It’s happened. It’s now exactly a week since my first writings on this blog. It snuck up on me while I was off meeting with clients, doing some marketing meetings and calls about EOS, meeting with my students from Singapore, trying to find some Africa projects for Wharton, taking a few walks…my way of clearing my head and getting some thinking time, and, yes, I’ll admit it, goofing off one day and actually going out with a great client to play golf.
Which got me thinking about commitment. First of all, what have I committed to and what was I thinking when those Web Ogres at Dinkum Interactive suggested the crazy idea of this blog. And then the bigger concept of commitment in general.
Since those of you who have been reading since the beginning…the first issue last week…know that my commitment to you is to improve your business by sharing my thoughts and observations, this seemed like a great place to start. Commitment: often mentioned and soon forgotten…or worried about.
No, not that kind of committed. But for many people if feels the same. The walls closing in and the pressure mounting. The wondering about why did I agree to do that?
It’s an interesting conundrum for successfully running a business, or perhaps even for life in general. Commitment is essential for success but also can lead to dismal failure if offered unwisely. I think the problem is often a disconnect between the brain and the mouth…the mouth offering before the brain has thought through what is being offered.
This seems to be particularly prevalent in politicians although it certainly shows up in many of those running companies…perhaps yourself? It is so easy to commit and so hard to do. And since the doing happens at some later time, there is always the hope by the commitor that the commitment will be soon forgotten.
But we often do remember. And in remembering begin to color our opinion of the person. And our opinion of the person colors all our actions from that time forward. And since we all know that the organization is defined by the person who leads it, that coloring bleeds through into our feelings about the organization.
So think. When I owned an architectural construction company my favorite saying was always “measure twice, cut once.” With a bit of modification I know you can do yourself, apt here…I think.
Steve is very serious about commitments and because of that let me invite you to hear Steve in person next month as guest speaker for the Philadelphia chapter of Sales and Marketing Executives International. This is a group of sales and marketing professionals and I challenged Steve to bring serious take aways to the group and he not only committed to do the talk but he committed to make it the best talk the group has had this year.
Knowing Steve the way I do if he says something like that – he means it.
Here is a link to the event if you would like to come out – https://m360.smei.org/ViewEvent.aspx?id=17944&instance=0