Author: pennadmin

With another year right around the corner I decided to get a head start on my resolution to do more for the company that I work for and love so much. I support social media but I am not an active participant in it. Over the last few years as CEO of Penn Emblem I have sent a few emails on a variety of subjects to fellow Penn family members. Obviously not everything that I have to say is important to everyone. Like beauty, communication is in the eye of the beholder. As Penn’s social media presence has grown I have been asked to write a blog. I hope that you find my future posts inspiring, insightful, or at least informative. I’ll let you be the judge. I would love to hear your comments.

For now, I’ll leave you with this question which I read in the January 2013 issue of Success Magazine: “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?”

 

Steve O’Grady

Yesterday I watched over my wife’s shoulder as she scrolled through her Facebook page looking at various pictures celebrating New Year’s Eve.

That got me thinking about all of the “firsts” that were being celebrated. There were pictures of the first New Year’s Eve as an engaged couple, as a married couple, as a parent.

Sometimes it seems that people are so focused on being first or with being number one that they can’t see any value in being second or being number two. Today is the 2^nd of January. Not much reason to celebrate. The 1^st of January gets all of the attention.

Like so many things I think it is a matter of perspective. The glass is either half full or half empty depending on your perspective. While I understand that you can’t have a “second” if you never have a “first”, there are many “seconds” in life that should be celebrated and enjoyed – a second piece of cake, a second honeymoon, a second chance.

Depending on your perspective, second is pretty good.

I’ll let you be the judge. I would love to hear your comments.

“Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is usually more important than the outcome. Not everyone can be number 1.” – Arthur Ashe

 

Steve O’Grady

When we were children I assume that most of us wanted to grow up and be someone famous. Most likely it was a movie star or a sports hero. We usually don’t dream of the routine or the mundane. We probably didn’t even realize that being a movie star or a sports hero was an actual job. We didn’t categorize those glamorous things as work.

Now as adults we realize that those childhood dreams and ambitions don’t always pan out as we had hoped. We may have settled into a somewhat less glamorous occupation. But settling into a job does not mean that you have to compromise on who you are and the effort you put forth. Even the movie star works with a supporting actor or actress that outshines them on the big screen. Even the sports hero plays on a team with another athlete who becomes the MVP of the championship.

It’s not your job title that determines whether or not you give your best effort day in and day out. It’s who you are that determines whether or not you bring your “A” game all the time.

There is a sign in my house that reads “It’s never too late to live happily ever after”. In light of today’s blog topic I would change that sign to read “It’s never too late to be a good one”.

I’ll let you be the judge. I would love to hear your comments.

“Whatever you are, be a good one.” – Abraham Lincoln

 

Steve O’Grady

I have been writing a blog for the last few weeks. Not that long by blogging standards. But the question came to me today, “Why?” as in “Why am I even writing a blog?” Well initially it was because I was asked to do so. It seemed like a simple request. I didn’t think it would be that difficult to write something once or twice a week.christmas inflatables

But today I was thinking about why I am even writing in the first place. I haven’t talked about our company. I haven’t written about our products. I haven’t tried to sell anything. I guess that’s not the reason why I write. I write with the hope of inspiring. I write with the hope of making a difference. It takes effort to write. It takes effort to read. Without putting in the effort required to do something, it does not get done.

I’ll let you be the judge. I would love to hear your comments.

“Nothing will work unless you do.” – John Wooden

It’s been three weeks since we rang in the New Year. For many of us those lofty resolutions that we made are long forgotten. Most of us had a plan but did no planning.

The desire to jump right into doing something without the proper planning required is usually a recipe for disaster. Typically it takes longer to complete and is more frustrating along the way.

New Year, an item on your to-do list, or a big project you are working on, the more effort you put into planning how you will accomplish your goal the better chance of success you will have.

I’ll let you be the judge. I would love to hear your comments.

“Plans are nothing; planning is everything.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower

 

Steve O’Grady

I was listening to my iPod this morning and heard the song Imagine by John Lennon. I heard Imagine many times over the years and always appreciated it but today I heard it differently than I ever had before. I realized what a powerful word “imagine” really is. The world we live in today is the result of people who had dreams and visions. They uttered words like “What if” or “Imagine this”. Without imagination things stay the same. Sadly, we stay the same. With imagination the possibilities are endless. There are no limits to what we can accomplish. The key to making your dreams become a reality is to pursue them when the odds are against you. Millions of people have faced difficult challenges and obstacles along the way but were able to succeed in making their dreams come true. You can too. I’ll let you be the judge. I would love to hear your comments.

“You may say I’m a dreamer but I’m not the only one.” – From the song Imagine by John Lennon

Steve O”Grady

No doubt we have all experienced great customer service in our lifetime. The feeling that you get from it is unbelievably uplifting. You want to brag about it to your friends, neighbors, co-workers, and just about anybody who will listen to you (or read your posts and tweets).

Since we know how it feels to be on the receiving end of great customer service are we doing our best to provide great customer service to other people? Usually it’s the little things that separate okay service from outstanding service. It could be a smile or friendly gesture. It could be a free sample or upgrade. Whatever it is you know it when you experience it.

Sadly too many people are just going through the motion of performing their job. There is no extra effort. No real attempt to make you want to come back and spend more of your money on their product or service. Fortunately though there are still enough people out there in the world that do provide knock-your-socks-off customer service. I am grateful that they exist.

An old marketing campaign for Wendy’s Hamburgers used to ask “Where’s the beef?” Today I would ask “Where’s the extra?” Where’s the extra effort? Where are the people who go the extra mile? In the world of ordinary, dare to be extra ordinary. It does make a difference.

I’ll let you be the judge. I would love to hear your comments.

“Excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way.” – Booker T. Washington

 

Steve O’Grady

All inclusive. All you can eat. No expiration date. Unlimited. 24/7. All of these phrases make me think of quantity not quality. Is more really better? We tend to take more than we need and say more than we should.

Texting and tweeting has forced us to condense our thoughts into a finite number of characters. We can’t ramble on forever. A well-crafted text or tweet speaks volumes, truly reminding us that less is more.

Last year I read an article about writing your life’s story in six words. Six words. Now that’s getting right to the point. When I graduated high school I had the following Bruce Springsteen song lyrics under my picture, “What I got, I have earned. What I’m not, I have learned.” Those lyrics still ring true for me today. Each of those sentences is coincidentally six words. Each one could be used to write my life’s story. Being more mindful of our words is a challenge that I believe we should all accept.

I’ll let you be the judge. I would love to hear your comments.

“They say the world has become too complex for simple answers. They are wrong.” – Ronald Reagan

 

Steve O’Grady

What inspires you? While I don’t think about that the inspiration question on a daily basis it is important to give it some serious thought occasionally. It helps give meaning to what you do or why you are doing it or who you are doing it for.

Being inspired motivates us to accomplish great things. It moves us to overcome our fears. It even helps with the little things like getting us out of bed in the morning.

Today is the day that you should really think about who or what inspires you. You should be grateful for your source of inspiration. You should continue to draw upon your inspirational source when you are faced with your next challenge or when you just need to get through the day.

As you think about your source of inspiration today also take a few minutes to think about those who consider you a source of their inspiration. Be humbled and inspired by those last thoughts and continue to pay it forward.

I’ll let you be the judge. I would love to hear your comments.

“Inspiration, move me brightly.” – From the song Terrapin Station by The Grateful Dead

Steve O’Grady

You’ve got to love March. The dreariness of winter is starting to melt away. The clocks have already sprung ahead. Yesterday was National Pi Day. St. Patrick’s Day is this weekend. College basketball “madness” kicks off next week. Except for that “Beware the Ides of March” thing, it’s a pretty good month.

My two sons went to Providence Elementary School. The school mascot was a Pioneer. Among the many fond memories I have of them in grade school was everyone displaying their Pioneer Pride at school events. As a young parent I didn’t think much about instilling the value of pride in them at such an early age.

Pride will no doubt be on full display during the upcoming March events. People have tremendous pride in their heritage and in their alma mater. Over the next few weeks you’ll see plenty of face paint on people who are passionate enough to show off their pride to the world.

While it may be easy for us to jump on the pride band wagon of a nation or a school, the challenge for us is to get up on our own pride unicycle. We should be proud of who we are. We should be proud of what we have accomplished. We may not have become everything we dreamed of or achieved all of our ambitious goals in life but we’ve gotten this far and should be proud of it. Each of us has a foundation from which we can build upon long without verification after the face paint has been washed off.adult jumping castle for sale

I’ll let you be the judge. I would love to hear your comments.

“Every job is a self-portrait of the person who did it. Autograph your work with excellence.” – Unknown (Blogger’s note: You could easily switch the word “excellence” with “pride”.)

Steve O’Grady

Did you ever play the game Connect the Dots when you were a kid? As a parent you may have even played the game with your own kids. While I have not played the game in years I do use the phrase “connect the dots” at work. It is still an important skill for us to have. There are things throughout the course of our day that go by as seemingly isolated events. They are just random dots on a page in our lives. I believe that we should try to connect as many of those dots as possible. Just like the children’s version of the game, you probably weren’t good at it in the beginning but you got better at it the more you played. Most likely this is the same issue now. You may not even be aware that the game should still be played so you are out of practice and possibly out of touch.

I had two separate dots present themselves to me in the last week or so. Two Fridays ago I attended a seminar where the keynote speaker, Kevin Daum, talked about creating an awesome future for yourself. That’s the first dot. The following Friday I heard the song My Way by Frank Sinatra. He sings about a person reflecting back on their life and admitting that they lived their life their way. That’s the second dot. As soon as I heard the second dot I immediately connected it to the first dot.

Most of us are trying to live our best life. The good thing is we get to determine what “our best life” really is. Our life story can either be an autobiography (where we are the author) or a biography (where someone else writes it for us). I interpreted Kevin Daum’s presentation to mean that you are going to live your life anyway so you might as well start determining how you want to live it rather than let it be dictated by someone else. In other words make your life an autobiography. It’s time to start writing.inflatable double slip and slide with pool

I’ll let you be the judge. I would love to hear your comments.

“I planned each charted course, each careful step along the byway. And more, much more than this, I did it my way.” – From the song My Way sung by Frank Sinatra

Blogger’s note: More information about Kevin Daum’s presentation can be found at kevindaum.com/future.

Steve O’Grady

I love golf. I admit it. I practice my golf grip during the day. Maybe I shouldn’t have confessed to that last sentence. For the golf lover this is a great weekend. The Masters is being played at Augusta. There is so much tradition surrounding this particular tournament. It is played on the same course every year. The previous winner hosts the annual Champions Dinner before the tournament. Golf legends of the past tee up the first ball to start the tournament. Last year’s champion puts the Green Jacket on this year’s champion. All of these little traditions make this a great golf tournament.

Most of us don’t think about traditions every day. Usually that word is reserved for special occasions. On a daily basis we think of those same things as habits or routines. Things we do day in and day out without giving it much thought. My wife told me that it takes someone 30 days to make something new become a habit. I think she was trying to get me to change. I lasted 29 days. Habits come in two forms – good habits and bad habits. Hopefully your good ones far outweigh your bad ones.

On the bottom of the list is a rut. This is where we feel stuck in the same place with no way out. We go through life like the Bill Murray character in the movie Groundhog Day. It is just one endless loop of the same old thing. We feel stuck in neutral on life’s highway. The grass seems greener everywhere other than where we are standing. We do the same thing day after day with little enthusiasm and passion.

Step back and think about the traditions you look forward to, the habits you’ve made and the ruts you’re in. Aren’t they really all the same? Aren’t they things we do over and over again? Maybe the difference is just our way of looking at them.

I’ll let you be the judge. I would love to hear your comments.

“The Masters: A tradition unlike any other.” – Jim Nantz, CBS Sports Commentator

Steve O’Grady

This is not a typical blog about perspective – optimist or pessimist, Democrat or Republican, man or woman, pro-this or anti-that. The tragic event this week in Boston actually puts the normal conversation about perspective in perspective. Sadly we seem to get too many reminders about the things that truly matter in life because these man-made tragedies keep happening. Oklahoma City. Columbine. 9/11. Virginia Tech. Sandy Hook. I don’t know how to solve the problem. Hopefully someone is working on that and comes up with a solution real soon. I do know that life is too short for some and too long for others.

The devastating tragedy this week certainly made me stop and think about keeping things in

perspective. Not everything is a big deal. Not everything is important. Not everything has to be done immediately. But when things are truly a big deal, or really important, or must be

done immediately then we should act accordingly because we have kept things in perspective.

I am going to keep this blog short so that you can spend more time doing things that are more important in life than reading a blog. Please remember to keep things in perspective, before it’s too late.

I’ll let you be the judge. I would love to hear your comments.

“Imagine all the people, living life in peace.” – From the song Imagine by John Lennon

 

Steve O’Grady

 

At the end of each baseball season the Phillies have a Fan Appreciation Day where the team thanks the fans for supporting them all season long. It is a nice way to wrap up the season.

This week Penn Emblem had a companywide sales meeting. There were schedules to juggle, logistical issues to deal with, technical nightmares to resolve, presentations to perfect, and public speaking jitters to overcome.

Fortunately for me there was not a lot of actual work for me to do

so it gave me the opportunity to step back and watch the events as they unfolded before my eyes.

What I saw was awesome teamwork, genuine camaraderie, true professionalism, and an abundance of talent.

While I thanked many of the people that made the meeting so successful I may have missed a few so this is my formal shout out of appreciation to all of the people at Penn Emblem that made this week a huge success. It is also a shout out of appreciation to all of those people that make Penn Emblem a huge success every day of the year. Thanks for being a part of our company, of our family.

We don’t always take time to stop and smell the roses. Similarly we don’t always take time to stop and say thanks or show some form of appreciation to the important people in our lives. Take a few minutes today to show someone that you appreciate who they are and how wonderful your life is because of them.

I’ll let you be the judge. I would love to hear your comments.

“Everyone wants to be appreciated, so if you appreciate someone, don’t keep it a secret.” – Mary Kay Ash, founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics

Steve O’Grady

This past weekend I watched the Broad Street Run in Philadelphia. It is a 10-mile run right through the center of the city. My son and his fiancée were running in it for the first time. It was a beautiful day for a run – clear skies and cool weather. Thousands of people lined the street to cheer on the almost 40,000 runners as they passed by.

My wife and I stood around mile 6 anticipating the arrival of our son and his fiancée. While we were on the lookout for them I saw many tributes to the city of Boston and the tragic events at the Boston Marathon a few weeks ago. One shirt stood out in my mind. It read “Boston Strong.” I had heard those words for the first time shortly after the bombing. It got me thinking about the foundation that we all stand on. It could be your personal foundation or your professional foundation. How solid is it? Can it withstand a tragedy? Most people don’t know the answer to those questions until something tragic actually happens to them.

After our son and his fiancée passed us at mile 6, my wife and I took the subway (we’re not runners) towards the finish line. We had to walk the last half mile or so. As we walked we looked around at the runners, at the cheering crowd, at the security surrounding the event and at the beautiful clear blue sky. We talked about how the people at the Boston Marathon did the exact same thing until tragedy struck so unexpectedly. We talked about how a perfectly uplifting day was rocked to the core. Fortunately for us, the runners, the city and the country, the Broad Street Run went off without any incidents. We were thankful that the strength of our foundation was not tested that day.

I’ll let you be the judge. I would love to hear your comments.

“May you have a strong foundation when the winds of changes shift” – From the song Forever Young by Bob Dylan and The Band

Steve O’Grady