Andy Keith, MBA 2012

Andy Keith, MBA

University of Phoenix 2012

I have recently earned a Masters Degree in Business with a concentration in technology management from the University of Phoenix!

I must thank my wife Suzy who showed me how to do hard things and for putting up with me and to my daughters for overlooking the grumpiness after late nights of daddy doing homework. I am grateful to Pfizer and Susan Leibsly and Chris Stoll who believed in me from the start and made this possible.

Education is a tricky thing. My favorite Mark Twain quote is something like, “I try to never let my education interfere with my learning.” It rings true to me on several levels. When training for work and recently with class work and work work all conspiring to keep me from the things that truly matter. I have learned that until you further your education you will never know what it is to look back and see how far you’ve come.

This whole University of Phoenix experience has been a real wake-up call. I hope I am able to answer.

I am also forever grateful to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father for forgiving me and my foolishness and showing me what is love.

Yours truly,

AndyKeith.com

To Whom Are You Selling?

The customer of course! Here is gem from my dad's wood box of wisdom.

The customer is the purpose of our work!

i almost have an MBA

PERSUASION

In my communicating high technology class a little diddy jumped out at me and I've thinking about it all week so I thought I should capture my thoughts before they fade.

Persuasion is achieved when the argument addresses the three needs of the person you are trying to persuade; ethos (ethical), pathos (emotional), and logos (logical). When delivered to an audience they make up the “the rhetorical triangle,”

Rhetoric in a triangle                               ethos

                                                                    pathos                          logos

This equilateral triangle suggests that each part of a persuasive appeal is as important

as any other part. In addition, it emphasizes the need for balance of all three appeals or

types of proof. Excess emotion, for example, might detract from the logical appeal of your argument. Cold, hard facts might fail to persuade your audience.

So my conclusion is if I am to sell strong I must make my arguments ethical, logical, and emotional balanced in equal parts guided by empathy and personal experience.

fear and other unwanted guests

I just listened to Fear and Other Unwanted Guests. The author gave anxiety relief advice for dealing with fear, shame and guilt. I think what has stuck is a deeper understanding of my more negative emotions and how often they rule the day.  "Guilt is about doing shame is about being." Guilt is about regret and shame is about loathing. I feel bad about what I've done, am doing and will do and I feel  bad being too fat, bald, old, sick, slow, not good enough. I feel good that I can choose to do things I feel good about and only I get to judge who I am.

With sellingstrong I emphasize a positive approach to maximizing your strengths to minimize your weaknesses and this book stands in stark contrast. I have learned from self experience not to dwell to long on my faults. There are many, but I choose to not allow them to dominate and have accepted them as the price I've paid for having my strengths. I think what matters is how we cope with things. Being resilient, bouncing back, not being too hard on yourself, looking to your better self to see who you are, doing what energizes not what drains, doing what comes naturally verses through struggle. Doing the things that make you strong. Being the person who makes you proud.

Be yourself. Sell strong my friend.

Treasure, Time or Talent

I got an update letter from the coach of my old football team and he spoke of the three T's of giving back. Time, treasure or talent and lately I've been feeling like I have not much of any of those things to share. The schedule looks brutal next year with a opener against Ohio State in Columbus and Boise State in the third game. It made me think of when we beat LSU and then a memory of my Senior year when we were crushed by University of Miami. In no other endevuer but football does taking on the biggest and the best not only carry with it a good chance of loosing, but a very good change of getting physicaly beatun up. I know from expetience, but no other beating is as rewarding as the one you get when you win!

I once heard when you are trying to remember someone who has died and it starts getting hard to remember their face put them into context. Think of a place that you and they have shared. Visualized them in it and their face will be there. This has given me great comfort in the past and as I started seeing dad at the Miami U vs U of Miami game I clearly remeber him standing seven feet tall.

What can you say to a team that has to face the Ohio State Buckeyes on opening day? I figured I would tell them the story of how we beat LSU and tell the story about playing one of the best teams in history in front of my dad. This letter was the result:

June 27, 2012

Dear Coach Treadwell and team,

Thank you for your recent alumni update letter. Your mention of the three T’s made me realize I do have something to share. A story. I am a proud Miami Redskin from the class of ’88. I was the leader of the black and blues for four years, a third string tight end and second string long snapper for my entire career. As the center wedge man for kick-off returns I received multiple concussions and in retrospect credit this for my chronic inability to fulfill Coach Rose’s expectations as well as a myriad of other problems I have only recently been able to comprehend.

By the grace of God I graduated from Miami in four years from the business school, but my relationship with Coach Rose and an unfortunate experience with the Butler County police force soured my desires to ever return to Oxford.  But enough about me and the problems that have haunted me for over twenty years, I write this letter because I have witnessed greatness so frequently that its essence is what I wish to share.

My father was a Marine and war hero in the Pacific and after the war somehow made it to the University of Maryland, married my mother, earned a scholarship and in his senior year had a perfect season. They went undefeated and beat #1 ranked Tennessee in the 1952 Sugar Bowl. He went on to graduate from G. W. Law School. He taught me everything I know about winning. And make no mistake life is about winning. It is how you get the girl, the degree, the job, the career and the good life. You can always find a way to win. You may fail, but never be a failure. Never be someone who gives up before the game is ever played.

My senior year at Miami we played Jimmy Johnson’s undefeated #1 ranked University of Miami, Hurricanes and my dad made a big deal about making it to Florida to see the game. Said he had fond memories of playing in the Orange Bowl and said it was his only chance to see me play on a field that he had also played on.

We still had a chance to win the MAC so Coach Rose didn’t want our starters getting too beaten-up so I played most of the game. In the first quarter I caught a pass in the end-zone that would have put us up 10-3, but I was called for offensive pass interference and it was called back. Coach Rose went crazy and almost got thrown out of the game for being hysterical about the call and as I held him back from killing the referee he literally almost tore my head off. It went badly from there and we lost 53 to 3. Later my father told me he could not have been more proud. He said I kept my coach from making a terrible mistake and for that Coach Rose never thanked me or forgave me.

The year before we had beaten LSU in Death Valley in front of 102,000 when they were ranked #4 in the nation and then we won the MAC and my dad thought my greatest moment was having my helmet ripped off my head by my head coach in the Orange Bowl in a humiliating loss to the eventual national champions. It would take me nearly 25 years to understand this and to realize my father’s true greatness.

He died seven years ago. The same week my second daughter was born. Later, my mom gave me a box with some things he wanted me to have; a small coin collection, his metals from the war, his Sugar Bowl watch, his letter jacket with a National Championship patch, his love letters to my mom while on a road trip to the Gator Bowl his sophomore year at Maryland, and a wood box full of clippings he had collected throughout his life. It took me six years to open that box. Now I blog about him at dumbdumbdaddyo.com.

I once heard that a legacy is not what someone leaves you, but it’s what someone leaves inside of you. It is only recently that I have realized my father has left me a fortune. Greatness is not something you do or achieve it is who you are. You must be great. What’s great about me is that I am my father’s son and I am a Miami Man.

My dad told me once that living the good life was all about winning. In football as in life the harder you work the more likely you are to win. The difference between winning and losing always comes down to a hand full of plays and how well you come together as a team.  Against LSU we all had a hand in the victory, but the difference was that early in the first quarter a third string defensive tackle named Bobby Getz bull rushed a punt and got a hand on it! And then he played like a mad man for the rest of the game and had a few key sacks. From that moment on we knew we could win, 24 – 12 Miami beats the #4 team in the nation, golden moment, timeless. It can happen for you. 

If you manage the handful of plays that will swing good fortune in your favor; if you recover the fumble, make the interception; block the punt, if you let them make the mistakes you can win. If you come together as a team better than they do you can win. Many of you may have wanted to play for Ohio State, but you have an opportunity to do something infinitely better; beat Ohio State and graduate from Miami University! Don’t let anyone make you believe otherwise, YOU CAN WIN!

Love and honor to Miami,

Andy Keith

Class of ‘88

This was my dad during his sophomore year when he became the starting center for the Maryland Terrapins in 1950. That year they won the Gator Bowl and went on to win the Orange Bowl and the Sugar Bowl for the 1953 National Championship! My dad also long snapped and played a "little" linebacker. He didn't talk much about himself so I've had to fill in a few blanks. My mom told me he had an interception  against Michigan to win the game and send them to the Gator Bowl, but I have uncovered an old photo showing him intercept another one against BU. Two interceptions, maybe more, during the season that started their run to glory was not bad for a center playing a "little" linebacker! My dad was 6' 3" 200 lbs. pretty big for his day but not huge. When he first got to Maryland the coaches thought he was too skinny to make the team. One coach confided it was true, but none of them were brave enough to tell him that to his face. He was a Marine from the war and he had this way about him. He was fearless and willing to take on anyone foolish enough to underestimate him.

His defensive philosophy was to hit them harder than they hit him. He said it to me a hundred times, "Hit them harder than they hit you!" or my favorite, "Get in front of the play and good things will happen!" I think this a good lesson for life. Be brave enough to get in front of what's comming and good things will happen, but you might get run over. This reminds me of something he would always say, "It's OK to fail, just don't be a failure!" I think I get it now. How my dad drags down this ball I haven't a clue. It looks like he's too far up and the ball will get past to that sprinting receiver who will be home free. But my dad does drag it down. Not bad for a starting center, long snapper, playing a "little linebacker!"

So what's my point in posting this in selling strong...I just read a great book, The Seventeen Lies That Are Holding You Back and the Truth That Will Set You Free, by Steve Chandler. One of the lies is that, "There is something is wrong with me!"  This has struck a nerve with me because there is a lot of things wrong with me, oops, there I go again. I was posting the above story on dumbdumbdaddyo.blogspot.com when I was struck by how skinny or little my dad looked for being the starting center for a national championship football team. That's what was wrong with him, but his strengths were so strong that it made his weaknes (his size) irrelevant. So there's my point, selling strong is about what is special about you not what's wrong with you. My dad was tough. Marine tough. What are you?

Selling Strong is all about you. Finding out who you truly are and then using that person to sell like crazy. This quote from my dad's wood box of wisdom makes me think how important it is to find our strengths and in doing so finding what is truly special about ourselves. It is not about finding who we want to be. It's about discovering what, for whatever reason, we do really well, naturally. It is incredibly powerful and important to find this "truth" inside ourselves and in doing so forget all about everything else. 
Have you every been in "the zone"? Have you ever been doing something and lost complete track of time? Have you ever surprised yourself and looked up and said OMG did I just do that? Have you seen this in other people, when they just seemed to "light up" and shine and not even notice it in themselves?

We see it in sports all the time. I remember seeing it a long time ago in a match-up of greatness. It was in Cole Field House at the University of Maryland and I had the honor of watching Len Bias of the Terrapins play Micheal Jordan of the North Carolina Tarr Heals and it was like these two guys were from a different planet. Sure they were both gifted athletes, but there was something more going on there and my dad made sure to point it out. He said look at how those two love to compete, they each want it so bad, to win, to beat the best, and they played like there was no tomorrow.

When you find yourself in the zone appreciate where your are. You are most likely utilizing you greatest strength. Remember what you were doing and how it made you feel. That is what you are good at and if you are at work do more of it. If you are away from work figure out how to incorporate that action into your livelihood and you may never work again. Find that truth and forget about everything else!