An enlightening evening!

The other night I had the privilege of being invited to the 20th Annual Washington Business Hall of Fame induction ceremonies. My friend, Bud Morrissette of Interstate Van Lines was my host. The guest list was a virtual who’s who in Washington Business so it was a great networking event as well as an opportunity to hear what these great business leaders believe had made them so successful in their careers. The inductees included Richard Fairbank of Capital One, Linda Rabbit of Rand Construction, Donald Graham of the Washington Post – sorry Chris, Mandell Ourisman of Ourisman Chevrolet and my personal friend, Milt Peterson of the Peterson Companies. Having Milt get into the Hall of Fame was a nice surprise as I had no idea what the event was about or who was to receive awards prior to my arrival.

So, do you know what I found out? They are similar to many of the beliefs we hold true about our businesses I am sure. First, you need to have a vision, a passion to serve your clients and your community – always give back, continue to learn and grow, work harder than others in your field, be innovative, be focused, and finally, there is no better place to conduct business than the Washington area. Some other thoughts Bud and I had were that we need to get out and get in front of people to get opportunities, and then take advantage of those opportunities. You can’t wait for things to happen, especially in today’s environment. Those who wait won’t last. Be proactive, be involved, be optimistic, and your chances for success will be greatly improved. Again, it isn’t rocket science and as a matter of fact, one of the presenters said you don’t need to be a genius to make it in business you need to be a leader as well as have the qualities mentioned previously.

Another one of my conversations worth repeating from last night is the one I had with my buddy, Wes Foster. I have had the opportunity to visit the Taj Mahal off Lee Road a few times and each time I have been there Wes wasn’t there. After some small talk about the building and news about real estate, I asked him why he hadn’t been there on either of my visits. He said, “The market is bad, very, very bad and it’s going to get worse. I need to be on the road to find the answers but it is bad out there and who knows when it is going to get better?” Can you imagine? The vision, attitude, direction and leadership of any company starts at the top and filters down and resonates throughout the organization. Attitude isn’t everything but it is pretty damn close. Negative attitudes – the cancer of any business – are hard to flush out of organizations and if it is at the top, look out!

We are uniquely positioned in today’s market to take advantage of other’s beliefs about where things are and where they are going so let’s get busy and DO IT! Get it? Got it? Good!