Culture
I had a crew of 34 high school students finish their two week assignments with local businesses last Friday. Going in they talked about articulated credits and scholarship opportunities. Coming out they talked about culture. They didn’t use the word, but that’s what they meant.
They talked about eight different business locations that welcomed them into their inner circle to help them solve a problem. Each student spoke about how welcoming each company was. They spoke of the employee’s willingness to share their issues with them, hoping that a “fresh set of eyes” might provide the business with a clearer vision of what to do next.
Being open to criticism is part of a business’s culture. Those who welcome new ways of looking at old ideas, move forward. Those who hang on to the past, without an eye on the future, stagnate.
It makes no difference what product a business produces the ultimate success or failure of the business comes down to people. Visionary leadership is key. It doesn’t matter if you are in the widget business or people business. My friend, Jim, and I discussed this on numerous occasions.
He often compared our two positions. He called himself a “widget maker” and me a “life builder”. He was in manufacturing, and I was an educator.
What he failed to see was that whenever we discussed our two jobs our conversations focused on the people, not the product. He rarely spoke of the “widgets” that his company produced. He always talked about the people that made them. He knew their family, celebrated their joys with them, and sympathized with their sorrows. In the process he created a culture where people could thrive.
Git-R-Done!
Larry the Cable Guy made the tag line famous. He’s made a lot of money telling people to Git-R-Done! Ruth uses the saying whenever she thinks that we’re not moving forward fast enough. She’s not a fan of talking about it. She wants it done.
The bottom line for the tag line is “keep on moving”. If you say you’re going to do something, do it. Too often people talk about “doing” but never “do”. They’re all talk.
The older you get the more important the “doing” becomes. You never know how much time you have to “git-r-done”. I set of goal of writing two blogs a week. Some come easy. Others are a struggle. I sometimes think that I have writer’s block, but so far, I’ve gotten it done. I want to share as many ideas and stories as I can before the time comes when I can’t.
I’ve encountered several people in my life who have good intentions but nothing more. They are going to travel, look for a new job, start off on an entirely new career path, move to a new city, write a book, go back to school, start a new hobby, get in shape, lose weight, etc. etc. They are full of good intentions but lack the action part of getting-it-done.
Yesterday, a Facebook friend shared the following video. If this 73 year old grandmother can dance with her grandson, it’s time for all of us, no matter the goal, to “get-r-done”.