Need to Succeed

"I realize that I'm the president of this company, the man that's responsible for everything that goes on here. So, I want to state, right now, that anything that happened is not my fault."

- Mr. J.B. Biggley from the film, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying 1967

No one wants to take the blame when something, anything goes wrong. It is a self-protective nature that we all possess that states or thinks up excuses and reasons why a failure has occurred. It can be very difficult to face the truth and recognize when the responsibility for error or malfunction falls in squarely in our own laps. Like a contestant on American Idol that can't take the heat or bad news from Simon, "But, I was..."

Most of us are driven by a need to succeed, a need to prove self-worth and accomplishment. There has been a post-it note on my desk in my home office for about three years that lists "How to Succeed." I have no idea where I got the list, I am sure it is from a blog or on-line article, but this is what it reads:

   How to Succeed...
   1. KNOW your customer
   2. PLEASE your customer
   3. MANAGE expectations
   4. Be CONSISTENT
   5. COMMUNICATE

These are five elementary suggestions, right? Fairly simple to uphold, right? And each, by themselves, would be easy to master but each is just an element to help you reach success, they must work in conjunction with each other to generate true achievement. Our jobs as recruiters, as hiring managers, as business professionals are laden with pitfalls and traps that could easily lead us away from these five very basic rules.

Don't be fooled that there is an easy road to success or that one tool alone will help you fulfill your end of the bargain. Success is not that straightforward. There are those that make it look easy, but it takes skill, experience, knowledge, and confidence to navigate the above suggestions with triumph.

I think I'll keep my post-it around for a while longer.

© by rayannethorn

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