September arrives very shortly. For many businesses, September means a very noticeable change of pace.
Like, things start to go really fast! Cabin pressure changes. Everything starts to happen “in a New York minute.”
When I worked at MCI, we called September to December the “Sell or Die” period. Only 4 months to accomplish your one, big, hairy, measurable goal for the year.
If you’re tracking to your goal, you’ve already got 2/3 of your revenue in the door. If you’re below 2/3, your final four-month revenue projection looks a bit like a hockey stick. If you’ve got more, congrats and don’t stop now!
You may not think of it this way, but there are virtues we desk jockeys should cultivate to get to our year-end goal.
David Brooks is the guy who set me down this path. In the New York Times he digs into Robert C. Roberts book called “Intellectual Virtues.”
We’ll need these virtues to master our goal within the 4 months of “Sell or Die.” Even if “Die” might be an exaggeration.
- Learning—Never stop being curious. You’ll discover amazing new paths and problem solving abilities.
- Courage—Know how much risk to take in jumping to conclusions. There’s nothing wrong with jumping, as long as you know the risks.
- Firmness—Don’t be “that person” who surrenders their goal at the smallest whiff of challenge or difficulty. You built your vision with firmness. Is there a real reason to abandon it now?
- Humility—Don’t let your own desires get in the way of accuracy. You can and will learn from any person at any stage of life.
- Autonomy—Find the balance between adopting to someone else’s information or guidance and holding firm to your own. This gets easier when you have a (written) plan.
- Generosity—Be willing to share knowledge, insights and perspective and to offer credit to others when credit is due. Why not? It does come back two-fold.
Some of these you are probably great at every day. With others you might struggle.
Good thinking isn’t just adopting the right approach. It requires good character, the ability to go against lesser impulses for the sake of our higher ones.
These virtues will help you get through “Sell or Die.”