– Dedication to my mom for teaching me about a solid work ethic
In the days of old when most children worked alongside their mom or dad, taking care of the house or farm chores or in other businesses, there were multiple moments in every single day that a good work ethic was learned, taught and lived.
I would guess that anyone over the age of fifty, could tell story after story about how they learned their good work ethic from their parents. I can tell you that I sure did. From as early as I can remember, my mom Polly was always working. My parents divorced when I was a year old, so most of my upbringing was at the sole hands of my mom. Mom worked at the Clinton Oklahoma Regional Hospital as a dietitian when I was four years old. In fact, we lived just across the street from the hospital.
She later worked for Puckett’s Food Store in Clinton, Oklahoma in the meat department, along with Steve Haggard, the head butcher. Anyone in grocery retail knows how hard that job is. She was the meat wrapper and could manually do her job at least twice as fast as any of the auto wrappers we have in our stores today. That is where, at age twelve, I got my first job in the grocery business. I started out just racking empty pop bottles, bagging chickens and sacking groceries on the weekends. By the age of fifteen, I oversaw the store on Sunday’s – opening the store, running payroll, issuing checks and making sure the store opened and closed properly and that customers were taken care of. (we didn’t have child labor laws back then…lol)
Puckett’s Food Store – Clinton, OK – Steve Haggard & mom – 1970’s
One of my favorite stories to tell was when I was a sophomore in high school, we ordered our class rings and the cost of mine was right at $80. When it came time to pay for it, my mom signed her weekly Puckett’s paycheck, and I cashed it to pay for that ring. It took her whole check. I’ve thought many times about how hard I know she worked and how she gladly signed over that check to pay for my ring. It was certainly a sacrifice for her as a single mother of 3 boys.
A few years later, my mom bought her own quick stop in Arapaho, Oklahoma, the 183 Quick Stop from Dave and Sylvia Krantz. As anyone that owns their own business knows, that experience was one that you had to basically live in the store to make any money. She did very well during that time, but I’ll never forget how many hours she put in every week to make a living there. She was a great connector and was a large part of the community there.
Melanie (my girlfriend then, and now wife of almost 48 years) and I both worked at the quick stop during our Junior and Senior years of high school when we weren’t working at our other jobs or playing several sports. I worked for Larry Coulson (local farmer), alongside C.L. Preston (classmate) one year, driving a wheat truck and plowing the wheat ground after harvest. We built fence during the winter months that year. Another year I worked with Johnny Mack Shephard (classmate) – helping with wheat harvest. Melanie also worked at the Arapaho Dairy Boy for Bess (Johnny’s mother) in our earlier high school years and then two years at Blunck’s Studio in Clinton, Oklahoma.
My mom passed away in October of 2014, and I tell the story of being by her bedside when she took her last breath in my book, The 5 Rules – The Epilogue. I will forever be grateful for the work ethic legacy that she left for me, and it has been a major part of my work life throughout all these years.
My mom and me in one our last pictures together
Another major example of a good work ethic in my life was Melanie’s dad, Ralph Roll, a third-generation farmer who worked typical farmers hours alongside his dad, William ‘Bill’ Roll. Sunup to sundown and most of the hours in between. He never complained about the hours required or the toll it took on his body. If wheat or alfalfa needed to be cut, cotton stripped or fields plowed because the weather was just right until 3 or 4 a.m. in the morning, then it was done. If cattle decided the grass was greener on the other side of the fence at 8:30 a.m. just as you were leaving for church, everyone got out in their Sunday best and rounded up the herd and drove them back to the home pasture. Lettie, Melanie’s mom, was a city girl who was plunged into the challenging world of country life when she married Ralph. Lettie learned to grow, can and preserve food, sew most of the family’s clothes and haul wheat to town in a truck.
(Top) – Roll Family Farm, (Middle) Bill Roll, (LL) Melanie, Jessie Roll, Bill Roll & Ralph Roll (LR) Jared Black, Bill Roll, Ralph Roll, Melanie Roll Black
The whole family was involved in running the farm. Everyone chopped cotton in the hot summers together (we had to get all the cotton chopped every summer before we could go on vacation in the family RV that was a converted bread truck that Ralph had customized), harvested crops, milked cows, raised chickens for eggs and meat, raised thousands of hogs and cattle not only for the family meat supply but to take to the market to feed others. They grew cotton, wheat, alfalfa, silage and raised a large garden for a supply of fresh vegetables. A farmer is on call 24/7. His family can’t help but be influenced by his work ethic. Ralph would say, ‘Put your mind to it and you can do it!’
We lost Ralph in January of 2024, and Melanie’s mom has had to learn how to live without him in her daily life, where he took care of everything. She has stepped up in a way that after sixty-six years of marriage can’t be planned for, it just must unfold. On this Mother’s Day dedication to my mom, I also dedicate this to my mother-in-law. She’s teaching us how to rise up and do what we have to do, not because we want to, but because it’s what resilient people do. Whatever it takes!
Lettie Brown Roll & Melanie Roll Black in 2025
My mom instilled in me the work ethic I have today. I’ve always been one of the first ones to the office and stayed as long as necessary to get the job done. You’ll always find me with my iPhone close by and checking it regularly for immediate business needs. Over my career, I’ve worked more weekends and given up more vacations that I’d like to admit, but that comes with a work ethic that always has you giving your best, and just a little more.
“The requirements of a job should be the floor – not the ceiling!”
I’ve learned over my fifty years plus career in the business is that you must work hard, but you also must work smart. It is a requirement for you to be a great leader.
“Hurry to work, get your job done, then hurry home”.
You can’t do that in today’s world if you’re not working smart.
One practice I’ve used for years that works well is to block off the first two hours of the day and the last two hours of the day. Don’t allow meetings or calls during this time. That’s YOUR time. Your think time. Your work time. Your catchup time. Your connection time.
Otherwise, you create a culture where your team must take their work home or stay late. Taking work home or staying late should be the exception, not the rule. If your team must stay late every day or take work home every day, you’re doing something wrong. Fix it. It’s your job as a top leader to fix it. Otherwise, you’re stealing from them (their time).
Now, to bring this altogether for a lifetime leadership lesson:
We all have grown up under difference circumstances and different generations, but the core of who we are will always get back to your work ethic.
Not everyone is lucky enough to have a mom or a dad to learn this from, so we all need to be willing to step in and play that role in someone’s life. The dividends will be very rewarding, and you’ll have a legacy that will live on for many generations to come as work ethic is learned, taught and lived by those we are around the most, just like the old days!
