I’ve been very fortunate in my professional and personal life to have a number of excellent mentors. Many have been executives and very successful members of my profession, as well as successful members of other professions. They have always been great sources of advice and information for me because they have been through it all and are often happy to share their experiences with younger, less-experienced people in the business.
One of the most important lessons I learned from them is that life’s not all about you. I learned by listening to them and watching how they lived their lives and managed their companies.
Not long before he passed away I had the opportunity to spend a couple of hours with my uncle Jack McShea, Sr., a gentleman who had an amazing run as an entrepreneur. He started two hugely successful companies and built both up and sold them to larger firms. On this occasion he walked me through the ups and downs of his entire career. He stressed the value of some of the great employees he had over the years and how key their talents and contributions were to the companies’ overall success.
Another mentor of mine ran one of the largest electrical contracting firms in the region for 40 years before selling it to a national firm. I visited him recently and he spoke fondly of this one employee he hired who was so talented that he helped take the whole company to the next level. I could hear my mentor’s pride in the success that this employee helped him achieve.
During a client visit years ago I remember listening to an elderly business owner with a gleam of pride in his eyes as he spoke about his granddaughter joining him the business. He also spoke of a new hire he had made a year earlier and how special he was. He told me the two of them, his granddaughter and this new hire, would go far, and he was right: after he sold the company they started their own company, got married and have been enjoying huge success ever since.
One of my other client mentors recently told me about a great hire he made and how this person was now one of the most highly regarded executives in their industry. I asked how he found this great hire and he laughed hard and said that the guy was negotiating for the other side on one of my client’s company’s deals. He hired him away from the competition and hasn’t regretted it since.
As you can see these successful business leaders took pride in the achievements of the people they hired to work for their companies and respected their contributions to those companies’ tremendous success. These guys learned the valuable lesson long ago that it’s not all about you, especially in business.
Have a great weekend,
Ro
