Foundational Fridays -- Tons O'Talent

What a week! Gartner hosted its annual Human Resources-related "Super Bowl", known as ReImangine HR, this week. This, to my understanding, was the most heavily attended ReImagine we've ever held or hosted.

Although I was a Gartner Executive Partner client for the better part of three years while still serving the US Air Force on Active Duty, with invitations to attend this conference, I was never able to make it. Now that I am on the other side of that Executive Partner relationship, this was my first ReImagine! Note: Gartner's Executive Partner program connects current Chief Human Resource Officers and other C-suiters to highly educated, experienced, and exemplary HR executives.

This picture is worth tens of thousands, if not many, many more, words. Every person in this picture is a former C-Suite Executive. There are a number of our teammates who aren't in this picture, but they are all also amazing. Aside from being high achievers in their personal and professional lives, they are supremely and sublimely filled with intellect, inspiration, and insights.

Together, across just three days, we directly engaged hundreds and hundreds of clients, prospects, panels, and participants. In their book, Trillion Dollar Coach: The Leadership Playbook of Silicon Valley's Bill Campbell; Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg, and Alan Eagle share the story of how Bill (no relation to me that I know), influenced and impacted hundreds, if not, thousands of people across his remarkable life and career.

Bill coached talent and teams that built some of the most successful enterprises ever, including Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google and many, many more household names. Until two weeks ago, I'd never heard of him. A friend gave me the aforementioned book, that I read during my travels just this week.

Bill's wit and wisdom could not have been timelier to have learned than this week. Why? Because one of the key things I took away from this great read was his statement and sentiment that ... "when faced with an issue, his first question wasn't about the issue itself, it was about the team tasked with tackling the issue. Get the team right and you'll get the issue right." (Page 153 from the book, emphasis mine).

This voiced volumes to me when reflecting about this week's events this morning. I'm part of a team that not only asks the right questions; it works in universal uniformity to deliver the highest value to our respective clients. We work as a collective. While we all work one-on-one with different clients, we solve challenges, issues, and drive into open opportunities as a team.

This is one of the most collaborative and communicative teams I've had the pure privilege and pleasure to be on across my more than three decades of service to others. The last three words of the prior sentence are the key kernel to Bill's "secret sauce" ... our primary purpose on this planet is to serve and support others becoming the best version of themselves. When we do that, that leads to helping others become successful.

That is what we do here at Gartner. We share and submit that, "We deliver actionable, objective insight that drives smarter decisions and stronger performance on an organization's mission-critical priorities."

The team is not just the Executive Partners in the posted picture (and those missing), it includes our amazing Account Executives, critical-thinking Client Success Managers/Partners, and analysts/advisors, working together to deliver a sweet symphony, if you will, of strategic-level capability, capacity, and competencies to our clients.

In this week's Foundational Fridays, I am simply sharing my deep gratitude to my great teammates. They make me want to be better by their example. They do deliver real, resonate results for our clients. They are all Trillion Dollar Coaches!

Anne Harris Belén Fernández Bob Leavitt Christine Murray David Whan Dr. Debbie Lynch Dennis Berger Erik Lewis, SPHR Gene Schrecengost Jennifer Browning Joanne Suffis Johnna Torsone Julie Brown Marguerite A. Ulrich (she/her) Melissa McMahon Michael Grealy Michael Jones Michele Abel Michelle Hairston Padma Thiruvengadam Rich Cober (he-him) Rowland Hanley Shawn Moren Steve Miranda (He / Him) Margaret McNamara Nicole Cannon Jacqueline Truong Hai-In Kim Nelson Kristen Mullery Julia Walker Sarah Cooper Anastasia Mihnovets Gilkes Jordan Kraayenbrink Roy Rucker Jr. Victoria Freeland Todd Gibson Brian McCormick Emily Louzao Kieron Shitama Scott McCloughan Michelle Daniels Alexia Vlosky Tammy Heller Shealyn Cunningham