Does It Make Any Difference?
From time to time it is important to take stock of why we invest our energy in the things that occupy us. Birthdays, job changes, and retirements are points where we as individuals commonly reflect and ask “does what I do make any difference?”
In early August my colleague, Cleve Pillifant, retired from Management Concepts. He joins the cadre of senior “‘tweens” who work on occasion a few days or weeks here and there, ‘tween work habits compacted over a career and a complete leisure retirement. Cleve proudly and irreverently (as is his style) titles himself on his LinkedIn consulting LLC as “President and Grand Poobah.”
I’ve known Cleve for less than a year, but we have common root in military careers, his in the Marine Corps, mine in the Army. At the Management Concepts farewell luncheon, hosted on the outside terrace of our Tysons Corner office building, standing on a stepstool above the group of his friends and co-workers, Cleve made public his reflections on “does it make any difference?” Typical of a colonel at a change-of-command, he diminished his own importance in favor of the Management Concepts team.
He wanted to give us a final challenge and motivation. He asked, “In the grand scheme of life, what’s the value that our company gives?” He paused, giving time for us to consider our own individual efforts to develop and deliver quality training for our many customers. I reflected that it’s easy to narrowly focus on “the metrics” like enrollment stats or student surveys. To take satisfaction in a course revised with the latest law and policy changes. To count the number of successful course deliveries and client “attaboys” and call that success. Are these the right measures of the value we give?
Cleve then answered: The training we provide is important because it changes peoples’ lives for the better. His point was that training statistics, contracts, and performance metrics are useful to measure progress along the journey, true. But the significance of our training efforts is only achieved one person at a time: when our adult student gets that promotion, when he discovers an entire new field of work to pursue, when she decides to commit herself to mastery of her career field. These are points of realization which elevate the trajectory of a person’s career, and we, the Management Concepts team, can take pride that our efforts have this positive impact.
The genuine reason for our team of professionals who agree to the collective banner of “Management Concepts – Unleashing the Potential of Individuals, Teams, and Organizations” is the achievement of each person who betters their life by the knowledge we convey.
Then, the old colonel didn’t say this, but I knew he was thinking it: “… that’s your mission, and don’t ever forget it. Carry on!”
Ooorah, Cleve. And Thanks.
