Consistency and Personality Honed Through Disruption

While I’m not sure where it originated, the phrase I’ve likely heard more than any other is: “You can only control two things, your attitude and your actions.” Depending on where you’re sitting, that could set you free or it could kick you square in the pants. Coming to terms with the idea that most everything we encounter on any given day is indeed outside of our control provides some with a sense of relief (and others with at least a slight dose of agony). Taking ownership of the two things we can accept complete responsibility for, though, carries a weight of its own. Truly controlling our own attitude and actions is far easier said than done.

The March 2020 decision to step away from W2 employment and focus solely on the work we were building our business around certainly had roots in the opportunities that had filled our calendar, but it was just as much about dialing in on a specific area of strength - one based in that clear purpose we had been chasing for so long to that point. Leading up to that, there was very little that I had experience in that I would shy away from. I had been involved in a wide array of initiatives: continuous improvement, safety, human resources, and even quality control. In the early stages of our business, I was willing to take on just about anything that generated revenue. That said, some of that had no ties whatsoever to that clear purpose. Just as importantly as that, everything that pulled us away from that purpose was also limiting the attention we could give to the things that fed our purpose. My dad had hunting dogs when I was growing up and I loved hearing a good bear chase. But even with the best dogs, a good chase turns bad when there’s more than one bear (or any other animal) to pull some of the dogs in another direction. I’ve often heard that when you chase multiple rabbits, you don’t catch any. The same is true for bears, and it’s just as true for chasing your purpose.

In late 2020 and through much of 2021, I had to intentionally chase more than one thing just to keep our lights on. When everything we had scheduled got postponed indefinitely, chasing whatever I could to generate revenue became my only real option. Through each adversity we had experienced leading up to that, and through each of Hill’s leadership attributes we were developing through the process, doing more than we were paid for and assuming complete responsibility were likely the two we modeled most. We were indeed controlling our actions and we had done that through extreme consistency for years. 

I won’t speak for Cindy here, but I can share that controlling my attitude - especially through the kind of disruption we experience in 2020 - was a much taller order. Global adversity forges the exact traits needed for values-driven leadership that works anywhere—chaos becomes a competitive advantage in trust and adaptability. Even then, though, controlling only my actions and not keeping my attitude in check would have pushed away many of the opportunities I needed to help keep our lights on, whether they were exactly what I was looking for or not. Consistency, which we had well in hand, and (a pleasing) personality honed through disruption allowed us to nurture the seeds we found along the way.

Those seeds led to influence that traveled to rooms we weren’t even in. We’ll look at how that unfolded next. Before we do, I’ll challenge you to think about a recent period of uncertainty you’ve fought through. Where did consistency or a pleasing approach lag? Let’s be honest, maintaining a good attitude (or pleasing approach) is tough when stuff hits the fan. What one thing can you do to strengthen your approach the next time you’re faced with a similar situation?