he would risk it. After all, no risk was too great to take where the future of his empire was at stake.

Over the years, Steinbrenner has suffered enormous public mockery, media scrutiny, and management turmoil. Through it all, he remained willing to do whatever it took to win – both on the field and off.

Related Articles
  Lesson #3: Nice Guys Can Finish First
  How to Say No
  Nice Guys Always Finish First – More Thoughts On Inspiration
  How Your Stress Management Skills Affects Your Earning Potential
  The Gravity of Failure

Article Tags: 50 cents, believer, bottom line, business aspirations, businessman, dozen eggs, egg company, feathers, first job, last phone call, military school, monetary allowances, neighbours, nice guys, nine years, professional career, raising chickens, shipping company, three times, three ways



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