You Didn’t Build That

If you have a business, you only have that business because you have customers. If your business is growing, it is because you have customers that are choosing to spend their money with you instead of with someone else. You owe them the value creation that earns you the right to keep that business. They are helping you grow your business and you are helping them grow theirs.

If your business is in any way complex, you have partners that provide you with some of the things you use to create value for your clients and customers. Without these value-creating partners, you couldn’t do the job that you do for your clients. You owe them the same kind of trusted, partnership-based relationships that you want with your clients and customers. They are helping you to grow your business, and you are helping them to grow theirs.

If anything is being done to create value, it’s likely that it’s your employees that are doing most of the heavy lifting. Without these employees, your business wouldn’t look like it looks now. Who owns those relationships with your best clients and customers? When your clients think of your company, the name that comes to mind is the employee that has time after time gone the extra mile. You owe those employees a debt of gratitude for helping you grow your business, and you owe them the opportunity to grow personally and professionally.

If you sold that deal, you had a lot of help from the folks that built the product, service, or solution that you sell. You had more than a little help from the people that delivered and executed on all of the promises you made. You had some help from management for calling in some favors to make your deal work. You had the help of your entire organization.

And they had a lot of help from you, as you did the difficult work that is pounding the pavement, drumming up the opportunities, finding a way to create value, building the relationships, and winning the hard fought deal.

I used to care a lot about politics. But now I only care about the politics of you being the best version of you that you can possibly be (and me along with you!). Your success in no way depends on this election or any other. If your success is tied to anything, it’s tied to the success of your clients and customers, the success of your partners, the success of your team, and your ability to take action and make things happen each and every day.

Be grateful. And show your gratitude by using your gifts to make a difference.

You aren’t building anything alone, but your individual actions matter a great deal. Together with your clients, partners, and your team, go and build something special.