The Triathlon's Journey to the Olympics

Lonnie Lazear serves as district manager for the Glory Days Grill group in Fairfax, Virginia. Beyond his work in areas such as personnel management and food quality control, Lonnie Lazear enjoys staying active by competing in triathlons.

The history of the modern triathlon is typically traced back to Mission Bay, San Diego, in 1974, during which time Olympic runners often used the unique combination of events while training for marathons and other long-distance running events. John Collins, a competitor at the first-ever Mission Bay Triathlon, left California soon after and established the Ironman version of the event in Hawaii.

By 1982, the Ironman in Hawaii had to introduce qualifying standards due to its popularity. As the decade ended, the sport successfully formed its first international governing body. The top priority for the International Triathlon Union was to discuss the sport’s inclusion in the Olympic program with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which accepted the sport in 1995. Standard elements set for the triathlon at the Games were a 1.5-kilometer swim, a 40-kilometer bike ride, and a 10-kilometer run. The triathlon made its debut as a medal sport at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia.

 

A Brief Look at the Most Popular Scout Merit Badges of 2019

Lonnie Lazear joined Fairfax, Virginia’s Glory Days Grill as a manager in 2003 and continues to lead the restaurant, along with several additional locations, as a multi-unit district manager. Lonnie Lazear further engages with the greater Fairfax community through his work with organizations such as the Boy Scouts of America.

In 2019, the single most popular merit badge for members of the Boy Scouts of America was the First Aid badge, which was earned by 62,352 Scouts throughout the nation. First Aid was followed in popularity by badges for Swimming, Camping, and Citizenship of the World, each of which was earned by at least 50,000 Scouts. Personal Fitness rounded out the top five with 49,802 Scouts.

Camping enjoyed a particularly strong year in 2019. After establishing itself as a Top 8 badge between 2014 and 2018, the Camping badge increased by 5 percent to its No. 3 position. That said, the American Business badge enjoyed a leading growth rate of 166 percent, while interest in Backpacking nearly doubled, growing by 78 percent.

It should be noted that all of the top 10 most popular merit badges are on the "required" list to achieve the Eagle Scout rank. When this group of badges is removed, the most popular badges are for Fingerprinting and Rifle Shooting, with 36,510 and 34,049 new Scouts, respectively, followed by badges for Archery and Leatherwork. More information about merit badges is available on the Boy Scouts of America website. 

The Importance of Implementing Good Company Culture in Restaurants

Lonnie Lazear leverages his formal education in tourism and hospitality at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore to lead Glory Days Grill as a multi-unit restaurant manager. In this capacity, Lonnie Lazear oversees all operations at the restaurant franchises, including food quality control and contract and personnel management. As with other businesses, restaurants rely heavily on company culture to succeed, and this culture is shifting toward a focus on customer-first environments.

Broadly, company culture refers to the behaviors of a particular entity and the meaning tied to said behaviors. A company’s vision, value, language, organizational strategy, and many other things affect these behaviors. In restaurants, they dictate the daily life of a business and its employees. Good culture helps employees feel comfortable and enjoy their time at work with their coworkers. This, in turn, affects customers since they respond to employees’ behaviors.

Since customers are so affected by company culture, it’s often wise to implement a customer-first culture. Employees of all levels in an organization are responsible for maintaining this type of culture, from the CEO to the janitorial staff. It involves knowing the customers and understanding their needs, training staff to respond to these needs and always put the customer first, and rethinking the layout of the restaurant to improve the customer experience.