I was in Charleston, South Carolina, landscaping a Parker’s Kitchen location recently. The temperature had to be around 100 degrees, with 100% humidity. This guy walked up behind me while I was digging a hole for a tree and asked me a question.“For the past four days, I have seen you work from morning to dark with these guys. You’ve got to be the oldest guy out here on the job. How many years have you been doing this hard work?”
I stopped and wiped the sweat out of my eyes, pointing to a man who was in another hole not too far from me. I said three years less than that guy. That guy has been doing landscaping for 37 years, and he is my brother.
Why do we go to the same cubical, the same office door, and see many of the same people every day? Those days add up to weeks, months, years and even a lifetime.
First, we have a passion, a desire to accomplish and a love for the skills we possess. I know some days are better than others. Just like this job in Charleston. We were short on labor due to nobody wanting to work but expecting to get paid. My brother and I could have stayed in Savannah and put the burden of the completion date on the team, but that is not what true leadership is about. You are given titles and positions sometimes because of your name, or the number of letters you have behind your name. In the real world, when you see an organization thrive and prosper, it is because the team is following an example or path that has been laid out for them. This path can be followed by those in their 20s or 30s who are trying to find success for themselves and provide for their families.
Second, we have a fellowship and a love for the people who work closest with us, and then the entire organization.
Eddie, my brother, has been in front of me since I was born. He is seven years older, and we are complete opposites. He plans. I proceed. He responds. I react. He directs. I develop.
Together we are much better, and stronger, than we are apart. We would sink and drown on our own. We do not agree on everything, and we always share our own opinions on how a problem needs to be solved. This is why, as brothers, we have been blessed since 1984. We respect each other as businessmen, friends, co-workers, fathers and people in the community.
I will ask you these questions. Do you really love what you do, and will you want to do it for the next 20 or 30 years — or is it just a paycheck? Are you providing a path for others to follow such that, when you walk away or are buried, people will have a story to tell of how you helped them become a great dad or person in the community, or how you led by example? Or will you be known as the guy who sucked all the energy out of the room for 40 hours per week?
Live inspired,
Jimmy
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