I’ve never really considered myself a needy guy when it comes to birthday presents or Christmas gifts. If I don’t get them, I usually don’t get disappointed, but when I receive something nice, I’m like anyone else…it feels good. I especially like gifts that people put a lot of thought or effort into. I’m a firm believer that there’s usually one or two things that someone really wants, but can’t quite bring themselves to purchase. I’ve got several things on my list that have been putting off for years. This year, my team knocked one of those off my list…in a very classy way.
I’m slightly enamored with the Asian culture. I still recall chilling out with my dad on Sunday afternoons watching Black Belt Theatre on channel 17. Great memories. A repercussion of that time is that I now have a taste for subtitled, b rated kung fu movies…that my wife can’t stand. Such is life. For several years, I’ve shared with a couple of my leaders that I would like to get a Kendo suit. For those of you who don’t know about Kendo, it is a training method for Japanese swordmanship (Japanese version of Fencing).
Here’s a photo of what the team picked up for me. They had the practice tanto (short blade) and the practice katana (longer blade) engraved. The tanto is engraved with the japanese characters for “leader” while the katana is engraved with the characters for “servant”…two of the montras defining our company’s leadership style. The 3rd sword in the photo was a gift from Dave Ramsey that he gave to several of the leaders’ the company.
I don’t believe there is anything more rewarding or humbling than for a leader to receive a gift like this from their team. While we all do our best, it’s nice to get the validation from our team.
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