Sunday, March 3, 2013

Work with MEANING !!!

Shelby decided it was time!  She was only 22 weeks into gestation.  Unfortunately, she was nowhere near a hospital and there were no emergency crews immediately available for transportation.  Many miles away, a Sikorsky program manager was in the process of working with a customer for final acceptance of a special medivac helicopter.  The request for assistance arrived.  Everyone involved worked together to allow the aircraft to be used for this emergency situation and Shelby is a happy ten year old today.

Working in aerospace for over 32 years, you can begin to think “making metal fly” is an exciting, technically challenging and important undertaking.  Then you are reminded what amazing things the products do.  These stories and accomplishments are what make the job rewarding in the end.  We’ve all heard the story of the mason laying bricks versus the one building the cathedral.  One is doing a job and the other is contributing to mankind.  It is the leader’s responsibility to keep the true mission of the organization visible to the team. When I saw the items in the photo on Mike’s shelf, it was a wonderful reminder of this important leadership communication role.

How do you keep your team engaged in the bigger mission?  What challenging jobs have you had to figure out the mission of?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Dear disgruntled anonymous,

I've known John for quite some time and if you have an issue, I would encourage you to reach out offline. He has mentored many and could likely help you too. The open internet is not the place.

Successful Mentee

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