It’s not his accent, though it does set him apart from his peers, and it’s not his unique African upbringing, though it does give him a life perspective different than yours and it may not even be his lifetime of travel and adventure, but there’s something about these combinations that provide Alistair Paterson that special ability to arouse your curiosity.
And his exceptional perspective just might be good for your business.
At a recent Bend Chamber of Commerce lunch and learn seminar the aspirational speaker, consultant and coach assisted by Robert Killen, executive director of the City Club of Central Oregon, reviewed some of the local companies he deemed successful and shared their leaders’ thoughts through a unique collection of word associations.
Alistair posed the question: why is it that a select group of companies succeed under challenging times when others don’t? Pointing out that he’s not a college graduate but instead, much to the chagrin of his parents, worked his way around the world gaining incredible experiences from being a cowboy to running corporations. He related that he has always held that a primary rule was to find out who is already doing it well…then do your best to follow in their footsteps.
So recently Alistair set about asking several local diverse business leaders about what words are particularly important to them.
His list of who he dubbed successful local people included:
Doug La Placa (CEO of Visit Bend who over the past five years has put together a dynamic team who have met and exceeded their goals to make Bend a top destination for tourists),
Patrick Kruse (founder and president of Ruff Wear who made a 100 percent commitment to design and make the best pet wear in the world),
Meg Chung, (CEO of Kialoa Paddles who is making premier paddles sold around the world),
Gary Fish, (founder and president of Deschutes Brewery who has built a reputation on the finest hand-crafted beers),
Charlie Otega, (director of sales for Hydro Flask who has strengthened and managed a nationwide team with skyrocketing sales all over the world),
Dennis Oliphant (founder and president of Sun Country Tours who has made his passion for white water into a successful business),
Pamela Hulse Andrews (founder and CEO of Cascade Publications Inc. which has evolved from a business newspaper to a full-fledged publishing company in both print and online),
Bret Mills, (founder of RES Equine whose start-up won $250,000 from the 2011 Bend Venture Conference),
Dan McGarigle (owner of Pine Mountain Sports who created a premier biking and mountaineering store in the region),
Heather Cashman (co-owner of Bend Furniture and Design, who has worked extraordinary hours to build a success furniture business in a very competitive field).
ONE COMMON DENOMINATOR
Alistair discovered that the one thing that all of these businesspeople had in common was a commitment to community by contributing products, services, money and/or scholarships. Everyone, it seems, adheres to the principal that it’s not about the money. While making a profit is critical, it’s your dedication to community that makes the difference.
BACK TO THE WORDS
There were five words that Alistair unraveled from this group that fell at the bottom of their priority: procrastination, ignorance, bias, naivety and luck. In other words, he said:
If you’re a biased, naive and ignorant individual who tends to procrastinate, you’d better hope you get really really lucky because that’s the only way you’re going to end up rocking instead of rolling.
The top priorities go like this, in this order of importance:
10. Mission: whatever your goal, nothing detracts you from it.
9. Value: providing clients and customers with value is an indispensable component to your business.
8. Communication: it’s really important to effectively and honestly communicate with customers, employees, utilizing good person to person skills.
7. Perseverance: you keep going, getting back up on the horse time and again when bucked off.
6. Commitment: just a vision isn’t enough…you have to keep paddling because if you don’t you get caught under the wave.
5. Customers: this is of critical importance, it takes just a few seconds to make an impression, then you have to appreciate your customers.
4. Attitude: reflected in everything you do, mere act of putting a smile on your face can make a huge difference.
3. Character: a fascinating but abstract quality, one that is used to describe objects and people in equal measure. When it’s good we all want it and when it’s bad we go out of our way to avoid it. It’s difficult to understand exactly what the qualities are that result in someone having good character. It’s been described as what we do when nobody else is looking, but it’s different for different people. In the end analysis there’s really only one individual who can tell you what your personal character formula is – and that of course is the person in the mirror.
2. Values: building blocks on what everything else depends. Excellent stewardship and team work are critical components for future success.
1. Passion: determining what you are passion about is just the beginning, but knowing how to make a living at it is when the enthusiasm becomes the mission. The chances of succeeding at anything in life are greatly enhanced if we’re doing something that we’re genuinely passionate about. One of Alistair’s all time favorite quotes is one of Earl Nightingale’s – that successful people are dreamers who have found a dream that is too important and too exciting to remain in the realm of fantasy and who day by day hour by hour toil in the search of their dream until finally one day they can touch it with their hands and see it with their eyes! Those are truly passionate people.
How to Rock While Everyone Else Rolls? These words of wisdom are a great start, but, Alistair added that the surest way to increase your success is to increase your failures. You can’t succeed unless you make the effort and it may not always work out the first, even the second or third, time.
Each of the priority words collected from those businesses people Alistair interviewed are defining attributes and may just be what our organizations need to succeed. pha
