Running a successful company for 33 years required a bunch of stuff coming together. When strangers ask me how it happened, I smile and give a vague and easy answer: “Good luck and great employees.”
That’s an okay answer if I just want to move on quickly to catch a plane or a football game.
If I wish to invest more time and feel the inquirer is really interested, I start with one word: “Endurance.”
Endurance is what happens between the times of good fortune. It’s what makes great employees come together when the room gets dark and a series of failures have clumped into a giant ball of fear and uncertainty.
Endurance is courage. Endurance is self-confidence. Endurance is the result of hard work giving nourishment to an indefatigable belief in a worthy mission.
If the ingredient of endurance is lacking (whether in an individual or an organization), the full potential for excellence will be unfulfilled.
Looking back over the life of The Change Companies® and the life of Don Kuhl, I could have done a better job. I could have shown greater endurance during the toughest times.
But, hey, the stories are not over yet. My endurance will make for fabulous concluding chapters.