Jeff Richards

With who I am directing my path towards success, how I am defines the essence of my soul.

Often, a performance oriented motivator appreciates concise, clear goals and challenges that develop relationships for life. The value of lifelong relationships in any industry are truly priceless and so is the cost to create them. What’s next you say?

Whether you're leading 10 or 100 people, you need to be inquisitive with them regarding their motivational drivers. Know your people and what they want in life and you will then know how to help them accomplish their goals. Welcome... the concept of servant leadership, a phrase best noted by Robert K. Greenleaf in his penned masterpiece, The Servant as Leader (1970). It is about serving first because you want to. And, to define who I am, you simply need to take in that last sentence once again. Keeping that in mind, a derivative of that is loyalty, which is earned through excellent relationship growth, an art form in itself.

Therefore, I like to think of business partners and consumers as one in the same. We all want to be trusted, but do we believe in ourselves enough to gain that respect?

Have our own personal goals sometimes overshadowed our ability to create that loyal bond as needed? Do we, as leaders of our industries, leave opportunity on the table? Do we know the potential value of our relationships and will they last our lifetime?

Essentially, my goal is quite simple. Discovering that overcomplicating the obvious causes a lack of focus on the prize, my goal, consistently, is to serve our business partners directly or serve someone else who does.

Mastering that goal has been my mantra, of which has also inspired the spirit of loyalty. To accomplish this, empathy and courage are necessary. And, when merged together, it is in that moment that success becomes imminent. Empathy to truly understand the needs and wants of our business partners and courage to ask for their commitment in doing business with us. Seize the moment with passion, because, that is when you inspire relationships for life and concede that it's not about cost, it's about value.