Thankful for Growth-Mindset Leaders

"Successful leaders are learners. And the learning process is ongoing, a result of self-discipline and perseverance. The goal each day must be to get a little better, to build on the previous day’s progress.”

- John C. Maxwell

If you have ever received an email from me, you will notice I include a phrase at the very bottom that is both a proclamation and a reminder:

"Celebrating Progress, Not Perfection.”

I love this statement because it reminds us to celebrate progress, even if we are still a long way from accomplishing our goal. Every step in the right direction matters. Every victory gets us a little closer to the ultimate goal and provides motivation for the next step. Plus, if we waited until perfection, none of us would ever be doing much celebrating.

Today, I want to celebrate some progress with you.

At our recent Board of Directors meeting in Palm Springs, our president Greg Augustine realized the immensity of all the items the Executive Committee needed to discuss. He scheduled an all-day meeting for Wednesday, Nov. 30. We started the meeting between 7:30 and 8:00 a.m., had a working lunch, and finished between 5:30 and 6:00 p.m., just in time to go to dinner. Realizing we still had much to discuss, we met again on Thursday morning at 7:30, with that meeting going until after 1:00 p.m. As the Executive Committee, it is important to us, and imperative to PCOC, that we move forward in a positive direction, and that happens one step at a time. I am thankful for Greg and the entire Executive Committee for their commitment to ensuring we take the necessary steps.

Two big steps we took were deciding to catch up on all past-due payments to PAPCO, and to forward district dues on to each individual district. We’d like to move forward with a commitment to stay current with both from here on.

We also heard from our accountant that we are incurring extreme risk by not properly including district monies as we report and disclose our financials. This led to our request to have each district participate in online banking and to share the password for a ‘read only’ view of their financials with our accountant. With this, our accountant can properly account for all PCOC money received and expensed, keeping us in compliance. Thanks in advance to each district for helping the Association reduce any labilities for non-compliance.

As leaders in PCOC, I believe we must all be committed to improving a little bit each day. I refer to this as having a Growth Mindset, and it is one of the things that will ensure one is able to reach their full potential as a leader.

As leaders, we can create a culture of positivity and growth in PCOC, and in our businesses. As my friend Garland Vance shared with us at our last Expo, we create culture in two ways:

1. Those things we expect, recognize and reward.
2. Those things we tolerate or allow.

As we continue the process of improving PCOC, focusing on membership growth, and ensuring we move forward in a positive direction a little every day, it is imperative that we are purposeful and intentional about creating a desired culture that rewards and recognizes a growth mindset and persistent progress. When personal growth and leadership development are valued, resourced and rewarded, growth is inevitable.

What ideas do you have for helping us grow our membership?

"The higher you want to climb, the more you need Leadership.

The greater the impact you want to make, the greater your influence needs to be.”

-  John Maxwell 

If you have Leadership ideas you’d like to share, or a topic you’d like to see explored in a future PCOC Leadership Lens, I’d love to hear from you. 

All the best!

Travis Mickel
Regional Manager
Clark Pest Control
(831) 262-8025
tmickel@clarkpest.com