Billy Sticker taught his kids to figure things out by asking "How do you think you spell it?" He brings that same approach to leadership: employees should bring problems with proposed solutions, not just complaints. The solution doesn't have to be right, but thinking one through shows you've done the work.
Growing up, so we had 3 kids, we still have 3 kids, but now they're all adults. They would ask, Dad, how do you spell this? And I would always say, how do you think you spell it? All right, sometimes it's because I didn't know, but I'm trying to get them to try it. Like, how do you think you spell it? You know what, actually, you're right. You know, that is how you spell it. And it was just a big joke around the house. Like, even now they still joke about, you know, sometimes they'll just say, well, how do you think you spell it? But I run our company the same way. If somebody brings a question to me, like, they bring a problem, right? Don't bring the problem without some solutions. Doesn't mean we're gonna use your solutions. But it does mean you've thought the process through. Yes, and that's what I wanna see.
