By Mike Lessiter, President
"Mike Drop" column from the September 2019 Lessiter Link newsletter
"Hard working people equipping hard working people with knowledge for success." — The LM Passion (EOS Strategic Plan)
What do you do? Refining the answer to its basic level, you could say we "scatter the seeds of knowledge." Ideas and knowledge for specific niche industries are not commodities in endless supply, yet the demand is always there.
There are few callings that deliver more meaning or impact than our purpose at LM: supporting real-life people as they work to achieve their own specific life goals. There's dignity and nobility, in that cause.
Our niche audiences more readily see and appreciate our efforts than we do back here in the trenches.
Consider the rest of this page as a mirror held up to you at LM — reflected at those times when we're performing at our best.
- You know our customers by name, and you understand the way they think, process information and act. And they know you. Our business is personal.
- You stay up-to-date and correct any missing gaps on our audience (even if one email address or phone number at a time) — to maintain the best and most complete database in existence in our niche segments. You do it today, because it's the lifeblood of the business.
- You manage and steward the resources necessary to fund and sustain a growing enterprise.
- You use your creative gifts to bring content to life and engage our audience, so information they need isn't missed.
- You identify and refine our unique selling proposition (what only we do best), and use relationships and talents to connect those who will value it.
- You know our customers' industry — and also those "who've gone before" — so you can put current challenges into perspective.
- You learn something new each month.
- You work at unearthing successes, but also lessons learned and mistakes so they aren't repeated. When we do this for our readers, we can also protect and preserve character and ethics.
- You find ways to exercise our main muscles here ... that of a small, nimble, close-to-the-action team with the courage and will to turn fast.
- You problem-solve. You attack processes that result in needless friction or error.
- You remove the daily grind for those you support (internally or externally) so they can pursue greater things.
- You listen and you empathize to customers, but challenge them too, and insist on high expectations to "bring their best" — because their business is worth it. The same is true within our offices.
- You persevere and don't give up because the seas are rougher than you'd like. You understand life wasn't intended to be easy and would be deathly boring if it were. Your pride in self and commitment prepare you to "get after it" again on a new day.
- You plan your time so you can give of it in community projects, understanding a bigger world exists. Similarly, you commit to your own professional development because those around you deserve your best. Because when you get better, everybody wins.
That's what you do. You are LM.
