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Asking the Right Question

In light of this being inauguration week, I took the opportunity to paraphrase one of the most famous inauguration quotes from President John F. Kennedy:

Ask not what your company can do for you; ask what you can do for your company.

For people young and old in the workforce this is good advice. Too often, people come into the workplace with the reverse philosophy. They want to know what the company can do for them – because after all, doesn’t the company owe them something for working there? People want the opportunities for advancement without earning them by working hard and adding value to the company. As an old coach used to say, “You can’t schedule opportunity.”

The cold, hard truth is nobody owes you anything, especially not the company who is paying you a good wage to work there.

A friend of mine owns a small telephone cable company. He told me a story that exemplifies this attitude:

One day he ran into an old friend who was down on his luck and out of work. He told his friend he would hire him on the spot to lay cable for $12.00 an hour and he could start the following Monday. Monday morning rolled around and his friend didn’t show. He didn’t hear from his friend until Thursday – when his friend called to say that he thought about it and $12.00 an hour wasn’t going to cut it. He wanted $15.00 an hour before he would lay cable. My friend was incredulous as he hung up on this former job candidate.

Fortunately, there are people out there who really seem to understand the value of hard work and the importance of adding value for your employers. One of our recent hires at McShea, Tom Feola, is a perfect example. This young man works in our research department, and the first time I sent him an e-mail requesting a survey he was in my office two minutes later with a notepad in hand ready for action. He takes this enthusiasm into everything he does in our office. He puts out an excellent weekly newsletter highlighting current events and their effects on our industry. He also does a monthly presentation on the state of the market at our sales meetings.

One of the other key things about Tom’s attitude is that he is always looking for more work. He charges ahead without fear of failure, because if he did initially fail at something I know he would work tirelessly to put it right. Once when I asked him for a survey of properties he put together an excellent product – but it was for the wrong state. True to form, as soon as I e-mailed the news to him he came up to my office and promptly began working to correct the error.

Taking Tom’s approach is the way to go in the workforce. Success will come soon enough if you focus on making your contribution to the company the best it can be.

Have a great weekend,

Ro

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