One June 1 I attended my daughter’s graduation from Dental Hygiene school. One of the things that impressed me was the school president telling the graduates to love what you do, respect what you do, be proud of your school’s reputation, and to be your reputation.
Yes, everybody should love what they do (statistics show a minority of people like – not love – their job and really don’t give it their all) and respect what they do (the value they provide).
It was interesting to hear the comment about being your schools reputation. Of course we all are our schools, family’s, business’, and other organizations reputation. But how often do we think of this? How often do we tell our employees they are the company’s reputation?
There’s the old saying, “You’re only as good as your reputation.” Very true, but given how many people only seem to care about their own bottom line. In my business I see it with:
- Business sellers (and advisors) who want an extremely high price based on one good year, unsustainable growth, a market peak (think construction), or similar.
- Business buyers who want to discount everything the business has done, assuming nothing is sustainable so why pay for it based on historical results.
- Owners who believe they don’t need to have their company prepared to sell because it’s their baby and therefore such a special business buyers will want to (over)pay them for it.
Be your school’s or business’ reputation. Live up to its ideals.
“Be the ball Danny, be the ball. You’re not being the ball Danny.” Ty Webb (Chevy Chase) in Caddyshack