“When all’s said and done, all roads lead to the same end. So it’s not so much which road you take, as how you take it.” – Charles de Lint
Take a moment to imagine where our society would be, if we (people and businesses) allowed ourselves to believe we have no need for improvement. If we settled for “good enough,” instead of reaching for excellence. If in the afterglow of great success, we adopted an attitude of “We’ve arrived!” and neglected to ask, “How can we improve and reach the next level?”
One of the most unique and powerful gifts we all have is the ability to better ourselves every day, in every way. It is the ultimate opportunity to have the emotional, intellectual and physical faculties to identify and execute change. And it pays huge dividends, in both our personal and professional lives.
The Japanese call it Kaizen … or “constant improvement.”
In his latest book, The Book of Man, William J. Bennett profiles the story of Terry Toussaint. His commitment to excellence exemplifies the adage that you are doing your best only when you are trying to improve what you are doing. Here is an excerpt. It’s a bit long, but think you’ll find it worth the read.
He calls himself the “proud sanitation worker.”
While Terry Toussaint’s official title is “supervisor of the Fort Valley Sanitation Department,” he prefers the shorter more direct term. He is not ashamed of his work or the stereotypes that go along with it.
“I’ve never heard a sanitation worker say, ” I’m a proud sanitation worker, but I am. I really am,” Toussaint cheerfully exclaims.
His conviction he attributes to Martin Luther King, Jr. On March 18, 1968, Dr. King spoke to a crowd of street sweepers in Memphis, Tennessee. He told them, “If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, like Shakespeare wrote poetry, like Beethoven composed music; sweep streets so well that all the host of Heaven and earth will pause and say, ‘Here lived a great sweeper, who swept his job well.'”
Dr. King’s words of inspiration spoke to a generation about the equal value each of us is endowed with and deserves, but he also spoke often about our individual responsibility to make the most of ourselves. That charge resonates with Toussaint and has shaped his life.
He oversees the sanitation department in a small rural town of roughly eight thousand people in Georgia named Fort Valley. He is in charge of keeping the town clean, whether it’s clearing fallen trees, road-kill or garbage.
“It’s all about cleanliness. We service every aspect, be it businesses, schools, or whatever. It’s just a sense of pride in keeping that flow going, keeping the trash moving. I pride myself in my job, I like my job,” Toussaint enthusiastically exclaims.
In fact, Toussaint likes his job so much he hasn’t missed a day of work in years. “It’s all part of my work ethic,” he says with conviction.
Growing up in Florida, Toussaint had every reason not to adhere to a strict work ethic. “I haven’t seen my father since sixth grade. I had to look around at the positive men or positive role models, not only in my family but that were around me all the time.”
These role models manifested themselves in the form of Toussaint’s uncles, his mother, his grandmother, and later the U.S. Army. After his service in the military, Toussaint landed in Miami and found a job as an operator for Bell South.
In 2002, Toussaint’s life came to a screeching halt. While driving his SUV, another car cut him off, forcing his vehicle into a death spiral, rolling twice across the highway and finally landing on its back with the wheels in the air. Miraculously, Toussaint kicked out the door and walked out of the wreck without a scratch.
Afterward his beloved grandmother called him and said, “Well, this goes to show you that God is not ready for you yet; you still have some work to do.”
Two months later, his grandmother passed away.
Toussaint has never forgotten her words. “I feed off of that every day. The work ethic and the spirit, it’s all rolled up into me.”
After the accident, his outlook on life changed dramatically. “I keep trying to keep a positive spirit and a positive attitude toward life because there’s so much bad stuff going on in the world,” he says. “I’m vertical and breathing,” Toussaint adds jokingly. “Whatever happens after that is icing on the cake.”
With a newfound lease on life, Toussaint went back to work. After several years of hard work and perfect attendance, there was an opportunity for promotion at Bell South. Despite his best efforts, Toussaint failed to land the job and soon after he moved to Georgia, where he landed a job as supervisor of the streets department in Fort Valley.
Initially, he cleaned gutters and fixed potholes and curbs. Some might call that a demotion, but he calls it “hitting the ground running.” After eight months, the director recognized the potential in Toussaint and promoted him to supervisor of the sanitation department.
On April 20, 2010, as Toussaint was driving his city truck, he came upon a sheriff deputy’s car stopped several feet in front of a four-way intersection. As he drove closer, he noticed a man in the back of the police car, kicking his way out and then escaping across the highway. The deputy was a large man and it was readily obvious that he would never be able to keep up with the smaller, swifter fleeing man.
Toussaint took off running . Two or three blocks down the street he lost the man in a wooded area. That’s when his military training kicked in – he stopped and listened. It was the height of summer, and Toussaint could hear the branches crackling and the leaves rustling. Seconds passed and then he heard escapee start to move again.
“I caught him and held him down to the ground, then I pulled out my cell phone and dialed 911,” Toussaint said. With one hand on his phone and the other on the escapee, he restrained his prisoner until the police arrived.
To top off his story, he adds, “To this day, no one has acknowledged what I did.” Not the police, not the local media, and not even the sheriff.
But don’t call him a hero; it’s part of his duty, Toussaint says. “If it were to happen tomorrow, I would do it again. I feel like we are all city employees and whether it’s law enforcement or not, or fire department, I feel that it is my civic duty to intervene and help this law enforcement officer capture his inmate.”
For Toussaint, it’s all part of the day’s job. At fifty years old, he starts every day at 4:45 a.m. and never misses a day of work. He makes every day count. Toussaint lives out the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“I’ll always be the best that I can be at whatever job I have,” he boasts. Toussaint’s attitude, not his job or status, defines who is. He describes himself as “financially strapped and morally rich.”
For the proud sanitation worker of Fort Valley, Georgia, work is more than a paycheck, more than a means to an end. It’s a chance to appreciate life and what he’s been given. Whatever his calling might be, he takes pride in his work and does it to the best of his ability. He may not make local or national headlines, but he’s okay with that. Toussaint would be satisfied with this simple epitaph on the headstone where he will someday begin his eternal rest: Here lies a great sanitation worker, who did his job well.
“You keep swinging at that ball and you know that eventually you’re going to hit it. And that’s the attitude I have,” Toussaint remarks. “A lot of folks strike out and give up and walk to the dugout with their heads down. But you know what, the guy who’s going to make it is the guy who goes back up to the plate with that vigor and says, ‘I’m going to hit that ball this time, no matter how many strikes you get. Always stay positive because you know what, the next pitch is the one that you might knock out of the park.”
“I hit it out of the park every day that I get up.”
The only way you can be the best at something is to be the best you can be.
Have an AWE-full weekend!
William J. “Bill” Bacque