A colleague asked me a question the other day.  He asked me what my company’s mission was.  I couldn’t answer him, properly.  I realized that we were doing this work for our clients but we hadn’t taken the time to do it for OZZ.

Which begs the question:

How can you achieve success if you don’t know what success is – what it looks like, and with that in mind, how can you achieve success if you don’t know where you’re headed?

I’ve always believed that the customer is first, but I’d have to say that based on stories I’ve been hearing lately I’m not sure this is the case.

While on recent business trips to London, UK and Dublin, Ireland, and earlier in the summer to Toronto, I hooked up with new and old colleagues who work for well-known companies.  The theme across the board was fairly bleak, people telling me horror stories regarding their jobs in today’s world.  A colleague in London told me how everyone in the company he works for is stressed to the max because of its poor top-end performance.  People are working fourteen-hour days to stay afloat.  They’re unhappy.  Morale is down.  “It’s no fun working in the corporate world any more,” he explained.  “All the good people are leaving - everybody’s constantly on the hunt for something better, and the minute it comes along they’re gone.”

You’re the boss.  You’ve made it to the big time.  You’ve worked extremely hard to get here.  On a day-to-day basis everything is moving along okay but economic uncertainty has you and everyone around you worried.  There have been a few sleepless nights.  Come to think of it, there have been several actually.

Experts talk about a second wave.  You wonder if people are overreacting, or if there is some credence to what they say.  People shrug it off, assuming that it won’t affect them.  While they assure you that everything will be okay the look in their faces tells you otherwise.  There’s worry there.  Just like there is with you.  You talk positively to the troops because you know how important it is for them to see you happy.  They rely on you to keep them that way.  You do your best.