A Lesson From Playing Golf On Sand Greens: Failure Refines You, It Doesn't Define You

Sometimes you have to play on the roughest terrain out there–and you have to keep pushing through it even when you fail. That’s something Steve Hockett knows very well. Long before he took on the role of CEO of Great Clips, Hockett learned about overcoming failure by playing some of the most unforgiving golf courses imaginable.

Growing up in a small town in South Dakota in the 1970s, Hockett didn't have access to the lush courses in the Sunbelt set up for powerful drives over long fairways. Instead, he played on sand greens that require less water to maintain. They also require you to rake a path to the hole, so your putt has a clear shot at it.

"Sure, I played small-town golf on nine-hole tracks, but I loved it," Hockett said in a recent interview. "I did everything around golf. I worked in the golf shop. I mowed the greens. I watered fairways, I mowed fairways. I picked the range. I set cups."

Hockett 's passion for the sport led him to select golf over football when he had to choose a fall sport in high school. "I may not be the best, but I can do this," Hockett told himself after that round. "I can excel, I can play golf, I can be competitive, and I can enjoy it.”

His most impactful lesson was this: failure doesn't define you; it refines you.

In 1988, Hockett put that to the test when he launched a Great Clips franchise, but the salon struggled. By the end of 1990, he had to close the doors.

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Two months later, Hockett thought back on his experience running the franchise and how he wanted to stay in the business, mainly because he had enjoyed the people he had worked with so much.

"You can't just sit and sulk forever over losing your dream," Hockett explained. "That was part of the refinement, and that was just the kick that I needed. I decided then and there that I wanted to work for Great Clips, and I wanted to be a part of the future of Great Clips in a different way."

Over the next three years, Hockett constantly “pestered” Great Clips even though they did not have a position for him. "I was tenacious and did not give up," Hockett recalled. "My friends thought I was a nut. Why do you want to work for the place you failed? They asked. But I believed in myself, and in December 1993, I got the call of a lifetime."

Great Clips hired Hockett to work in the marketing department, and he has been with them ever since, rising to become the CEO in 2008. Since then, Great Clips has seen astonishing growth. When he opened a franchise in 1988, Hockett’s store was #150. Now, there are more than 4,400 Great Clips salons in 190 markets in the U.S. and Canada. Hockett continues to take what he learned as he works with franchise owners across North America and around the globe, including serving on the board of directors of the International Franchise Association, including:

• Working with franchises. Hockett explained that working with franchises requires a healthy sense of competition. The franchisors have a great relationship with the franchisees, but it should never be perfect," he shared. "They should be pushing each other to be better," he said.
• The 3 Ps. Hockett stressed the "3Ps": patience, performance, and presence. "You have to be patient," he said. "You can be good and think you should do more, but you have to let it happen. Don't get ahead of yourself; keep doing more. There's also performance. You have to deliver, not just on numbers or profit, but on process, relationships, optimism, and solving problems. And there's presence. How do you enter a room? Do you keep eye contact and say thank you?'
• Keep compromising. Hockett said life is all about compromise, especially when it comes to adjusting plans to ensure a win-win for everyone at the table. "Sometimes compromise is very good," he shared. "You can't always be stuck in your plan as the only avenue, otherwise you don't get ahead. Sometimes, it's fine to say we agree to disagree, and nothing will change, and you have to be comfortable with that."

Of course, none of his success would have been possible had Steve not learned from his mistakes, whether running a franchise or being too aggressive on the tees when he played sand greens back home in South Dakota. Hockett always knew to refine his leadership and his next shot.

"You can have that failure and then quickly swap it with success," Hockett said.

Hockett isn’t the only person who found that golf offers many valuable leadership lessons. Krista Campbell at Insight Experience has found several leadership lessons from her time on the tees and the fairways, including how to make minor adjustments and the importance of mentors. Suzi McAlpine at The Leaders’s Digest also discovered leadership lessons from golf, such as the importance of mindfulness and how to deal with challenges in the boardroom and when you hit the ball in the rough. While it’s usually an individual sport, golf offers a lot of lessons on how to lead teams, something to think about the next time you play a round.