Our recent monthly manager training was based off the book 212 Degrees of Leadership by Mac Anderson.  The concept is as simple yet as brilliant as it sounds.  At 211 degrees water is hot but once you get the one extra degree and get to 212 degrees, water boils.  When water boils it creates steam and steam can power large machinery.  Just 1 extra degree can make the difference. 

• Think about how many Olympic races are won or lost in less than 1 second.  That one second isn’t even always made or lost during the race.  Most of the time that 1 second is created during the training process.  Athletes train for years and years to simply improve by 1 second.  This little bit can make the difference between an athlete and an Olympian. 
• I know we have touched on the idea of a boat or airplane that takes off and goes just 1 degree off course.  After a few hours, the boat or plane is miles off course.  Who would think that just 1 degree can make such an impact in the long term? 
• For a long time I had a quote on my email signature that read “there is a remarkable difference between 99% and 100% commitment.”  We touched on last week about seizing the moment; we cannot seize the moment if we are not 100% committed and all in.  If we can teach ourselves to give 100% when it doesn’t matter, we will always be able to give 100% when it does. 
• There is also the age old riddle that asks if you would like to have $1,000,000 today or a penny that doubles every day for 30 days.  Most people say the million dollars without hesitation.  If you chose the penny that doubles every day, you would have over $5,000,000. 
• Ask yourself what you can do to give that 1% extra.  What can you do at home or at work to simply improve by 1 degree?  One statement I start my day with is, I try to be better person today than I was yesterday.  The only person I try to compare myself with is myself yesterday.  When it comes to Culver’s, that one extra degree is the essence of what sets us apart from the competition.  The neat thing about the one extra degree is that most of the time it isn’t even very noticeable at first but long term it can make a 10X difference.   
• Next week I will post a list of action items to help add that 1 extra degree in our business.