One of the first leadership lessons I learned in the plumbing industry (other than the many I learned from my father) was back in 2012 from the CEO of a large plumbing wholesaler located in New York City. He had taken me out to dinner, and before water was even poured, he said; “I’d like to share a story with you that my father taught me at a very young age.” He said he and his father were out to lunch at a local diner his father frequented near the office, and every time his father sat down, the waiter or waitress would set bread on the table before taking the order. 

This day, the waiter came to take the order but no bread was placed on the table. My colleague’s father ordered soup and wanted bread to dunk. He asked the waiter, “Can I have some bread please?”  The waiter replied, “Afraid not sir, we did not get our bread delivery today, so we do not have any bread.” 

Photo courtesy Eurngkwan, via iStock/Getty Images Plus

The father thanked the waiter and leaned over to his son and said, “Let this be a lesson. One day you will be a leader in our business, and if a customer asks you for something; and you do not have it or know what it is; tell him you will find it. You will get it for him. No Problem. Tell him we are here to help.” What the waiter should have done, he said, was figure a way to quickly run to the grocery store next door and find some bread. 

I realize that occasionally in business, we get caught in situations where sometimes the cost of “going to get the bread” outweighs the benefit, is inconvenient or out of our “business-as-usual mindset.” It is not the point, every time a customer asks for something outlandish, you are expected to drop everything and figure out all their problems. I understand and advocate having a clear vision, focus and strategy. However, with nearly 13 MILLION Americans out of work today whether you are the leader of a large or small business, there are opportunities to learn, innovate, create new business, survive and endure. And if you have not set up your company to quickly adapt and navigate quickly and creatively, you may find yourself in hot water.  

This leadership lesson is one of the most valuable and versatile tools a leader could carry in their belt of armor; appropriate, relevant and a critical for business leaders today. With economists suggesting the economy will be fundamentally altered as a result of COVID-19, survival demands we each summon the discipline and unity to not only control the virus, but also face the reality we will need to adapt from traditional ways of approaching business that just feel comfortable. The best crisis leaders are trying to understand this disruption in a new way.  

Personally, just this week as I was writing this article, I had the opportunity to try on a brand-new lens.  I was confronted with four new business opportunities that, quite possibly in pre-COVID times, I may have passed up, just like the waiter did in the bread story. A customer asked me if I had a product that none of the manufacturers we represented made or could produce. I called the manufacturer of the product he was asking for, got a quote and we got the order. Meanwhile, we established a new relationship and added a month’s revenue to our business that we wouldn’t have had if I had simply responded, “Sorry, we do not offer this,” or as that waiter did all those years ago, the bread delivery didn’t come in today.

Regardless of your position or title: Waiter, salesclerk, line worker or CEO, the lessons here are the same. Have the courage to be effective agents of worthy change. Be poised to adapt. 

The world has never needed you and other courageous leaders more than it does now. Take a step forward, lean in. Then take another step forward. Commit. Be resilient. Endure. Do not give up on the mission and “find the bread.” 

Stephen Jaye is president and CEO of Woods & Jaye Sales, a New York City-based plumbing, heating and hydronics manufacturer’s representative firm.