The New Year is a good time for reflection, hopefully you’ve had some time off, and your batteries are recharged?
Just because
Ask yourself this, how many times a week do you do something you genuinely love doing, just for the sake of it? Take lunch. When was the last time you shared a workweek lunch, with someone you weren’t doing business with? You just met for a chat and some food. Just because. Tough, right? Business or no business. As far as you can, staying true to yourself, is sometimes harder than you think. But really, the work ‘you’ and the personal ‘you’ should not be that far apart. The key is to find a job, or a company, where they don’t need to be. They do exist.
The click
A few years back I met an Exec Director by chance, who was on a Board I recruited heavily for. He asked me how I grew my business. I told him my philosophy is to only work with people I like, and who like me. Not averagely, but only when there is a ‘click.’ On a personal, interpersonal, whatever, level. You might think this is easy but it takes guts. You have to have more relationships, it’s more work, and when you find the right people to work with, don’t screw it up. He looked shocked. I thought he was going to disagree, and was going to tell me I wasn’t being commercial enough, but then he asked my age. And then told me it took him 50 years to learn the same thing. He said he had never heard anything so wise from anyone so young.
Letting go is good
What would you do if I told you that every single time I have walked away from business I didn’t like, something more meaningful, and valuable, has sprung up in its place. The losses aren’t losses anymore. They are actually gains. And you have to make room for them, or they don’t come. Letting go is good for you.
Ignoring the truth
We all know the truth, because we all seek to get along with our client. But we also ignore it at times, for the sake of gain, but you see, it’s not actually gain. We put off what we know is true. Although those relationships won’t last, they never do. Those decisions are based in fear, not strength. When I started, I had a list of clients I wanted to work with, like everybody does. Now, I know the companies whose culture I like, and in time I’ll work with them. But I’m not in a rush. When the time is right. Not because I can’t contact them, but because right now I can’t service them. We are busy. Very. Summer, what summer? Christmas? We could have kept working. Manically. That is practically unheard of in our industry.
New Year’s Message
This January the 2nd, I would like to tell you the most powerful thing you will ever own is already inside you. Human connection. The magic of a click, it isn’t easy to replicate, and when it comes, it isn’t right to ignore. It’s more powerful than the best pitch any salesman could create, and more enduring than any business you can ever try to generate. Its force sees you through tough times, and ensures they are few, because you’re committed. That’s a relationship. And that’s where most businesses fail. Because only real relationships work.
Of course this is not just business, this is what life is about.
Make 2015 the year you bring right into your life.
The right people, the right relationships, people with integrity, and forget the rest. In 2015, experience what right feels like.
Good luck for this next year. Thank you for following my blog this past year, that last one made it into the press.
