Persistence

"Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence.
Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent."

-- Calvin Coolidge

" Keep pluggin' "

-- Larry Kelly

I have a plaque of the first quote hanging in my office. The second quote was rendered by my dad at the end of just about every phone conversation we ever had when I was in college. They both speak to the same thing (although my dad really knew how to get to the point -- much easier to remember too!)

Persistence. Perseverance. Hanging in there, again all odds...or just again the frustration or boredom that inevitably sets in after you've been at something for a while. It can end up robbing you of the very thing you're striving for, and in a way that almost seems unfair. "I'm working so hard, and for what?" you might think. Once that thinking starts taking over, you're fighting an uphill battle.

Fast forward to a little after 5:30pm today. As I was leaving a building on our Palm Bay campus, I pulled out my trusty CrackBlackberry to see what I'd been missing all afternoon. There was a message from George, my boss. "Tried to stop by your office, then I called and couldn't reach you. So I reverted to Plan C -- email. Congratulations! You made it (and just in the nick of time!) Great work!" was the gist of his message.

The "just in the nick of time" was a reference to the Harris Fiscal Year, which ends tomorrow. The "congratulations, you made it" meant that I had officially maxed out my incentive bonus for the year -- with one entire day to spare!

Now I'm new to the sales and marketing arena, and the corporate world in general. In the government world, the fiscal year ends on September 30th and the big rush then is to make sure you have spent all your money. So the mind-set change is significant.

But my general approach, and this is where persistence comes in, has been the same. Throughout my government career, I never worried excessively about when my next promotion would come. Sure, I thought about the topic occasionally and I was generally aware of the process and when it happened every year. But some people were absolutely obsessed...knowing exactly what days were key, and wondering when the announcements would be made, and if they were late "what does that mean?" -- that kind of stuff.

My approach was always to work hard, do the best job I possibly good, in the most ethical way possible, while treating people how I wanted to be treated. Then, I figured, things would work out the way they should. Some people may think that's kind of naive -- I never took a job solely because it would help me get promoted for example -- but I think it worked out OK for me over a 20+ year career.

I guess I didn't know any other way when I came to work for Harris last Fall. George briefed me on the incentive plan that would now be a key part of my compensation. "A bonus," I thought, "that would be nice." I played with the numbers once in a while to see what I might have a shot at, but toward the end it looked like my payout would be minimal because of customer delays that were out of my control. It was a little disappointing, but I figured I would just have a big year next year. We're in Florida, I have a really good job, and a great family. Those are the important things.

Well some of the delays cleared up, the stars aligned, and we officially won a big enough job just in time to boost me over the top. It was a great feeling...not just because of the money (which is definitely nice, don't get me wrong!) but also because I had kept pluggin'...

Thanks Dad!