The weather is warming up here in Idaho. I frankly just want to play golf, take my wife of 30-plus years to dinner and spend more time with my three grandsons.
Two weeks ago, I spent the longest conversation to date with the editor of this magazine on what this article should cover. I have written this column for four years, and I am genuinely tired of being clever, cheeky and indirect about this industry I love deeply. I owe you more than that. So here it goes ….
BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front): Your organization reflects your leadership! If you are a mess, so is your business. If you are a cheat, so is your business. If you spend more than you make, so does your business. Therefore, we must determine… who are you?
At our core, we are a complex biological organism that is blessed with the capacity for creative thinking, opposable thumbs and advanced communication. However, if I really want to KNOW who someone is, I only need to observe their circle. Circle? T-Mobile called it the “Five.” I strongly believe we are the average of the five people we spend the most time with. See, I didn’t even have to unpack this truth. You immediately thought of the five people you don’t go a week without.
If we are honest, the reason we are drawn to them is that they represent the most comfortable version of ourselves. They don’t mind our foul mouth as they are just as adept with the colorful metaphor. They aren’t going to make us feel insecure in their late model Dodge Neon as we drive a Toyota Celica. Hopefully there are some still reading this who fight over dinner checks, share bottles of Lafite, and wage war for margin spent with their family!
I would encourage you to take an inventory of who has the most access to your thought life and schedule. If you want to gain organizational maturity, more earnings and wisdom, find people who have those aptitudes and get on their calendar.
Four Inconvenient Truths
I guess if we are going all the way with this article, let’s chat a bit about four inconvenient truths for leaders. If our organization takes on our character, these are going to be the most impactful things for you to address in the coming months.
1. Your opportunity to lead is determined by your commitment to serve. I have written around this truth for four years. If you are above serving others … so is your staff and organization. You are simply transactional. Keep waiting for the register to ring. The alternative is to treat staff, vendors and customers as something of value that you are looking to support regardless of what is in it for you!!! That’s service.
2. Your capacity to lead has nothing to do with you at times, and everything to do with things you have no control over. You want to be an Apex Retailer, so stop complaining about things you have no control over. You can only control your actions and your attitude. Stay focused on those two truths and stop sweating tariffs, taxes, elections, competitors, Annie Jacobsen novels and lame vendors. Water is wet, Saka is grumpy, Scotty is the strongest golfer from the shoulders up since Tiger, and you don’t control everything. Get over it.
3. Leadership establishes culture, and culture trumps everything in any organization. Everyone is watching you. What you do sets the tone for everything in your business. If you feel inadequate in this area, don’t worry. Get wisdom. Find someone you respect in this area and take them to coffee. If you have an active chamber of commerce in your municipality, ask them for help. I take at least a dozen meetings a year with business owners in my little slice of Idaho. High-capacity leaders have mentors. Find one for yourself.
4. Authentic leadership results in joy … not happiness. I read somewhere that “in this world you will have trouble. But take heart!” Happiness is just a feeling. Joy is a recognition that we have an opportunity for something greater regardless of the circumstance we are facing. I spent my 2020/21 battling Primary Pancreatic Lymphoma (Stage 3AE). I had every reason to bitch, complain and be unhappy. I chose joy instead. I don’t regret a single moment of that fight as it helped shape me into the leader I am today.
How to Start?
The health of any organization is based on a foundation of trust. As a leader, are you trustworthy? Is your yes, a yes? Is your no, a no? Do you follow through? Trust is the basis for being able to navigate conflict that is inevitable in any business or relationship. Navigating that conflict and being able to shape trusted solutions is the key to delivering success. There is order to this: Trust > Conflict > Solutions > Success.
If you take nothing else from these musings, your leadership determines your organizational health. Be a leader who is humble enough to tackle greatness by dying to self.
– Photo: Adobe Stock. Article contributed by Josh Evarts, a tobacconist at Vault Cigar Lounge in Meridian, Idaho.
This story first appeared in PCA The Magazine, Volume 2, 2025. To receive a copy of this magazine, you must be a current PCA member. Join or renew today at premiumcigars.org/membership.