To Be or Not to Be, That's the Professional Dilemma

We learn a lot and learn well from conversations. Everything that has been observed, read and lived finds real engagement when we share something with another intelligent person. This is especially true if that person’s intelligence is totally different from our own, because it will always be complementary. The hours dedicated to the exchange of ideas with these people will always result in  a high percentage of learning.

In recent weeks, I have had the opportunity to exchange thoughts with two university professors: Professor of Philosophy and Vice ean of the Faculty of Communication at the Francisco de Vitoria University Miguel Ortega, and Professor of Business at the Instituto de la Empresa and Business Consultant Javier González Úbeda.

From these conversations, I would highlight some essential concepts:

1. You always have to dedicate yourself to what you like. Otherwise, you will not achieve professional satisfaction.

2. The success of institutions lies in choosing capable directors who will ensure the institution's development.

3. A company, a business, can only grow when it works as a team.

4. Businesses must maintain a clear focus and be ready to reinvent themselves, otherwise, they die a slow death.

5. The growth of a company must be verified year after year. Stagnation or regression are clear symptoms of illness.

Dedication

Passion, enthusiasm and commitment to what we do professionally must always be present. It is possible to go uphill but not constantly because the mind and body cannot recover and are unable to re-energize themselves. If you lose the passion for what you do, you cancel an important part of the meaning of life. We tend to see professional life as an addition to the other aspects that we live continuously. In reality, it occupies a preponderant place in time and dedication. This is where we begin to reflect on being or not being, to continue or not to continue, to transform or to remain. And also to recover the satisfaction from what we do.

Team

The road to success begins by forming a team of highly qualified managers. The CEO should dedicate the best of his efforts to their selection and training. This choice requires many elements, such as profile design, specific search, and decision-making capacity, but above all, knowing what is required from the team. Sometimes you need a goalkeeper and sometimes a striker. More specifically: Sometimes you need a goalkeeper who is able to organize a human group or a striker who has the ability to be a goalie scout. To be or not to be a good CEO clearly implies having identified the profile required for the team's composition and knowing how to choose it.

There are institutions and companies that fail to grow. Or even worse, that go backward year after year. The cause, almost without a doubt, is to be found in the lack of capacity of the directors. The book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, by Patrick Lencioni, shows how the CEO of a company identifies the who and why behind the lack of growth in the company's objectives. In a series of meetings where both personal and professional lives were exposed, he was able to clearly verify that the marketing director was impeding growth due to his lack of vision. In the same meeting, he asked him to leave the company, which allowed the other directors to focus on sustainable growth.

It seems, then, that the first quality a CEO must have is ability to select the appropriate management team. This, of course, requires intelligence, experience and vision. Analyzing the profiles and performance of each of the directors should be the first task of a CEO determined to achieve the structured growth of his company, whether it is his own company or the executive function of managing it.

It is clear to all of us that teamwork is required. Even more so in today's highly specialized and immediatist world. But teamwork implies listening skills, openness, delegation of responsibilities, leadership in approach and transformation, and respect. Teamwork is not measured by calls, meetings or minutes, but by the concrete results achieved according to the established business plan, in which everyone contributes their intelligence and vision.

Focus

For all this, clarity of focus is required. Focus, focus, focus. Knowing what our identity is, our added attributes, our vision, and our values. In short, to have a clear idea of who we are and where we are going. And to be able to reinvent those without getting lost, every time it is necessary.

Growth

Finally, growth must be verified. Growth does not only imply more business or more cash flow, but also more certainty, more research, more innovation and more development, and, therefore, a greater contribution to society and to the value chains of each company. The first social responsibility should be to contribute to the quality of life of each member of the team.

Running a company requires hours to listen and learn. You only get better if you continuously analyze yourself. To be or not to be, one must know oneself, accept oneself and overcome oneself.