The Drive to Aim High Page 9

  At the residence, we were having a very difficult time as the war unfolded. Funding for the mission was no longer available, and the debts began to add up day by day and month after month. Being with my stepfather throughout this period, I got to understand him even much more than before, and I was able to grasp the deep meaning of his legacy mindset.

  I got to understand his reason for remaining in Romania until the very last moment, even thought he could have left for the United States at any given time. He chose to stay in order to ensure that all the Liberian students were taken care of and had the support they needed to leave Romania upon their graduation. His staff was also still there, and as head of the mission, he couldn’t see himself leaving without ensuring safe passage for all of them.

  The very meaning of the legacy mindset for my stepfather was people first, which for him was more important than his own well-being. This somehow rubbed off on me. From the very start of my business, my entire company has been built around a people first philosophy.

  Leadership Legacy

  I was lucky to have been surrounded by the right people at the beginning of my business. It helped me go through some of the difficulties that confronted me in Romania. This falls under the legacy mindset, because our success in business – or failure – depends greatly on the people around us. We might be around people who criticize if we fail, or those who fall into the opposite category, who encourage us to move forward. Part of my people first philosophy is having the right people around you, those who lift you up when your spirits are down or celebrate your accomplishments with you.

  Mihaela, my first employee, has been with the company for 19 years, since I first started the business in Romania. She was a part-time collaborator, working with me to answer telephones and helping with whatever needed to be done around the office. To be honest, I didn’t even have an office at that point! We worked out of a room owned by the friend of a friend. It was an extremely old building, but the rent was next to nothing, so we couldn’t beat the price.

  Mihaela was student at that time in her third year of university. When she completed her studies, she continued working for me. She was promoted several times in the company, working her way up from account manager to client service manager. She later became the CEO and Partner of Wave Division, the company that I run now.

  My operational director, Elena, has been within the company for 17 years. She also started as a part-time collaborator, going through various positions within the agency. I am grateful to have her beside me, challenging and supporting me for so many years.

  The point here is that there is great value in investing in your employees to create long-term employee relationships. This is so good for everyone, including your customers. There is no question this is about spending time to build a powerful collaborative environment. As leaders, we should be helping others learn and grow, and also enabling them to embrace challenges without the fear of failure.

  Another piece of the legacy mindset is forming partnerships with other like-minded people so that you can have more impact. Find and partner with others who have the same or a similar legacy mindset to yours. Think of the good that you can do! It isn’t either/or. It’s either you do it yourself - the Lone Ranger mentality - or you can build a network of others, teammates and coworkers with whom your conjoined wisdom then can spread over to other influencers. This is true because there is strength in numbers, and added value to your insights when you work together.

  This perspective is about shifting from a local view - city, state, country - to a greater, grander worldview. Your insights can be valuable to people. The legacy mindset is one that includes not only you reaching down, pulling people up and then encouraging them to impact their peers, but also reaching out to other influencers and co-creating through collaboration.

  The legacy mindset also includes mentoring whenever possible. People are more awake in Europe around this idea that “60 is the new 40” and that people are living longer. They are still very vibrant, so they figure they have a good two decades or more ahead of them. This unique time gives them the opportunity to mentor others. Mentoring in one’s later years is such a powerful time because you’re not in the beginning mode of your career. You’ve hit your stride. You’re able to make a bigger difference in the world because you have more to offer.

  When I reflect upon the issues that I have confronted in my career, I see that individuals usually focus on achieving growth for themselves, first. This is normal, but I believe a wider approach is needed. Achievers, like myself and perhaps like you, want to develop quickly. Achievers also want the rewards that come from their efforts as soon as possible. As leaders, achievers are mostly geared towards how profitable our businesses can become. But, placing profitability foremost rather than taking a people first approach can actually harm your business potential at the end of the day.

  When we lost P&G, our major client who was contributing to a huge portion of our revenues, I had a decision to make. I could have reduced the company personnel by firing a significant number of them, but I didn’t do that. Instead, I focused on reducing costs and optimizing our business processes. I did everything possible to keep everyone in the company until we could get another client that would replace the lost revenue. I put people first because of my legacy mindset.

  The outcome was that our revenues almost doubled in 2018 compared to 2017. We continued to offer thousands of jobs yearly for students entering the job market in Romania. Since the incorporation of Wave Division, our contribution as an advertising agency has been creating a positive impact in forming the next generation’s workforce.

  By thinking only of how much profit we are going to make, or as individuals, how quickly we can grow, we often forget the importance of meaningful relationships in our workplace with our extended families. These are some of the issues that I think we are confronted with today when we contemplate the legacy mindset. It simply doesn’t exist in so many people around us.

  Family Responsibility Legacy

  In Africa, we have a tradition where the big man in a family takes care of the little ones. I’m the big man of my family. I’m not the oldest because I have a brother who is two years older than I, but I’m the most educated. I have this responsibility to care about and to help my family as a way of living my legacy.

  It’s about deep values instilled in me since my first years spent in my village. Values transmitted through generations in the place I came from. I’m the most educated person in my family; therefore, it’s my obligation to somehow embrace this legacy mindset. It’s not just my responsibility, but my honor to give back, to support my family in order for the little ones to become educated for the betterment of their future.

  Whatever your culture is, however your “village” or family is structured, think about ways you can help its members reach their goals in realistic ways. Think about schooling, tutoring, parenting, emotional, and even appropriate financial support. Sometimes your legacy mindset will include setting boundaries and saying no. But, the end goal will always be to help that person, family member, or community member become better in some way.

  Steps to Integrate the Legacy Mindset into Your Daily Life

  Identify three positive things your family has said that you have contributed to them. For example, take one of my colleagues, Alice. She tried this exercise and discovered her family saw her as the one to turn to for organizing parties, the person they relied upon when they wanted to brainstorm new meal options (she is a great cook), and the only one they would count on to help them with any things they needed to write, whether it was a new resume, a blog post, or even a cool tweet on social media. After taking this inventory inside her family, Alice felt more purposeful. It also opened up ideas for her as to how to help others outside of her family, such as volunteering to help a couple of local nonprofits that could benefit from her talents.

  Create a legacy journal. This exercise only requires a simple lined journal where you start
to take note of the things you admire in your family members. This journal can include your insights and positive impressions of your siblings, children, spouse, parents, and even cousins with whom you are close. This legacy journal will hopefully be a treasured gift from you to your family.

  Note that you can also create a legacy journal for your organization where you share, in writing (something I believe will become more valuable as we continue to be computer-centric), your thoughts on the many intangible gifts of kindness, creativity, leadership, and more from your employees and vendor partners. This journal can be the corporate diary of your workplace that celebrates all the good things others have done for you and your company throughout the year.

  Create a legacy program for your employees, customers, or clients. This can be something as simple as supporting your local schools by having your employees provide mentoring to students. You can also establish a scholarship, or internships at your company where you focus on helping students.

  Think about how your company impacts current employees. While I have several employees who have been with me for decades, the days of people staying with a company more than a year or two is becoming rarer, at least in the US. Think about how you can shape your company’s culture and how you treat your employees from day one to their departure. How can you use that time, however long it is, to instill a people first legacy in their lives? It might be part of your official policies, or through company meetings, conferences, and gatherings (employee picnics and holiday celebrations, and so on), or maybe the company shuts down for three days to a week to allow time for employees, along with their families, to attend a conference or event together.

  08

  WHY MINDSET MATTERS

  The seven mindsets I have presented in this book are God-given to you, no matter your place of birth, education, or race. Discipline and hard work are required to master these mindsets. I encourage you to embrace hard work and discipline as you employ them, for this is how you shall succeed.

  Complete Circle: Family Values

  I reunited with my birth parents after a long separation of 25 years. I didn’t even know if they were alive; yet, I had a strong belief that they were. I knew I had to do all I could to find them, so I booked a trip to Liberia.

  With help from a good friend, a former Liberian student in Romania, I found my village, which I remembered well from my childhood. There, I found my mom.

  Just imagine. I left my village at the age of ten. But, almost as though time had stood still, I swiftly walked to the house where I was born. A quarter of a century had passed. I didn’t even know if my parents were alive; yet, I knew where I was born, and that this was my house.

  When I arrived in front of the house, I saw her. There stood my mother sweeping the porch.

  “Hello, Mom,” I said.

  She looked at me, and asked, “Who are you?”

  I answered, “I’m your son, Allieu (my given name).”

  She replied, “Who gave you the right to say you’re my son?”

  I replied calmly, “Because I am your son.”

  “If you’re my son, tell me something about you or about me.”

  She had the nerve to give me a quiz, after not hearing from me for 25 years, if you can imagine that. She felt the truth of whom I was, but she couldn’t believe I was standing there in front of her. But, all of a sudden, she did realize it was me. She fell to the ground crying. Words don’t adequately describe the waves of feelings I was experiencing at that moment. There had been doubts at various points along my life’s path, but I never lost sight of one of my dearest goals: to find my birth parents in order to provide for them and make them proud.

  It was so satisfying to connect with my parents again. I couldn’t imagine what they had endured or what they thought or felt during all those years that I was gone.

  When you are born with many options, I think the amount of bravery, courage, or whatever you choose to call it, might not be the same. We are all born with a mindset that holds great potential. But, what we achieve in life depends on how burning our desire is to succeed. The mindsets you need to achieve success will be revealed to you – if you choose to be open to see them. These mindsets are needed on your path, and you can embrace them if you expect them, look for them, and don’t lose sight of your dreams.

  In my case, I grew up with a mindset that saw potential. I needed to be a better man. I needed to see the better part of life. Since reuniting with my parents, I have completed the circle, the one that began with my mother telling me at very young age that I was to “become a big man.” My story is not over, but just continuing as I strive to grow without ceasing, and as I work and rework my life and business, so I can continue doing what I love.

  Lessons of Life

  During my journey, I have consciously developed these mindsets, without acknowledging them until later in life. I have also had the benefit of seeing my family employing them in ways far beyond what I thought was possible.

  I saw my stepfather G. Marcus Kelley espousing the Persistence Mindset during the Liberian Civil War and living his Legacy Mindset throughout his life. My in-laws in Romania have shown the Persistence and Resilience Mindsets, further displaying through their actions that age and human limitations can’t stop you from staying true to your dream, even when you are faced with provocation, disruption, and sorrow.

  Then, there is my son, who at a very young age, demonstrated the Passion Mindset as he committed to the constant rigor and training it takes to realize his dream of becoming a world class tennis player.

  Yes, it’s true that past experiences, environment, culture, and other events in your life might or might not trigger you to access these seven mindsets. But, this doesn’t mean you can’t master them.

  So, ask yourself:

  How can I usher them into my life tomorrow?

  How will I start putting them to use?

  How can I further tap into them to become the best me possible?

  There is no secret formula for using these mindsets. The important thing is to start now.

  As Napoleon Hill once stated, “There is one quality which one must possess to win, and that is definiteness of purpose, the knowledge of what one wants, and a burning desire to possess it.”

  Some people might choose to argue that what one is exposed to in their upbringing creates their mindsets, rather than those being an inherent part of each individual. I believe the truth lies somewhere between the two.

  From my personal experience, I believe by employing the Observation Mindset (the first one I began developing as a child), all the way through the other six mindsets, they created in me a willingness to also consider the mindsets of others. This openness to learn constantly then led to me deciding what mindset fit into the design of my life’s path. Many times, these mindsets have inspired me to approach my life-plan from very different angles. As a result, I am constantly learning new ways of looking at life, ways that have helped me lead instead of always following the lead of others.

  The mindset lessons are available to all of us in our lives. We are surrounded by opportunities on a daily basis. But, it is up to us whether we take the time to evaluate the potential benefits of applying one or more of the seven mindsets to each situation/opportunity. I have come to believe that focusing on the best possible case scenario will lead to the wisest choices. All of the mindsets join forces to influence those choices. When you focus on what you do want to achieve rather than entertaining any negative aspects of what you do not want, then you stay truer to your own desires and goals. You will see the beneficial results of your efforts when you look back at the positive outcomes that resulted from your decisions.

  But, in order for you to put these seven mindsets to work for you, you must have a strong belief in yourself and your purpose. Tapping into the power of the mindsets also calls for a commitment and the drive to work hard along with a burning desire for success. Success, without the hard work, isn’t going to come simply by b
elieving.

  For me, as mentioned at the beginning of this book, it was the everlasting impact of my mother’s words; those words she repeated to me as a child. Honoring those words drove me to discover the seven mindsets and then to develop them along the way and access them as needed.

  It was no easy walk for me, but I successfully overcame each obstacle I faced because I refused to see failure as the end route to my dream.

  All was made possible because of my determination to aim high, coupled with learning and leveraging the seven mindsets.

  THIS BUSINESS CALLED LIFE: CONNECTING THE SEVEN MINDSETS

  Now let’s focus on connecting the seven mindsets and then utilizing them to reach your full potential. Who are you?

  Who you are doesn’t refer to who you are currently. It also refers to the “you” that you have become as a result of the journey you have taken. Your journey includes where you started from all the way to where you are at this particular moment. It’s also about your family, relatives, and friends, peers and so on. By using the Observation Mindset, you can reflect on all of the many good and bad experiences you have been through.

  In my case, I used this mindset to track the growth points I experienced along my journey. I observed that I overcame hurdles such as my delayed education, the lack of “guidance” on the part of my birth parents as well as the lack of a balanced and steady environment during my childhood. But, I also observed that the combined challenges presented to me only made me want to fight and succeed more instead of bringing me to my knees.

  What’s Next?

  You create your life day by day, year by year. Once you have begun using the mindset exercises I’ve offered in this book, you will soon find your life improving.