Judge Smails: “…and I’m no slouch myself!”
Ty Webb: “Don’t sell yourself short, Judge, you’re a tremendous slouch.”
– One of the best interactions in the best golf movie ever, Caddyshack
Lots of “slouchiness” this past weekend.
The DD posts on “loyalty” with some degree of regularity. It’s important in business, in life. To earn loyalty is to earn a sacred trust.
So, this past weekend was difficult for me.
Costco and the United States Golf Association (USGA) are two organizations to which I’ve been exceedingly loyal. And this weekend, they both got it wrong. (Yes, I was tempted to use the Happy Gilmore quote there, but discretion got the best of me…)
I’m also loyal to American Express, and Costco stopped accepting The Card as of close of business Sunday. It’s not the decision that bothers me. I am, after all, a capitalist. It’s that the decision was made without input from the Members that eats at me. I am now faced with going to a lesser place to purchase my goods, or to a place that requires me to use a payment type that I’d prefer not to use.
The kicker for me, however, was the horrific lack of propriety that the USGA used in assessing eventual US Open Champion, Dustin Johnson, a one-stroke penalty during the final round on Sunday. “DJ” has had some rough breaks, including a controversial (but accurate) ruling that cost him the PGA Championship a few years back. This one though, was ludicrous. Johnson, noticing his ball moved on the putting green, asked the USGA referee for a ruling. The two agreed, as did fellow competitor Lee Westwood, that the ball moved through no fault of Johnson. Seven holes later (nearly :80 had passed!), the USGA after assessing and re-assessing video of the event, went to the course and informed Johnson that he “might” incur a penalty after all.
The guy is in the lead in the most important golf tournament held on US soil, and almost an hour and a half after he and the USGA agreed there was no penalty, he’s told, “Hey. We MIGHT change our mind. Yeah, we know it’s been a long time and that this is the hardest golf course you’ll play all year and that your career will be defined by what happens in the next six holes, but we just wanted you to know that your score might have to be one better than you think it might in case we change our mind about that thing we already decided.”
Doh!
Guardians of the Game. That’s what the USGA and the Royal & Ancient (its British counterpart) call themselves.
If you’re gonna be the guardian of something, you ought not mess it up.
It’s a stretch, yes, but loyalty is the topic.
My point is this. I’ve been loyal to American Express for 27 years. To Costco for nearly 17. To the USGA for 30. Two of those three are on the verge of losing my loyalty, primarily because they, like so many of us, lost sight of the fact that what might take 17, or 27 or 30 years to earn, can be at risk or even lost in one act of selfishness, foolishness or arrogance.
Fair? Probably not, but that is the risk we take, if loyalty is one of the cornerstones of our approach to our business. Better we find a way to continue to earn loyalty, than put it at risk.
Leave a Reply