Randal: Dutch, you described one of the keys to success in business today is having a two track mind. I know you’re not supposed to have a one track mind. I’m not sure why a two track mind is much better. Explain to me what you mean by a two track mind.

Dutch: Well, first of all, a one track mind really means someone is just focused on something and they’re focused, dedicated and they’re going to get it done, so it–

Randal: Well, basically they have a one track mind means you can’t think of anything else. You think of one track.

Dutch: Yeah, that’s one track and for making a living at work, it might be a good idea to have a two track mind, and what I mean by that is that track one is the mindset that says, "I am my own small business and I’m out here as a one person economic unit." Even Uncle Sam knows that, because on April 15th, I have to sign my own tax 1040 from and pay my taxes.

Randal: It’s like your personal P&L.

Dutch: Yeah, like a personal P&L. The first track is to really begin to see you as a small business that has to do all the other things that a business does. I asked some MBAs in a course once. I said, "Why are you getting an MBA?" And there were all sorts of answers, but the general content of the answers was so I can go to work for a big company, because there they in the market company sell and worry about finance, and all of that.

And so my position was well that’s all true, but don’t the principles of an MBA work for you as a one person small business? I mean, don’t you have to market and come up with a product or service and deliver it on time so, you can get paid for it? So, that’s really what I’m after with this whole idea of track one is to get people to understand that they and only they can be responsible for their own economic welfare, and if they think about themselves as a small business that sells their services to somewhere else is a good way to do that.

Randal: Sure. So, track one is essentially looking out for number one, looking out for yourself, as an economic unit and making its way in the world.

Dutch: Yea, two pieces. Looking out for yourself as an economic unit as opposed to looking out for yourself in terms of somebody who’s taking care of you. The economic entity has to be part of that.

Okay. So, how do you get the work to take care of yourself? And the answer is most of us provide services to some employing organization and for that service we wanted to receiving a salary or pay incentives. That’s what goes into our 1040 revenue block as our income for the year. So, that’s the income to our small business. The way you maximize what your employer is going to give you, however, is dependent on how good a job you do for that employer and how important the work is that you do for that employer. So, being aware of what the employer needs, and how important those need are is critical for you if you’re going to maximize track two, which allows you to maximize track one.

Randal: So, track two is essentially looking out for the best interests of your employer.

Dutch: That’s right.

Randal: Creating value for the employer.

Dutch: Creating value for the employer by clicking into what the employer is trying to get done. I think about every business has a sort of a formula that they’re trying to make money with. For example, McDonalds has a formula. We all know what that is and it is fast food, burger oriented, no custom orders. That’s their formula for success.

So, if you’re going to work at McDonalds and maximize your track two results then you probably want to sell those hamburgers, rather than being an upstart and saying, "Well, we’re going, I don’t like to serve them up wrapped so, I’m going to unwrap them before I give them to my customers." Well, that doesn’t exactly fit the formula, and every company has such a formula. Okay. McDonalds is easy to see. Some of the other companies, it’s not that easy to see, but if you look for it, you can tell, what it is and once you tell what it is, then you say, "Aha, my job is to make that formula work as best I can. That’s the best way I’m going to wind up to taking care of me."

Randal: So, you’ve got a couple of pieces. Number one: Understanding the company’s formula. Two: Making that formula work and create more value and I guess number three: Getting credit for that. Have the beginning position as being seen as a person who does that.

Dutch: Yes, I mean if you’re going to help your employing company, it’s probably pretty wise to make sure that they know you’re helping. That doesn’t mean you have to hang out a sign, but your contribution should be–

Randal: Visible and noted, right?

Dutch: That’s right. So, maybe the best example of one track and two track is if we consider a professional actor, where track one is that actor managing his or her career over a lifetime and saving in their 401K and whatever. They’re going to track one, and only they can keep themselves on track one, but they get income on track one, by being in track two, which means some producer's play. They’re going to produce some part in that play and when they’re out on the stage, what’s first in their mind is not track one. It’s track two. And the formula for success for track two is the play that you’re doing at that particular time.

Randal: Making that particular production successful.

Dutch: Making that and making and the closer you can get to an academy award winning performance, the better track two is, the more you’re likely to get more acting roles, which extends your career.

Randal: So, you see, just extending that analogy a little bit. A lot of times you’ll see actors on talk-shows that are promoting a particular production, and they may be doing a completely different production at that time. You know, that they acted that was recorded that has now been made into a movie. They’re onto their next production, but yet they’re out hawking work that they’ve already done, work that’s already on film, and some are clearly uncomfortable and some people actually refuse to do that.

What you’re saying is that’s part of their job. Your job is not to be a pretty face that’s on that film. Your job is to help make that product, do everything you can to make that production successful. If you’re part of successful productions, then your star will rise. Track two. Track one.

Dutch: That’s right, and you can’t get anywhere on track one, if you’re not receiving something from track two. That’s just a fact of the world. So, the problem comes when you get those tracks all confused, and I’ve heard employees say with a track one mindset, "I could clearly be doing better in life if you, the manager of the company, would change the way the company is run." And you kind of go, "Well, I’m not sure those fit together well." There’s an excuse of "I’m not doing good for me, because of the track two companies not being run well."

Well, what do you do? You separate from the company. If it’s not maximizing your track one then arrange to go somewhere else, but by the way, leave that track two situation with you looking like a star. You don’t want to leave looking like a dud that way, you don’t get the next company job. So, you frequently see them mixed up. But does this make sense to you?

Randal: Yeah, absolutely. As a matter of fact, it really clarifies a lot of things and I’m seeing people make mistakes on both sides.

I’ve seen people, the most common mistake I see people making with their careers is they don’t understand that there’s a track two. They have this "give me, give me" mentality. They’re out for number one and they have a one track mind. They’re only looking out for themselves, and they don’t really understand that they’re job is to create value for the organization, and you can see that’s what’s holding them back. They talk that way and people hear them talking that way and their stars don’t rise, because clearly they don’t understand that they’re there to create value for the organization, and it’s from that value that they will extract their own value. They just don’t get that and I’ve seen a lot of people caught up with that.

Dutch: And those folks are labeled as takers, not givers, as "not being with it", not being committed, not being a part of the team, they stand out.

Randal: They just don’t understand the fundamental nature of capitalism. You make money, we make money. That’s just kind of the way that works.

Dutch: You make money if, and only if, the company you work for is making money.

Randal: That’s exactly right, and then sometimes, I also see probably fewer people, but I would put myself in this category to some extent, is they have too much of track two mind and not enough of a track one mind.

In this world, you do have to think of yourself as an economic unit, and you have to make business decisions for the betterment of your economic unit. And some people just sacrifice themselves on track two, and don’t spend enough time thinking of themselves as an economic unit and making their way in the world, and they make good decisions and they work very hard for track two, but they lose sense of themselves as being in their own economic unit.

Dutch: Well, I can give you a good example of that. I had a middle-aged gentleman call me. We've known each other through a network and he called to tell me how disappointed he was that his job at this major corporation was going away, and what a terrible job that corporation had done at not preparing him for his next job. And I said, "Well, that wouldn’t really be their job to do that." I mean, you could see that that job was going away, as well as the rest of the folks, and what did you do to focus on a set of skills that might be useful next year, and so forth? So, I think that’s the other way of mixing it up.

Randal: Yeah. Well, in the episodes to come, we will cover both. We will speak a lot about how managers and employees can create value for track two and thereby, increase the pool of value from which they can construct their own value. A lot of what we’ve talked about is that.

And we’ll also cover a fair amount about track one. How to make your way in the world, understand the way your position is changing, understand your role in the organization and how to position yourself better within the organization, better position yourself for the next organization to come. All that is within our mission of trying to build a better future for yourself and your organization and the people depend on you by changing your business.