Happy Sunday Everyone:
I received a call from a friend of mine who owns a mortgage bank asking how we handle process flow on a certain type of product. Reality is I didn’t have the answers at a level that he needed so I asked my co-CEO if she’d be willing to speak with him. Her response was “anything for you, just send us both a txt and I’ll take it from there”. I send the txt, within 3 minutes she responds, and within 5 more minutes they have a call scheduled for 9:00AM on Monday. I was sitting in my car thinking about what just took place and it dawned on me how reliable she is, and always has been. I’ve talked about her before as it relates to any problem I ever have that needs her attention, her response is simply “on it”, and because of her past track record with me, I simply move on to the next thing because I know she is in fact “on it”. The word reliable isn’t sexy but it means everything. To be able to rely on someone, what more is there? and what less is there when you can’t rely on someone. I know I do this exercise a lot but think of 5 people you trust and respect, and think of 5 people you don’t, my strong suspicion is a large part of the “trust and respect” is because you can rely on that person, you can count on them. I think of how I feel when I ask someone to do something for me and it gets done, how at ease I feel. As leaders, can our teams rely on us? As employees, can our leaders rely on us? it’s a two way street. I think of the times my team says “hunter, did you call XXX back”, and my response is “no sorry”….they gave their word to someone else, that I would deliver, and I didn’t….do that enough times, where people believe they can’t rely on you to do what you say and they will leave you. Do what you say you’re going to do, be reliable, and you will always be forgiven. Our hearts and heads are filled with a leger of debits and credits, whether we know it or not. What we do for others and what others do for us. If we all had the mindset of filling up the credit side by doing things for others this world would be a better place. I know that sounds a bit altruistic but it’s the truth. I’m not suggesting we walk around going tit for tat with what I did for this person or what someone else did for me, but if we just looked at our lives like how many credits can we pile up, more than likely you’ll be paid back in spades. Being reliable, people being able to trust you on your word, doing what you say, stay committed to what you committed to, that, to me, is the easiest and best way to stock pile credits. When I leave this place I want to have a boat load of credits, in a sense, it defines how you lived your life. Hope that makes sense.
Have a great week.