The only way to be successful is to help others reach their goals. The key to success isn’t necessarily having a master’s degree or networking with the right people, the secret is helping those around us accomplish what they have set out to do. If we’re selfish and it’s all about us, people can see right through that agenda and nobody wants to help a self-centered person… they have it all figured out anyway. And this is applicable to anyone whether we’re just starting as an intern, a middle manager, an entrepreneur, or the CEO of a Fortune 500 enterprise. Leadership in an organization should never just be from the top down, it needs to permeate throughout the company.
If every day and every move is about us, we cannot help those around us. When we cannot help those around us,we’re working for ourselves, and no single person has ever moved mountains on their own. Abraham Lincoln had a cabinet full of ambitious men, Rosa Parks & Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had entire communities behind them, and Jobs had Wozniak. None of them were alone.
In our professional careers there will be times when we have opportunities to go out of our way to help others. Pounce on them. Do not let them go by, those good deeds will come full circle and be repaid when we need them most. This can be helping to meet a deadline, it can be offering an outside opinion, it can be a listening ear when it’s needed, and so many other things. If we’re giving of our time and our energies, we will be repaid and we will build a reputation as someone that everyone wants to work with.
Everyone has their own personal goals and aspirations, I’m not saying to forgo them. But if those are always in the front seat and we determine that nobody is worth deviating, we will soon be standing by ourselves. And even is we do accomplish those life goals and we make it to the top, we’ll have nobody to share it with. The key to success is building others up, not building ourselves up.
Who can we help to accomplish their goals today?
