It's All About You

For me, the word commitment carries only one definition. It means I will do it. Not I’ll try, but I will do it.

It bears repeating that great leaders create great agencies. Those of us who grew up in an age when small firms became large, great firms observed leaders like Harold Burson, John Hill, Daniel Edelman, John Graham, Bill Ruder and David Finn, and many others. These men understood the importance of leadership and, for the most part, practiced it religiously. They created great firms.

While they were all different individuals, they had at least one trait in common: they were all committed to creating great agencies.

One thing that has hit home to me as I have observed firms and top management is that CEOs (or agency owners) don’t seem to understand their own importance to the growth, development, and health of their agency. Many simply don’t get it and try to deflect the responsibility (or the credit) on to others. In some cases this is admirable – but misguided.

This is not about ego or arrogance. This is about the simple truth that great leaders create great agencies because they commit to doing it and they will not tolerate failure.

Start by affirming your commitment to yourself and your firm: “I am creating a great agency, one that attracts great clients and great people. I am committing to and focusing my efforts on doing everything I need to do to achieve greatness.”

Notice the use of the present tense – a powerful part of the affirmation process and a key element in visioning your success.

As you go about your day observe yourself and your direct reports. How many times do you follow through on your daily “commitments”; how many times do your people follow through? Are you tolerant of those who try but rarely commit? If so, why?

Is personal commitment one of your “Standards of Excellence”? It needs to be if you are going to create a great firm.

Good to Great to Gone

The other day I sat in the examining room of a physician and picked up the only magazine in the room. It was the May 2008 FORTUNE 500 issue. In it was an article called “The Secret of Enduring Greatness” by Jim Collins of “Good to Great” fame.

Some facts are eye-openers and offer lessons for agency and other business leaders.
• Of the 500 companies on the original Fortune 500 list in 1955 only 71 remain.
• Nearly 2000 companies have appeared on the list and most are long gone.
• Some of the most powerful companies (Apple, Microsoft, Google) emerged from new technologies replacing old-line technologies
• Some of the best-known, traditional companies are no longer in existence.

These facts boost the argument that there is no such thing anymore as “enduring greatness.” But, Collins argues differently and points to a number of companies – P&G, GE, Nucor, Xerox, Wal-Mart (we all can name others) – that have endured and continue to be great.

He writes, “Whether you prevail, or fail, endure or die, whether you make it onto the Fortune 500, and whether you stay there, depends more on what you do to yourself than on what the world does to you.”

He goes on to say, that “throughout history the greatest companies have used adverse times to their advantage … The best corporate leaders never point out the window to blame external conditions; they look in the mirror and say we are responsible for our results.”

I’ll bet Mr. Collins shares that view even today.

We know that during the last recession of 2001-2002 a number of agencies departed this earth. Probably a few of them were really good, maybe some in their space were even great. Today they’re gone.

Great leaders create great agencies. They innovate, they invest, they take risks, they plan, and they create – even in the hardest of times.

Competition has never been fiercer. Now is the time to re-commit to being great – because “good” just won’t make it today.