The past two days the FireStarter team met in Raleigh. This was the first time we have had everyone together in the same room at the same time. Over the years we have had some combinations of people at speaking events but we havent come together to talk about our business. It was an incredible meeting and I want to share some thoughts with you from the leadership perspective.

First, I am reminded that leadership is a priviledge. These people are essentially volunteering to be part of this team. They dont have to do it, they do it because they trust me and see an opportunity to grow and make a contribution. This is a priviledge but it is also a responsibility.

Second, face to face meetings still matter. In this time of high fuel costs and the internet the temptation to go virtual is huge. And I think we should do virtual meetings but we also MUST do face to face meetings. The level of attention, the relationship building and the brainstorming cannot be replicated online or on a video call.

Finally, we videotaped a number of segments that will be used as part of our training programs in the follow-up process. We did this because we truly believe in delivering value to our clients and are always working to increase that value. Business is great and there was no pressing need to enhance our offering which is precisely why we are doing it. We choose to be ahead of the curve and innovate to continue to deliver value. When customers get value they come back. And repeat business is more profitable business and I like that.

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 2nd, 2008 at 5:36 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.