{"id":1202,"date":"2012-03-06T09:45:43","date_gmt":"2012-03-06T14:45:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bobpaff.com\/?p=1202"},"modified":"2014-06-11T14:24:10","modified_gmt":"2014-06-11T18:24:10","slug":"the-big-six","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bobpaff.com\/?p=1202","title":{"rendered":"The Big Six"},"content":{"rendered":"

While catching up with an old friend last week, he shared a lesson with me that he learned from the\u00a0master himself, legendary CEO Jack Welch<\/a>. Mike Gill<\/a> is chairman of Evergreen Advisors<\/a> \"BusinessLessons\"<\/a>and has been\u00a0known to many in Baltimore and the surrounding communities for years. When I first met Mike, he was\u00a0founder, president and CEO of Americom Telecommunications, a company he and his partner later sold.<\/p>\n

Never one to be idle, Mike has reinvented himself multiple times, finally into his current position with\u00a0Evergreen.\u00a0We reconnected when Mike sent me a handwritten note congratulating me for being nominated for\u00a0Corridor\u2019s Person of the Year<\/a>. While we go back some 20 years or so, our paths rarely cross, with\u00a0the possible exception of seeing each other across a crowded restaurant or business event. Such is\u00a0Baltimore, the village trying so hard to be a city! When we met last week, Mike seemed as full of life as\u00a0ever, just the executive I remembered meeting many years ago. Honored that he remembered me, I told\u00a0him that neither time nor the responsibilities of life had dulled his charm. We met briefly, but before he\u00a0departed, Mike shared a little something with me \u2013 something he lives by every day and that I too will now\u00a0incorporate into my daily life. \u201cThe Big Six,\u201d from Jack Welch. I think I’ve read it 100 times since Mike\u00a0pulled it out his pocket and gave it to me with such pride that you would have thought it was a great stock tip!\u00a0Or maybe better!<\/p>\n

The point is, we all need something to live by, something to motivate us, something to make us get out of\u00a0bed every morning and face this big, bad, cruel and ever-changing world. Yes, many things have\u00a0changed since Mike and I first met, not just the color or amount of hair on our heads, or the speed of\u00a0technology! And yet, while change is one of the only constants in our life, some things remain the same.\u00a0We all need a higher calling, a purpose in life, a mission statement, a creed or motto to live by. This has
\nnothing to do with religion or politics, although it certainly could. It has more to do with what makes you\u00a0tick, where your fire is, how will you leave your mark. If your obituary were written today, what would it\u00a0say? If yesterday had been your last day on Earth, and 500 people showed up to send you off, what\u00a0would they say? What would your kids, your spouse, your life partner, your friends and business\u00a0associates say about you? What must the world know before you leave?<\/p>\n

My hope is you can answer many, if not all, of these questions. I sense that Mike Gill can. I would be one\u00a0of his 500 farewell celebrants. If you can’t answer many or any of these, what are you waiting for? Are\u00a0you waiting to \u201cfigure it out,\u201d waiting until the moment is right, waiting for that big break or someone to do\u00a0it for you? Those days, my friends, will never come. No one ever leaves with too much. Too much time,\u00a0too much money, too many friends, too many great memories. Blessed are the ones who leave many of\u00a0those behind, but more numerous are the ones who don’t even come close.<\/p>\n

Get started today. Go find your Jack Welch inspiration, just like Mike did and shares with guys like me! It’s\u00a0out there. We all have it, some find it quicker then others, some never find it but for certain you’ll be in that\u00a0final group unless you start the process today! So here’s to Mike Gill and Jack Welch, here\u2019s The Big Six\u00a0you’ve been waiting for ever for me to reveal. Let us know how that’s going!<\/p>\n

1. Face Reality as it is, not as it was, or as you wish it to were.
\n2. Be candid with everyone.
\n3. Don’t manage, lead.
\n4. Change before you have to.
\n5. If you don\u2019t have a competitive advantage, don’t compete.
\n6. Control your own destiny, or someone else will.<\/p>\n

To your Success, Bob<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The point is, we all need something to live by, something to motivate us, something to make us get out of bed every morning and face this big, bad, cruel and ever-changing world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2069,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[37],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bobpaff.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1202"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bobpaff.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bobpaff.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bobpaff.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bobpaff.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1202"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/bobpaff.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1202\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2070,"href":"https:\/\/bobpaff.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1202\/revisions\/2070"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bobpaff.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bobpaff.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bobpaff.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bobpaff.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}