Important Lessons Learned

I started writing these leadership letters many years ago to stay in touch with my staff who were based all around the country. The goal was to stay connected as much as possible as most years, I could only visit their offices once or twice annually.

It was always an honor when some staff member would thank me for taking the time to write or share it with their child in college or forward it to a loved one overseas.

Today, I am going to focus on looking back in my career and some of the lessons I learned along the way (with the most important lesson at the conclusion).

Considering that some leaders/clients/friends reading this today are in the beginning of the careers or even in the middle stages, I am hoping that at least one person can benefit from my top lessons learned.

1. If you want to build a successful team, region, or company, it is critical to be able to share your core values. Your team will eventually incorporate these values in their daily work lives and your company will be much stronger as a result. One of my core values was to “Always do the right thing.” That applies to every decision, function, negotiation, action, etc. The right thing is usually the hardest thing to do. But, in the long run, doing the right thing drives outstanding performance and a great work atmosphere.

2. Steven Covey listed “Find the Win-Win” as one the Seven Habits of Highly Successful people. I could not agree with this habit more. It is amazing how people react when they realize that you not only have your best interest in mind, but theirs as well. Too often in today’s world, politicians and society’s groups believe in an “ends justify the means’ approach and a zero-sum game. This approach always fails. If the goal is to continually be looking to “move the ball own the field” to success, the only way for a team or society to be successful is to compromise and find win-win solutions.

3. I had to practice and learn to be present with those with whom I am interacting. Too often in my early years, my mind was somewhere else dealing with a critical issue. I envied people who could compartmentalize and be present with the person standing in front of them. For me, I had to learn to block out all that noise in my head and to listen, really listen to employees, co-workers, my wife, and family. I struggled with this early on but knew I had improved when my boss one day complimented me. He said, “I like the way you listen and take your time before responding. It feels like you are really getting my point of view or thoughts.”

4. It was important to give people the room to fail. Individuals grew when they could try new things, be creative, take chances and make their own decisions. One of my lines was “Go ahead and make the decision on your own. I can fix any mistake, but the key is for you to try.” And another was that “I never failed, I either succeeded or I learned.” Organizations grow when they also try new products, services, methods, and processes.

Now some quick “don’t” bullet points that I learned as well (sometimes the hard way):

Do not get lost in the mundane. Meetings, paperwork, emails, calls, will all gobble your time. Focus on sales and growth. Everything else falls into place when your unit or business is growing. It is the biggest rock when growing a business.

Do not take your health for granted. Eat and exercise regularly. Make this a priority. You will be even more successful if you take care of yourself.

Do not lose sleep over the issue of the day. I promise you that in the future, what seemed so insurmountable or significant will be forgotten. Deal with it but do not let it all encompass you.

Do not fill the void of information in with the negative. Worrying will drain you. Most of the time, the worst thing never happens.

Do not stay working for a bad boss. Bosses who lead using fear, who yell or belittle are not good leaders. They hurt your drive, zap your energy, and injure your soul.

Now some “dos” that I also learned.

Do inspire and motivate your team. Encourage them to be better, the best.

Do give regular feedback, hold people accountable but offer your support to help them achieve.

Do build plans. Then build action steps to reach those plan goals. Revise the action steps if necessary but build short term plans, and longer-term strategic plans.

Do take some time to see the sights when traveling for business. Too often in my early days, I would leave early in the morning, conduct meetings in a city and then retreat to my hotel room or fly right back out to the next city. Once I made the effort, I was able to eat cheesesteaks in Philly, see a Red Sox game in Boston, observe the Garden of the Gods and Pikes Peak in Colorado, visit Fisherman’s Wharf and the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco, walk the Riverwalk in San Antonio, savor a beignet at Café du Monde in New Orleans, etc. In fact, I was fortunate to visit all fifty states along the way. Now that I am semi-retired, I am so glad I started to venture out and see so much along the way. No offense to my friends in North Dakota, but that was one state where I usually flew in and flew out. 😊

My last two most important “dos” are ones that I picked up from a great song by Tim McGraw entitled, “Humble and Kind.” One is to always be humble. The second, is that when you finally reach the top, turn around and help the next one in line.

Trust me when I say that when you are “no longer in the game,” you want to be able to look back and know you did it the right way. Your life report card grade will not be based on the amount of money you earned, businesses you fixed or budgets you made. But you will relish when a former associate tells you made a difference in their life or you watch people you trained, succeed. I believe the secret of life is to use the unique gifts we have been given to help others. It is our most important “do.”

Thanks for reading this.

With a goal to “help the next one in line,” Glen Cavallo, a 35+ year healthcare executive has chosen to share the many lessons he has learned with others. Glen does this by serving as a coach/advisor to leaders at all levels of organizations, as a board member and as he presents inspirational speeches at regional, national, annual and awards meetings.