What is one of the most important things for leaders to continually nurture? It might not be the budgets, shareholder presentations, or even stakeholder relationships that your mind immediately goes to.
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The answer might surprise you. It isn’t swift and thoughtless action to try to change your external circumstances, and it isn’t throwing things at the wall to see what sticks - in fact it's much simpler and much quieter than that. The secret weapon for success starts with you.
These are challenging times for all of us and like you, I’ve had lots on my mind. I hope by sharing some of those thoughts with you today, I can be a source of encouragement and hope as you face the unique impact of the COVID-19 crisis on your life, family, and business.
I have always been drawn to startups, even as a young child. In fact, I'm involved in three for-profit startups currently, and almost every nonprofit I am a part of, I joined in their startup phase whether that’s Eagle Ranch, Davar Partners International, Northpoint Church, or ReThink and Orange Conference. But the question is, why am I drawn to them? We’ll get back to that.
A friend of mine, Scott Beck, is a serial entrepreneur behind the rise of Boston Market, Einstein Brothers Bagels, and more. He said something to me on a number of occasions that really didn't make sense until I started thinking of it in light of what we're talking about here.
Truett Cathy, the Founder of Chick-fil-A, used to talk about the fact that sometimes 10% more effort yields a 100% better result. While I don’t know if that rings true in every area of business, it certainly is true when it comes to creating “Remarkable” moments for customers.
Last month, we started to explore the relationship between brand and culture. Great cultures are those that have a great story that employees want to be part of while great brands are those that have a great story that customers want to be part of.
I spent most of my career in marketing at Chick-fil-A. I was there for 37 years, 35 of which were in the marketing department (I rotated out for two years to lead an operations team). While reflecting back on my time there, I made a discovery that I wasn’t consciously aware of while living it: the very best marketing is not about generating sales – it’s about creating a story that customers want to be part of. The greatest brands have the greatest stories.
Today I'm excited to share one of my favorite little principles with you: The Payoff Paradox. It was an "ah ha" moment for me and I hope it will be for you too!
Last month, we talked about what it means to be In Your Element: when you are unstoppable because you’re really good at what you’re doing (strengths), you’re energized by what you’re doing (passions), and it’s taking you where you want to go in life (values).
