Hey Snowflake, No Excuses Only Solutions

Most people who make the world go around are interested in results and not explanations about why something was not possible. Absolutely nothing of any worth has ever been accomplished by an excuse.

I get to interact with some of the most impressive overachievers in their respective space. They all find a way to get things accomplished and I rarely can dissect a conversation and find an excuse from them as to why something did not happen.

This past week was another fantastic week of tremendous growth for TMG. We deployed our Precruiting strategy for another client and we are dramatically changing their current talent acquisition strategy that will result in substantially better results. I am sitting here at Logan Airport on Friday afternoon reflecting on the week as I head home and I am incredibly thankful for the opportunities that continue to be put in front of our firm.

Absolutely nothing of any worth has ever been accomplished by an excuse.

I do quite a bit of travel in my role and what I am about to share with you will be a day-in-the-life with most of the “road warriors” out there but the lesson is about choices. 

On Wednesday, I had a full day with a client of ours in New Jersey at one of their facilities and we were going from 8am to 5pm. I left the client and headed to Newark Airport to catch a flight that would get me into Boston late that evening. I had a very important meeting on Thursday morning at 8:00am with a client who had arranged to have a number of very busy field-based executives on site at their facility.

The flight out of Newark kept getting delayed until approximately 12:30am. Eventually Jet Blue canceled the flight. Not good, I was in Newark, it was 12:30am and I needed to be at the clients in Danvers, Mass. ready to go at 8:00am.

I could not miss this meeting and needed an immediate solution. Walking from the gate I asked myself charter flight? rent a car? Ah ! Wait Uber! Cracking myself up, I plugged in my destination in Boston and hit “Request”. The app searched for “Drivers” and up popped Amru in an Acura MDX.

Now from what I understand about Uber, the Driver does not know their destination until the passenger gets into the car and the ride starts. I did not know this at the time though. The gentlemen takes my luggage and puts it in the back of the car and then hops in and presses the phone and he sees “Danvers, Mass.” LOL. He looks back at me and asks “Boston?”, I smile and say “Yup. Big meeting in the morning my man, go big or go home”. He smiles and says “Let’s go.” Zero hesitation.

See, this is where words like commitment, promise, solution, integrity, word, persevere and pride mean so much to those who achieve. Those words are at the core of all of those that deliver excellence on a regular basis. We understand what those words really mean.

Amru and I drove for nearly 5 hours to Danvers in the pouring rain and talked about all kinds of things. He is a wonderful man. He dropped me at the hotel, shook my hand and wished me well with my meeting that day. Hopped back in his car and off he drove. Never complaining about a thing. For those that are dying to know, yes the Uber bill was $1,094.51.

“Yup. Big meeting in the morning my man, go big or go home”. He smiles and says “Let’s go.” Zero hesitation.

I got to the hotel, with just enough time to grab a shower, a coffee and go over my notes and head to my all-day meeting and then dinner with a client that night. I ended that 40 straight hours of no sleep thankful as I stared out the cab window on the way back to the hotel. I was thankful for the chance to be given the opportunity to continue to be able to be asked to “find a way”.  

Just find a way. Solutions and not excuses.