The Secret to Long-Term Success (It’s Simpler Than You Think)
Filed Under: Leadership • Personal Development • The Business Pages
As you may have seen in my last post, my 2009 mantra is:
“No Fear, Stay Proud“
Why this mantra, in this year?
It’s best to split it into two parts, and today I’d like to address “Stay Proud“.
About 10 days ago I was reading the NY Times and came across a piece entitled “Improve Morale By Knowing Your Employees“, written by Kelly Holland.
I was quite curious because I knew as a leader and manager I needed to step things up more than a few notches in 2009 to keep our heads above water in turbulent economic times.
Plus, I also realized that even in my personal life I needed a little something extra to keep the glass half-full this year.
About half-way into the article, I found what I was looking for - it was a quote by Jon R. Katzenbach.
Most motivational managers, he said, “make a personal connection to the worker, and that personal connection is used to make them feel good about the work they do.”
“That gives them pride in the work,” he added, “and if they feel proud of their work, they do a better job.” (my emphasis added).
To do better, especially in a more challenging environment, we need to stay proud. Of our work- and of our life.
Therein lies one of the primary secrets to anyone’s long term success - as Katzenbach puts it, “the relentless pursuit of worthwhile endeavors is a lasting and powerful motivating force”
As leaders, we need to instill in our teammates the feeling that what they are doing every day is indeed worthwhile and fulfilling, and in turn as individuals we need to ensure that we have this feeling about everything we do - both at work and at home.
In his book, “Why Pride Matters More Than Money“, Katzenbach identifies three of the key sources of workplace pride:
- Pride in the results
- Pride in how you work
- Pride in whom you work with and for
Pride doesn’t come from just one place - that’s the beauty of it, actually.
And on top of that, pride is a moment-to-moment emotion -or better said, a sustaining emotion.
One that builds to long-term success.
So, as Katzenbach so aptly summarizes, “always have your compass set on pride“.
Or as I’ve said and will keep saying in 2009,
I'm in! 
Terry...always a pleasure to read your stuff.
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Comment by Vicky H on 7 January 2009:
Terry,
This is so on point, true, true, true. Thanks for saying what I would find so hard to say without appearing negative.
You put such a positive light on a tough subject. That’s why I come for my half-fullisms
@eeUS
Comment by timq on 7 January 2009:
I’m still working on my mantra. I am thinking I like…”stick with it until it works.” I don’t know. I’m having a hard time narrowing my life’s mission down to a sound bite
Comment by Ricardo Bueno on 8 February 2009:
I can definitely relate to this and the feeling. When you’re proud, it just feels so much better and easier to do the work that you have to do. Even when it’s challenging, you approach it with the same 100% effort and keep pushing until the task gets done. All of that energy to get things done, comes from that sense of pride that you get from making the customer feel good after a job well done.