Regardless of title, age or experience level, Idea Grove is dedicated to motivating, engaging and empowering employees to continually improve themselves both personally and professionally. Whether it be through online training, face-to-face conferences, or even our weekly staff meetings, our agency is always seeking new ways to improve our practice and encourage each other to thrive.
In September, the Idea Grove team was fortunate to have Ron Nash, CEO of Pivot3 and valued Idea Grove client, visit us for a second time to share some wisdom and advice on leadership and career growth.
Here’s the advice that stood out most to me:
Work Smart and Work Hard
When you are in school, grades are the chief indicator of success and intelligence, but in the real world, things are much different. Throughout your career, you can’t survive on intelligence alone – you will be evaluated based on your energy, work ethic and drive. Always put 110 percent into everything you do. The time and total output you are willing to put into your company and your career will be a big factor in what makes or breaks your success.
Keep Setting New Goals
Always establish personal and professional goals and ensure they are never static. To have a successful career, it is necessary to consistently set goals and update them on a regular basis. An ambitious set of goals will continually challenge you to be successful and keep you motivated to push yourself further.
Find People to Learn from and Imitate
Find inspiration from those around you and never be afraid to imitate the behaviors that are driving their success. And, inspiration can come from more than just a boss or C-suite leader.
At the start of Ron’s career, he always tried to learn from those who were above him; however, once he became CEO, he recognized the need to expand his scope of inspiration sources by learning from team members in all areas and levels of the company.
Maintain Personal Relationships and Find Faith
Maintaining close relationships with loved ones – whether it be a partner, family member or friend – means that you will never fail to have somebody there to celebrate your successes and provide support during the tough times.
Also, believing in and having faith in something bigger than yourself will provide a sense of purpose and give you something bigger to reach toward.
Take Care of Your Yourself
Ron stressed just how important it is to care for your body and mind. It is amazing just how strong the human body is, in physical strength and spirit. During Ron’s time in the military, he endured extensive jungle training. After induced stress, heavy physical activity and less than 600 calories a day, Ron quickly realized just how much our bodies can endure. It is important to maintain and care for yourself physically and emotionally, not only for your personal health, but to help remind yourself just how much you can accomplish.
Find a Way to Escape
Whether it be escaping on a beach with a book, racing sailboats like Ron, or simply taking up a small hobby, finding a way to relax and escape from your day-to-day responsibilities will help clear your mind to prevent burnout and stress.
Volunteer
No matter how successful you are, you should never neglect giving back to your community. Ron mentioned that even on his most difficult and exhausting days, volunteering for community organizations has raised his spirits and improves his feeling of accomplishment and self-worth, as well as providing new opportunities to gain leadership experience and learn from others.
Travel and Experience Other Cultures
Learning about new cultures and understanding key differences was vital to Ron’s professional development. It also shed new light on his ability to empathize and relate to what different people are going through at work and in their personal lives.