Today marks ten years since I exited my company. Building a company was a lifelong dream, and selling after all the hard work and developing a strong reputation, wonderful team, and excellent working culture was bittersweet.
Here are some takeaways from this incredible life defining experience:
1. Self sufficiency- At the end of the day, culture trickles down. Your team looks to its leaders to see how they respond to setbacks, crises, and success. Get your own house in order.
2. It's ok to fall. It's not ok to fail.- Falling is something I did daily. With. hundreds of decisions to make every day, i got many of them wrong. In fact, I developed my own 80/20 rule. 20% of my decisions probably wouldn't work out. I learned to trust that the 80% would. I trusted the odds.
But I never looked at falling as failing. Failing is closing your doors. Never give up.
3. No (wo)man is an island- Develop your team. And learn to trust them. Make them important. Make them crucial. They will mirror your values, if you lead with integrity.
4. Authenticity- Sometimes creativity will rear its head. In looking at a problem, a solution will occur that only you could have thought of. Be bold. Trust yourself. Just because no one has attacked the same problem in the same way doesn't mean it won't work. This could lead to major breakthroughs as a company.
5. Big picture- Where are you heading? Today? Tomorrow? Five years? Ten. years? When learning to drive, we are taught to always look ten cars ahead. The same principle applies to running a business.
My undying gratitude to some of those who were integral in this journey. To those not mentioned, I apologize. Top of mind, #JohnHandshue, #TamiHolman, #LarryMutschler, #BernieSchlifke, #HarveyKallick, #MattySpagat, #JoelRosenthal, #GinaKallick, #JayWhite, #AndrewNewman.