As I think about this year for every client, partner, and friend in the eQ community, I can't help but think about how this relates to the perilous times for our country as a whole.
Ideologies aside, both political parties seem to presently lack the key ingredients necessary to empower, inspire, and rejuvenate America. Personally, I am disappointed and borderline enraged at the lack of sensitivity and acuity by all federally elected politicians who are not fully immersed in their jobs as public servants - that goes for both those on elaborate vacations and those who are showing up at the office but performing at the bare minimum of their requirements.
In my opinion, there is a huge learning opportunity here for those of us in the private sector: we are in this together but need to go at this alone.
What I mean by this is that the private sector needs to provide vision, leadership, and urgency in our world right now. Hopefully our mindset of "always finding a way" will spill over and contagiously take over the minds of those members of our working population who truly need it now to successfully do their jobs.
At the same time, there are a ton of people struggling and challenged in a worse way. Beyond helping them programmatically and financially, we can lead them by example and live out the core values of our companies. For example, we at entreQuest would focus on four objectives definied by our core values: keep our word, demonstrate a relentless passion for what we do, deliver remarkable experiences, and grow regardless.
Past our baseline philosophy, I also believe there are three practical things we private sector leaders should also take into consideration to help our teams and our clients and our communities through the coming months.
- HUSTLE
- HEART
- HUMILITY
Let me elaborate.
Hustle is simple. It's not more time, it's more focused time. It's constantly looking for the edge of improvement. If you want motivation, check out an article published this week about Ray Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens. He embodies hustle better than anyone: http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/ravens/bs-sp-ravens-lewis-0821-20110820,0,5714184.story.
Heart is harder to think about. To me, this subject can be defined in many ways but it’s primarily the passion and persistence you live your life with. Because it's football season, I have another example from that field. In the movie “Rudy,” the title character was undersized and outmatched but still, he always found a way: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ7ZpLgkVxA.
Finally, there is humility. We leaders must try our best to never believe that we have arrived, to never believe that we are good enough, and to never believe that there is not more to be learned. Our humility is such a key ingredient to our leadership. My favorite example of humility is this Steve Jobs speech which he delivered at a graduation: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/steve_jobs_how_to_live_before_you_die.htm.
For America’s financial fate, again I must reiterate that we are all in this together but we need to go at this alone. Luckily those of us leaders in the private sector have proven to be resourceful up to this point. So let us now find our core values, the hustle, the heart, and the humility to best serve our country.
Joe Mechlinski is the President of entreQuest and has partnered with countless leaders to effectively improve their team’s performance, their clients’ experience, and their company’s profits.
