I have Arrived

So, I've been in the background for weeks (OK, maybe months) now on this blog thing. I could resist no more, so here I land. A place to put thoughts in cyberspace...who woulda thought.

Anyway, I came across a quote as I was getting ready for bed last night that struck me. For those of you who know me well, you know that I am inspired by famous quotes. I was reading an interview with Mark Hurd (the CEO of HP) in Fortune Magazine, and the interviewer kept asking him about his vision/strategy for HP. After the second question about how Hurd was going to guide the Company he responded:

Vision without execution is a hallucination --Edison.

This will be added to my top five list. My all time favorite quote comes from the founder of the firm I used to work for. I was having a discussion in career planning and my team partner told me

The fish stinks from the Head.

While I don't remember the context of the conversation, I will never forget the wisdom on leadership that was conveyed in those six simple words.

So, why do I share? Well, we have gone through the past month and a half without a Plant Manager at work, which means the remaining managers are "in charge." During this time, the wheels appeared as if they were starting to fall off, and we began discussions about what happened. We began talking about leadership and providing a vision to our immediate staff and the people they supervised. After a series of discussions we realized it wasn't the people that worked for us or the people that worked for them. It was us. The fish stunk from the head. So, we set out on a mission to define what is important to the plant, and ultimately the Corporation. Everyone came back and presented their plan to get back on track. It felt good. We finally had a plan. The only thing left is execution. Otherwise, Edison said it best, we are just hallucinating.

Think about it! How many times have you set out to do great things only to wind up on a "Sick Cycle Carousel" of failure. The same destructive patterns that repeatedly lead to failure. If you're reading this thinking "Oh, this has never happened to me", then you've been either been in a coma all your life or have no desire to achieve.

I don't intend to write to offend...I write in hopes of inspiring people. Hopefully this has inspired you to achieve at higher levels.