Control Your Own Destiny Or Someone Else Will

I've learned so much from my mentors and colleagues. So, today I want to show you one of the most impactful pieces of advice I have ever received.

Control your own destiny, or someone else will.

This is a quote from Jack Welch, former CEO of General Motors. However, Jack isn't going to get the credit here. Instead, the credit goes to my former colleague and mentor, Joe Bagan. Joe used this quote so much that it stuck in my head. This quote has guided me through every major career decision and has only led to great outcomes.

I was talking to a friend yesterday, and this topic came up. While the usefulness of this quote for managing your career is clear, this quote also has direct implications for nonprofit organizations.

Have you found yourself in one or more of these situations?

1. One of your vendors is using their contract as both a sword and shield and you always feel you are at a disadvantage when working through challenging issues.

2. Your telecommunications company made promises, but a year has passed, and nothing has happened.

3. Your strategy firm promised to assign experienced people to your project but did not follow through, causing a big mess.

I did not try to include any internal challenges you may face - that is a post for another day.

Now more than ever, you need strong partnerships with your key vendors, like you hopefully have with your direct reports. I tell people to be very selfish about hiring the right people, especially direct reports. Your vendor relationships significantly impact how successful you are and how happy you are at work.

You must be very proactive with your key vendors and make those relationships work for you and your organization. Guess what? Your vendors want the same thing. I have never met a vendor that woke up in the morning to think about how they could make life difficult for their clients. That said, Kintera might have been an exception. 😊

I encourage anyone reading this to think carefully about all aspects of your relationships with key vendors. Make sure you have regular meetings with the decision-makers at these vendors. You must put the most challenging issues on the table during these meetings. It is hard, but those conversations will often result in action and will also result in deepening your relationship with your vendors.

If your vendor is nonresponsive or does not demonstrate enough flexibility, make the tough decision and replace them. Replacing key vendors can be challenging and take time, but you will remain deeply unsatisfied if you do not step up to the challenge.

Don't settle.

I haven't talked to Joe in a while. So maybe I need to reach out and send him a bottle of Old No. 7, his favorite. I hope everyone has a wonderful week.