A Leader Speaks Up

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The morning after the Fourth of July, one of our former Zummo teammates, Kemi, now attending Milton Hershey School, checked in with a simple text.

“Hope you had a great Fourth of July and enjoyed the fireworks.”

The response wasn’t about fireworks.

It was about one of the best mornings we’ve had all summer.

Three days before the holiday, Ed—one of our young leaders—mentioned something that could have easily been overlooked.

“Steve, we’ve had a handful of customers asking if we’ll be open on the Fourth.”

It wasn’t just what he said. It was how he said it.

What he was really saying was, We should be there for our customers.

That was all it took.

The decision was made to open from 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m.

When the doors opened, the shop came alive.

Elijah, Ed, John, Gil, Paolo, Matteo, Sarah, young Ben, Ben’s dad Kenny, Paul Seefeldt—our mentor of more than a decade—Baker (getting ready for his role as “Hank”), and a steady stream of customers filled the building with energy.

Families picked up bicycles.

New customers brought in repairs.

Several bikes found new homes.

But what everyone who was there will remember most wasn’t the sales.

It was the camaraderie.

The shop was full of conversation, teamwork, problem-solving, and people enjoying one another’s company while helping customers.

The biggest lesson from the day had nothing to do with bicycles.

It was about leadership.

A young leader noticed something others might have missed. He spoke up. The team listened. Because of one observation, ZummoBike was there when customers needed us.
That’s what leadership looks like.

Going forward, the Fourth of July will be another regular day on the ZummoBike calendar. Maybe even Christmas morning someday.

Not because we expect huge crowds.

But because we want our community to know that when they need us, we’ll do our best to be there.

Sometimes the biggest victories begin with one person paying attention and having the confidence to say, “I think we should be open.”