In 1987, I entered a small military college in South Carolina called The Citadel. 

The school is based on a tradition called the fourth-class system which is designed to mold a leader through hardship and training.

One of the first things we learned in the fourth-class system was the fact that excuses would not be tolerated.  The cadet cadre in charge of our training felt like they had removed all-natural impediments to success at the school and, therefore; we should be able to find a way.  

It was the unnatural impediments that the cadre created that made things difficult, but still we should be able to find a way.

The only thing we were allowed to say in response to failure was “sir no excuse sir.”  

One day my company sergeant called me into his room for a little “friendly” counseling.  He said, “Heinz you got any problems yet.”  I wanted to say that I had only been there for a few weeks and everything seemed to be a problem.  I didn’t.  I resisted the urge because I had the belief that they wanted everything to be a problem, at first, and it would be hard to choose.  

After a good bit of pressure from the sergeant, I told him that time management seemed to be a problem.  Yeah, that sounded good.  After a few suggestions he sent me on my way.  Great, I survived that one.  I was happy.

A few days later, I stopped by the cadet canteen (a small snack bar) on my way to the barracks from class.  I ordered a chicken biscuit and stood at the counter around the wall to eat it.  My company sergeant came in with some of his friends.  I could tell by the look on his face I had done something wrong.  I thought about it on the way back to my room.  What could I have done?  When he returned to the barracks to prepare for drill practice I found out.  

When we fell into formation for drill practice the sergeant started yelling at me and making me do push-ups.  “Heinz was that a chicken biscuit I saw you eating at the canteen?”  “Don’t have time.”  “Time management is a problem, but you have time to be eating a chicken biscuit!”

That ended my love affair with chicken biscuits.

In his book, Up the Organization, Robert Townsend says, “. . . one of the most important tasks of a leader is to eliminate his people’s excuses for failure.”  My company sergeant eliminated chicken biscuits.

Some leaders say to their people, “I don’t want to hear any excuses.”  This is not the way to improve morale or productivity.  

Leaders should remove excuses for their people before they encounter them through the best education, training, resources, and support available.

I learned more from my company sergeant that day about eliminating excuses than from any book, training program, or leader I have encountered. 

He taught me to prioritize and eliminate excuses. 

He taught me to never be too “busy” to help my people.