Dr. John Hutchinson

Why one man made it his mission to only teach at 8AM

In 1972 to get my first degree I had to take a class from a professor named John Hutchinson, who was the department head at San Francisco State. He only taught at the dreaded time of 8AM on Tuesday and Thursday. As the department head Dr. Hutchinson could call his shots, after all his brother (who the National League Manager of the year award is named after “The Hutch award”), he held court as Major League managers came to pay their respects to him about his brother Ken Hutchinson and he was the department head.

He had survived the San Francisco State riots and was a star pitcher in the Pacific Coast League in the 50’s, when major league baseball had not made it west of the Mississippi. So what was so special about Dr. Hutchinson – he cared, he wanted you to be successful, and he was brutal in his honesty. Maybe it was the time, maybe it was he survived WWII, maybe he was that rare person who wanted to see peoples successes (our class was 55% women).

Here are a few of the things – John taught us:

Don’t snooper vise, let them know you are coming, if they are good and you have trained them well they will be ready. If not, even two days’ notice won’t be enough for them to pull it together.

Hard work and focus on making your business/department great = long term employment.

Let your managers and staff knows where they stand – you can’t go wrong by telling the truth.

Train your new hires and let them help you be better and have their day in the sun as they are the future of your business.

Take pride in the fact that anyone you train and build a relationship with will be your calling card in the world we live in.

What made 8AM worth while for that one semester in 1972 was John Hutchinson, everything he had to say in 1972 still has value in 2017

Be that difference maker in your world.

All the best,

Lou