Playbook Volume 12 - ChannelVision Magazine - Partner Recruitment & Retention

Purpose The first pillar of success is purpose. Purpose has been a central theme of past columns I have written for this publi- cation; it is truly the single most important factor in our journey through life. Without a solid purpose, you can’t unlock the passion you need to continue ascending upward in your career. Purpose gives us the drive that we need to wake up in the morning inspired to go to work. It is the safety net that prevents us from falling and hitting rock bottom after a bad day or two. Finding a purpose should be every- one’s first step in creating a career path. Finding purpose certainly isn’t easy, and it requires introspection that most people are unwilling to go through. Purpose is far different from dreams or aspirations because it is grounded by the framework of individual capabilities. I recommend seeking out a career coach or an organizational development expert to assist with this journey. Some helpful activities in your search may include per- sonality profiles, 360 assessments from various people in your life, and meeting and interviewing people at all levels of an industry or role that you aspire to reach. Passion Passion is the second P in our founda- tion, and it follows closely behind purpose. There are people in life who think they have found their purpose, only to realize that they don’t have passion for what they are doing. Sometimes, there even can be a short burst of passion at the beginning of an endeavor that fizzles out over time; that is an indication that true purpose hasn’t been found. Conversely, people also may be very passionate about an area that isn’t their purpose. For example, I wanted to be a professional baseball player when I was growing up, and I was very passionate about it. But I lacked the fundamental skills to do it, so it wasn’t my purpose in life. If purpose gets you out of bed in the morning, passion accelerates your trip out the door to wherever you are going. Purpose helps keep fuel in the tank, but passion is the accelerator that drives you in the direction that you want to go. It in- fluences relationships, effort into activities and projects, and willingness to learn and grow. Without passion, a career may get started and then stall at the same level due to a lack of continued growth. Passion is infectious and will greatly influence the next steps to persever- ance and positivity. Lack of passion can lead to indifference, or even negativity. There are plenty of people in this world that have the mentality of, “I’m just here to collect a paycheck.” That mentality indicates a lack of passion, and most often those people will not take great leaps forward in their careers. Perseverance There are so many people who fail, fail again, and then quit or ask someone to do “it” for them. If we did that as ba- bies, we would never learn to eat, walk, talk, read … you get where I’m going with this. As babies, we have an instinctual purpose to grow into adulthood and a hard-wired passion that makes us hungry for food, thirsty for water, and a growing need to converse and interact with oth- ers. Babies fall down often when learning to walk; they cry for a moment or two then have the instinct to get back up and try it again until they succeed. Eventually, because the right components are in- stinctual, they achieve their goal of walk- ing. It may sound a little bit out there, but career paths can be similar. In any career, you are bound to make mistakes and fall backward from time to time. John Maxwell has written count- less books on how those instances are required for us to develop. Carol Dweck’s book Mindset dives deep into the dif- ference between a fixed and a growth mindset, the latter of which creates devel- opment and gets us to the next level. Per- severance is not always easy to achieve but is necessary to generate success. If your tendency is to give up, you probably haven’t found your purpose yet. Positivity If everything else is present, we must take a positive attitude into our journey. Positivity breeds positivity in others and leads to solid relationships. Relationships are key to career growth. I once heard a line that has re- mained with me to this day: “Your net- work is your net worth.” The best jobs I’ve had in my career were not from trolling around job boards and mass applying, they were the result of relation- ships that I’ve built during my career. Positivity isn’t always easy to main- tain, and we all have our moments where we need to complain about someone or something. However, that must be the exception and not the rule if we want to be successful. When someone is negative on a regular basis, one of two things will happen: A) friends will fade into acquaintances and then into memories, or B) the negativity will infect other people around them and breed more negativity. I’ve written about this before; there is no doubt that nega- tivity is a deadly virus for organizations. Generally speaking, it is easier to stay positive if you have a career that is fueled by your purpose, accelerated by your passion and pushed by perseverance. If you find yourself being negative on a regular basis, it’s probably a good time to go back to basics and make sure that the other foundational elements are in place. When all four P’s are present in your life, the chances for success rise exponentially. If you take a few minutes to write down and evaluate each pillar, you may be surprised where you stand in your career journey. Money is obviously an important part of any job decision, but it must be bal- anced with different components of the four P’s, or you may find yourself stuck in a lengthy period of stagnation. I’m al- ways interested to hear stories related to the articles I write; find me on LinkedIn and let me know if you’ve had periods of your career that were either accelerated or limited by utilizing/not utilizing the principles of the four P’s. o Bruce Wirt has been in the telecommunications industry for more than 20 years and has spent the bet- ter part of the last 15 in exec- utive leadership. Bruce has also worked in radio and has emceed countless events in the areas of sports, business and charity. His purpose and passion are in leadership and career development, and he is currently the executive vice president and chief business develop- ment officer at Telesystem. 22 THE CHANNEL MANAGER’S PLAYBOOK