Signature Leaders Blog
Reminders to Inspire

You are a top performer and have been for your whole career. Your manager knows it and is a great mentor and coach. But what if your manager leaves the company? How well are you known throughout the rest of the organization?

You may be doing very well with your own work group, perhaps even across your business unit. But what about beyond your day-to-day routines and meetings. How many relationships do you have across the enterprise in other units? In other geographies? In different functions?

If the scouting report on you is “she is a top performer, she always gets things done,” that’s good! But it’s not good enough. What is it about you that is valuable to others?

Why should I network? I hardly have enough time to do my job as it is.

What comes to mind when I say the word “network”?

Responses I have received run the gamut from “I know I need to build a network, but I don’t have time” to “I hate walking into a room of people I don’t know and trying to generate superficial conversations.” In many cases, the adjectives used are self-serving, inauthentic, uncomfortable, and downright overwhelming. But that’s not what I mean when I say “network”.

Network is not a verb. Network is a NOUN.

The back of my business card reads: Signature is more than business excellence. It’s leading life intentionally.

I often say that if we lead life intentionally, we will be better business leaders, and likely better managers, colleagues, friends, and family members. Intentionality doesn’t always have to be pre-planned. Often, the most powerful actions we take are the ones we do in the moment.

This week, we kicked off the first Signature program for 2019 in Charlotte, where I met 40 unique colors of the rainbow.

I took this photo when I was in Amsterdam because the message struck me. I thought it could be a tag line for Signature.

I recently returned from a week in Nicaragua, my first of many this year. I go to see my daughter and son-in-law twice a year, spaced between their two visits to the US. Visiting the small city of Chinandega, Nicaragua is difficult both logistically and emotionally. The bumpy, 2.5-hour drive from the airport is certainly uncomfortable, and the amount of poverty I’m exposed to is not something I will ever get used to.