Into the fire

Do you have a team of humans who are solutions-driven in the face of a fire drill?

Humans who walk straight into the fire to help out a squad comrade in need?

Humans who drop what they're doing to raise a hand and say, "how can I be helpful?", and then do just that, at the drop of a hat, without a second's hesitation?

Humans who stay, right in the fire, taking the heat until the event has passed, arms locked and chins up?

I did.

I am still grateful for the debriefing moments where, when a fire passed over us, our humans brought clear eyes and curious hearts and said, "this is how we'll do better next time."

I'm still grateful for having had a boss who, when it was my turn to raise my hand and say, "a thing happened, and this is how I'm fixing it," was (still is) the kind of person who, too, took responsibility and stood in the fire with me, who gave me the grace to be human and to, once in a while, only once or twice a year, come to him with an expensive mistake.

It happens. 

What happens next is up to us.

How we don't make that mistake again, how we get better, how we bounce back with grit and grace, all of it is up to us. That's a big deal.

Time is our most expensive mistake currency. We don't get to refund it, to negotiate it down or up, to raise a hand and have someone hand us more of it. That's not how it works.

You will always find the evidence for what you choose to believe.

I choose to believe in redemption; I built a team at a high-pace startup where I saw it daily. Where the stakes were high and my people still came from a place of integrity. Everywhere they are now, whether at Google or Typeform or REAL or The Keyes Company or eXp Realty or PMG or CBRE or still at Compass, they keep that fire stoked within them.

And so do I.

This is possible for you, too. So Let’s chat.