Welcome to a very special wisdom mini-series. This four-part project originates from an archive of rare 2004 recordings of wisdom conversations with my mentor, John Wells Jr. In the truest sense this batch of wisdom has been two decades in the making. Sadly, John passed away in early February 2005, after battling cancer. Those conversations and recordings served as a pre-cursor, perhaps even a prequel to this podcast which launched 15 years later in 2019.
Unlocking Leadership: John Wells Jr. on Adaptability, Humility and the Courage to Change
Part Four features what was, perhaps, John’s favorite story to tell, his favorite wisdom lesson. It showcases John’s humility and his lifelong commitment to learning. John Wells Jr never stopped striving to better himself, to improve. That passion fueled his physical fitness, as you heard in Part One, as well as his business acumen, as you’ll hear in this episode. I think this lesson was his favorite because something he was initially opposed to doing, surprised him with such a positive outcome and impact. You see, to John, learning something was more important and more valuable than simply being right about something.
As you listen today, you will get a feel for the Well Home Furnishings flagship store, as well as their innovative approach to business and leadership.
The wisdom lesson you get in this episode is straightforward and immediately applicable. It provides a powerful illustration of the values of humility and adaptability in business success. It also delivers a strong reminder of the need to be open to—and ready for—change. Let’s face it, that’s not always easy.
More About Our Wise Guest – John Wells, Jr.
John was one of the most effective and influential mentors in my lifetime. He taught, led and influenced me, opening my eyes and expanding my thinking on those things that truly matter. I was deeply blessed to know him.
John was a dedicated retail veteran and community leader who co-founded Wells Home Furnishings. Known for his entrepreneurial spirit, he led his business to award-winning success. Beyond his career, Wells was deeply involved in civic and youth service organizations in Charleston, including the Boys Scouts, YMCA and United Way, among others, reflecting his commitment to community betterment.
In 2000, John was honored with the prestigious Ernst Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Though he never sought the spotlight, one day the President of the United States, George W. Bush, stood in Charleston and honored John Wells for his service. His legacy is marked by his dedication to his family, his profession and his community, leaving a lasting impact on everyone who knew him.
Resources
YMCA Spirit of the Valley Tribute Video to John Wells, Jr. (2005)
Wells Home Furnishings website
Conversations with My Mentor John – Part Three | Part Two of this mini-series | Part One of this mini-series
Credits
Special thanks to Motion Masters, Inc. – Diana Sole Walko, CEO/President – for generously supporting and capturing video and audio from these 2004 sessions.
Editor + Technical Advisor Bob Hotchkiss
Brand + Strategy Advisor Andy Malinoski
PR + Partnerships Advisor Rachel Bell
Marketing, Social Media and Graphic Design Chloe Lineberg
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Episode Keywords
Wisdom, Leadership, Adaptability, Humility, Business, Success, Change, Customers, Impact, Brand, Courage, Listening, Trust, Generation, Delivery, Warehouse, Furniture, Retail, Podcast
Episode Transcript
00:00 – Announcer
Wisdom. It’s an incredibly valuable asset, some would say more precious than gold. It’s attractive, appealing, admirable. Conversely, a lack of wisdom is the basis of immaturity, blind spots and bad decisions. Wisdom, it can be gained over time, but it can’t be rushed. But wisdom can be shared. That’s precisely what we are here to do right now, today. We are here to hack wisdom, to distill it, to understand it and to process it. Why? To get better at life.
Welcome to the Main Thing. This is your new wisdom podcast. I’m your host, Skip Lineberg, and I’ve set out to interview the wisest people. I know we’ll see what we can learn from each one when they’re faced with an incredibly difficult, soul-piercing question.
0:00:59 – Skip Lineberg
From parkwood studios in Charleston, West Virginia, this is the Main Thing Podcast, where we feature wisdom conversations with the world’s wisest people. I’m your host, Skip Lineberg, and I want to thank you for joining me for part four in our special series “Wisdom Conversations with my Mentor, John.”
0:01:20 – Skip
A note to our listeners: the audio of John’s voice was ripped from a set of videotapes recorded in the fall of 2004. Those tapes sat in a box in my garage for over 10 years. As a result, the audio is weak. Partly because John’s voice had been weakened by cancer and chemo treatments, but also because of the effect of aging, weather and temperature exposure from my unheated garage where those tapes sat for a decade. You’ll want to turn up the volume when you hear John’s voice. I promise you the exceptional quality of John’s wisdom message will outweigh the somewhat low and poor quality of the audio.
0:02:12 – Skip (Stepping into the Store)
When I first visited Wells Home Furnishings, I thought I was walking into the future of retail. The front of the store was alive with energy. A special entry vestibule bathed in luxurious lighting and a high-end sound system playing music that lifted your mood from the moment you stepped inside.
The showroom wasn’t a grid, it was an adventure trail. Each turn revealing a new room vignette. Each space telling a different story. Sales associates were polished and professional in their branded blue Oxford shirts, button-down collars. And tucked into one corner was a vintage soda fountain where shoppers could grab a cookie, a pretzel and an ice-cold bottle of Coca-Cola.
0:03:00 – Skip
This day was my first visit to Wells Home Furnishings. They were my newest client, and I could see the precision and care behind every detail.
Before I could finish that delicious ice-cold bottle of Coke, John turned to me and said, “Skip, this stuff is all fine. The showroom is important, and you can see the care that we’ve put into it. But now I’m going to show you where the true impact of the Wells brand originates.”
0:03:28 – Skip
We stepped into the warehouse. Rows of crates and pallets, bundled furniture, awaiting delivery. In the front right corner, a loading dock with concrete ramps tilted toward daylight. John laid a delivery blanket on one ramp and motioned for me to sit. “Let’s sit right here,” John said. “I’ve got a story to tell you, Skip.”
0:03:51- Skip
That’s where this wisdom lesson began. And what he shared wasn’t about furniture or marketing. It was about adaptability … and the humility it takes for even a celebrated leader like himself to change course. You see, John Wells Jr was already at the top of his field. He had been honored by President George W Bush. He had been named an Ernst Young Entrepreneur of the Year. Yet in this story, John shows us that real leadership requires the courage to listen, to adapt, and to trust the vision of a new generation.
Because sometimes the true measure of success isn’t what you build out front, it’s what you learn behind those double doors where courage, humility and transformation take root. So lean in, as John Wells Jr shares his story, The Courage to Change.
0:04:55 – John Wells Jr.
My point is this: you have to think like your customers think. We open the store and six weeks into the thing and the furniture starts to come in. So we start delivering the furniture. How did my son and I … how did we become so successful? And how were we able to start a business at 56 years old in my case—in his case, he was 20 years younger at 36?
0:05:25 – John Wells Jr.
And he came in there one day and we all had an office in one room. He says, “Well, I’ll tell you what we’re going to do. Starting January 1st, we’re going to start calling these customers on the phone. And we’re going to ask the customers if they get a good delivery.”
And I said, “Well, not with me around, you’re not.”
He said, “Why not?”
I said, “Well, because I’ve been in business for 30-some years, and I have lots of experience. And I’m telling you, you’re opening a can of worms. People find things wrong with stuff, you know, after you deliver them, and maybe there’s really nothing wrong with it. They just think there is.
0:06:05 – Skip Lineberg
We’re inviting criticism.
0:06:08 – John Wells Jr.
He said, “Well, look, don’t you think we want to find that out now, instead of later?”
And I said, “I suppose so, but I just don’t think we should do it.”
He says, “Well, I’m sorry you feel that way, but we’re going to do it anyway.”
06:22 – John Wells Jr.
So January the 2nd came along. He came in at seven o’clock that night. We were open until eight.
He said, “Well, we’re going to call 12 customers today. We had 12 deliveries.”
And I said, “Well, I’ll see you later.” And I got up and went back on the loading dock back here and sat down for about 20 minutes.
Then I came back up, and I said, “Well, how did the calls go?”
He said, “Well, every one were good. We didn’t have one complaint.”
I said, “You were just lucky. I’m telling you right now – you were lucky, lucky, lucky. It’s not going to happen that way tomorrow.”
And he said, “Well, we’ll see.”
0:07:01 – John Wells Jr.
So tomorrow came, and he came in the next night. And I did the same thing, and the same thing happened. He had 11 deliveries, no complaints.
I said, “Did they say anything about how the furniture looked or anything?”
He said, “No.”
“Did they say anything about the price of the furniture … or the value of it … or anything?”
“No, they just talked about the service.”
“Oh, okay.”
0:07:23 – John Wells Jr.
Well, that goes on for about three weeks. He came in there, and he said, “Well, I’m gonna make the calls.”
And I said, “Well, go ahead and make them. I’m not gonna go out to the dock, but I am going to put my hands over my ears.”
0:07:40 – John Wells Jr.
Johnny came in there one night—this was like four weeks later. He said, “Listen, I’ve got a problem.”
He said, “I got to go out of town, and I’m five days behind. And there’s 64 calls that have to be made.”
He says, “You’ve got to make these calls. Dad, you’ve got to do it. We’ve got to keep up this program.”
I said, “Well, okay.”
And so he said, “Here’s a list 64 people.”
He really challenged me.
0:08:10 – John Wells Jr.
I sat down and started making these calls. And the calls went something like this:
“Hey, Mr. Lineberg, this is John Wells over at Wells Home Furnishings. I just wondered if our people got there on time today and were courteous in the delivery of our furniture.”
That was my question. Well, out of the 64 calls … several of them were tape recordings where the people weren’t there. I think maybe 25, something like that. So it left 35 calls.
0:08:43 – John Wells Jr.
After I made those 35 calls, I came into our company, and I called a meeting. I said, “I want everybody together here, I want to give you a little message about something.”
So they all got together, and I told them the story about going home and making those calls. And I didn’t get one single complaint out of 64 calls. And I felt 10 feet tall. I was so energized by their energy. You see what I’m saying?
00:09:12 – Skip Lineberg
I do.
0:09:13 – John Wells Jr.
In other words, I heard from the back place in the business to the front place of the business—leadership. We began to notice more and more because of that dialogue with that customer. See, most people don’t ever have an opportunity to ever hear from the customer.
0:09:32 – John Wells Jr.
I love to call people and say—and leave a recording and say, “This is John Wells. I’m calling to make sure that we got there on time and took good care of you. And I’m sorry I missed you. And and if we didn’t give you the service that you deserve, I want you to call me personally tomorrow at 343-3600 or at my residence.” And I give the residence number.
But when you can say that with energy and confidence, what you’re doing is you’re giving confidence to the people that are representing you. They know when they get up and go out on that truck, that John Wells, or his son or partner, is going to touch that customer before that day is over.
0:10:22 – John Wells Jr.
So my point in this whole little episode is to say this: that today I think a small business has an opportunity to compete with a large business. It’s just that small business has to do some things better than large business, because large business overwhelms us with all their investment and all their buildings and all these different things.
Where small business has a greater opportunity by having the family touch with the customer. And for them not to take advantage of that connection and that dialogue with the customer, it’s just like throwing it in the garbage can. If they say, “Oh no, I don’t want to do that,” they’re giving up the best opportunities that there is out there.
0:11:25 – Reflections from Your Host
Wow! Every time I hear John tell that story, I’m reminded that adaptability isn’t weakness, it’s wisdom in motion. It’s having the courage to listen to your customers, your team, your family, and your inner voice.
John showed us that true leaders never graduate from learning. Even after decades of success and national recognition, John chose to grow again by trusting the vision of his son and business partner, Johnny, and stepping into a new way of serving people.
Maybe that’s your invitation today: to listen again, to call again, to change again. Because when you have the courage to change, you might just rediscover the very thing that made you successful in the first place.
0:12:19 – Skip
Thanks for joining me for Part Four of our mini-series, “Wisdom Conversations with My Mentor John.” If this episode spoke to you in some way, if it resonated with you, I encourage you, then, to share it with a friend or colleague who’s navigating change in their own life or work.
And don’t forget, you can find every episode of the Main Thing Podcast at our website, themainthingpodcast dot com.
Until next time, I’m Skip Lineberg, reminding you to keep asking, keep listening and keep seeking wisdom.
0:13:00 – Announcer
That goes by incredibly fast, doesn’t it? Time flies when you’re hacking wisdom. Thank you for listening to this wisdom conversation. If you enjoyed this podcast and found the wisdom lesson valuable, then I encourage you to share it with a loved one or friend.
Did you know—podcast recommendations from one person to another remain the strongest form of podcast growth worldwide? It’s true. And we’d appreciate you helping spread the good word.
13:27 – Announcer
Let’s give a big, hearty thank you to the crew of the Main Thing Podcast. These are the folks who truly keep the wisdom pipeline flowing:
Audio Engineer – Bob Hotchkiss
Strategy Advisor – Andy Malinoski
Public Relations & Partnerships Guru – Rachel Bell
Social Media & Digital Marketing Expert – Chloe Lineberg
Graphic Designer – Emma Malinoski
And, of course, our patrons—those generous folks, who provide monthly funding support to help underwrite our costs of production. I couldn’t do it without you, nor would I want to.
Your feedback matters a lot. If you have a question, a suggestion, maybe an idea or even a nomination of a future show guest, I’d love to hear from you. Email me at info at themainthingpodcast dot com.
Well, that’s a wrap for this show. I’m your host, Skip Lineberg, signing off for now, and inviting you to join us again next time for another special delivery of wisdom.
Transcribed by https://podium.page
