persistence pays off

Yesterday we celebrated 50 Speaker Series events - a milestone for me as I began the College of Business Speaker Series in October of 2006 with Michael Willard (then Executive Director of Austin Habitat for Humanity) as our speaker and about 30 people in the audience.  The series has come a long way to where we now average about 150 people each time (a mix of students, faculty, staff and community) with speakers such as Drayton McLane, Huston Street, and Sherron Watkins.  The mix of local (and sometimes national) people continues to amaze and humble me as I get the chance to interview some of the coolest people in the world.

One of the questions asked me yesterday (I was interviewed by Concordia alumnus Stephen Kreher) dealt with how the Speaker Series has grown, and the answer included the idea of PERSISTENCE.   For the first two years, we seldom had more than 30-35 people in the auditorium, and trying to get students and faculty to attend was one of the hardest parts of the job.  There were times I wondered if it was worth it, and whether or not I should keep trying to do this type of event. Along with encouragement from others (and the fact that my faculty started to require students to attend), we began to see growth in the attendance and an energy that kept it moving forward.  Jim Collins talks about the "flywheel" concept where it takes a long time to push the flywheel very slowly and with very little visible movement forward, and then - at just the right time - it starts moving on its own and all you need to do is give it a slight nudge now and then to keep it moving forward.  That's an apt description of our Speaker Series over the years.

Leaders need to keep this idea in mind as they introduce new ideas and work to change the culture of an organization.  It feels at the beginning like you are working so hard and seeing such few results...it feels like you are the only one doing things that matter...it feels that it might be easier to stop making changes since noting seems to be happening...it feels as if no one else really cares...if feels as if you were to stop doing those type of things today, no one would notice. AND ALL OF A SUDDEN, you look around and behold that you are working not quite so hard and seeing more results...that more and more people are doing things that matter... that more things are happening and others are making changes...that people really do care...and that if you stopped doing these things, people would wonder what happened.  The flywheel is moving by itself!

I'm not sure how one learns persistence or if it comes naturally to some and not to others.  Great athletes know about it...farmers know about it...writers know about it...and so many others who exhibit excellence in their fields know about it.  In leadership, persistence is probably most important when you are trying to change a culture.  Culture shift never happens overnight - it takes saying and doing the same things over and over until they become part of "how we do things around here."  My encouragement is to:

• stay at it
• never give up
• keep going
• never give up
• don't lose zeal
• never give up
• keep hoping for the best
• never give up
• stay positive
• never give up
• do it one more time (and then do it again one more time)
• never give up