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2012 - The Year of All of Us
By Charles Martin | December 7, 2011
I saw it on the freeway today. A big rig was getting back on the freeway after a sidelined repair. Every other big rig in the active lanes stopped so she could get on.
It was moving.
Funny but true.
I saw it last week when we had a power outage that has run 6+ days for some.
Standing ovations at Starbucks for electric company workers. Those guys and gals who are part of a giant bureaucracy, but at the same time feeding a family in a nascent and forgotten part of southern California. I realized that as I went and kabbitzed every hour or so in the wee hours of last Sunday night. Yes, I was on the street at 1AM. Meeting and greeting. Every time I flip a switch now I think of those guys. As a kid, I spent so many hours just sitting on over-turned buckets asking some dad why and how and what his brake job or lawn mower repair was all about while everyone else rode bikes or played football. This is what I did the other night. It’s really the basis for my early education. And my appreciation for what goes on out there.
Now that the economy is showing upticks. Now that the air is beginning to be let out of the unemployment numbers (or now that the Ellen watchers decided to quit cashing checks, that is), we’re ready for a Pivot.
Pivot.
I’ve heard it a few times in the past 72 hours. My smart friends use it. Ken. Brandon. They know. Probably Kobe does too. Once he gets back on the court.
Add Pivot to your vocabulary too.
The new world and 2012 is about Us.
I feel it. Not in so many years have I had so much fun doing what I do. I’m pivoting. I have witnessed the Tipping Point.
My company, LivingSocial, is counting another $176MM into their coffers this week as part of a tranche of a possible $400MM. It was from a meeting of Us. People with the vision. People with the same ideals. Not worried about a supposedly dying segment in hyper local marketing. Just like those big rigs. They let LivingSocial remain in the left lane. That great “Smokey and the Bandit” song rings true. ”… east bound and down, loaded up and truckin… we’re gonna do what they say can’t be done…”
In fact, many people I know are so geared up for a successful run in the next year. Prospect Mortgage’s Scott Groves is now 4x the team he was 12 months ago. And we thought mortgages were dead. Eugene and Kirk are selling more homes than we can count. Aren’t home sales down?
This coming year, you must be on a team that counts. Pivot if you aren’t. Now’s the time. Before the middle bunch wakes up and takes more of the bandwidth. If your team is one, two, or one-hundred, those that are moving towards a unified mission, will succeed. What I’m getting at is that after the New Year’s resolutions, after the first blast of hot air in January, we will have the party to ourselves. The scrappers, the hard workers, the truckers and 24 hour working electrical lineman will have all the open lane they need to go to the next level.
What’s your flight plan? File it and get moving.
Topics: Greats in business |