Know Your Why

Many years and companies ago, I showed up to the office one morning to find the lobby and other high-traffic areas decorated with large bunches of green latex balloons. "What was the cause for celebration?" you ask... Earth Day. (I'll give you a minute to try and make sense of celebrating Earth Day with dozens of items that don't biodegrade and often end up killing the wildlife that eventually tries to eat them, thinking they're food.) Sigh... There are the things we do because we're "supposed to" and there are the things we do simply because we know they're the right thing to do. Because they matter to us. Because we genuinely care... And people can almost always tell the difference. Almost always... Do the good work of uncovering your motives for things like: holding certain meetings, serving as someone's mentor, or organizing various team events; there is so much incredible learning buried underneath these actions. Achieving that level of honesty with yourself can be incredibly hard, but the people walking through your doors each morning will thank you for your efforts. And they will trust you. And that, lest we forget, is everything... It's worth your time and your energy... it's undoubtedly worth more than a million green balloons.