It is Up to You to Step up to the Challenge (Commentary)

There’s a difference between spending time and investing time.

Surfing You-Tube for office funnies, chatting up colleagues in the hall or piddling with low-priority projects are ways to spend the business day. Rolling up your sleeves and tackling initiatives that bring real value to your company and customers are investments.

One thing is for certain: young professionals and middle managers who want a seat at the board table must do the latter. Think of it this way. It’s not your boss’ job to groom you to be the next leader.

It’s yours.

Not to be a hard case. Every office needs a little camaraderie, a little laughter to make the medicine go down. Work shouldn’t be arduous. It should be fun. Moreover, success is fun.

It’s amazing then how often local executives relate their frustrations in getting underlings to reach their full potential. It could be personality issues, attitude or performance. The chorus is basically that the next generation of leaders would actually get there quicker if they’d focus a little more on the company’s goals than their own.

What happens is the upwardly mobile perform well enough to stay in the game, but distractions somehow derail their fast track.

It’s easy to gravitate toward the white noise, the mundane little tasks that pile up and yap like terriers for attention. Meanwhile, we put off dealing with the St. Bernard of an opportunity that’s howling in our face.

Maybe it’s not even busy work. Maybe it’s the car we can’t yet afford but feel entitled to drive, jealousy of a successful coworker or even the attractive intern down the hall. Maybe it’s flying into “Henny Penny” mode every time we face adversity, being overly defensive or even feeling sorry for ourselves to the point of paralysis.

What ever the detour, there are plenty of reasons why otherwise ambitious people lose focus, and therefore ground, on a career path.

Too often, particularly for the “everyone-gets-a-ribbon” generation, the attitude of entitlement translates into expectations of coasting to success. If you’ve been told all of your life that you’re special and never pushed to be great, it’s no wonder that finding a higher gear can be hard.

The truth is, everyone is not special. Everyone has the opportunity to be special in work and in life. Virtually always it comes down to two things: initiative and execution.

It’s not enough to want to. It’s not even enough to be able to. Both are required to be among the top 5 percent in an industry or even one company.

If you’re not striving to be in that class, then what are you doing?

It’s not politically correct to say so, but regardless of race, gender, age, creed, religion or economic background, there’s one factor in the equation of your success that cannot be blamed on anyone else – you.

So here’s this thought. What are you doing today – right now in fact – to improve your company’s performance? Obviously, reading the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal is a good start. (Wink.)

But when is the last time you completed a book related to your profession? Took a class to sharpen your skill? Took a real look at your own level of customer service? Made a difficult change you’ve wanted to for years?

Mark DeMoss, president of the Atlanta, Ga., public relations firm The DeMoss Group, spoke at The Summit Luncheon this fall in Rogers. In his book, “The Little Red Book of Wisdom,” DeMoss includes the chapter, “Tackle Something So Difficult You’ll Never Want To Do It Again.”

His tale is about a sweaty summer in Pennsylvania, where he overcame shyness and developed thick skin and knuckles knocking door-to-door as a book salesman. His point?

Sometimes it’s important to step out there and bite off that big challenge that’s too intimidating to even start. Somehow along the way, you just might find your step.

Maybe for you it’s that white whale client that seems impossible to land. Perhaps it’s doing a better job of communicating what you mean vs. what you’re feeling in the moment. Maybe it’s taking immediate responsibility to solve a customer’s problem without pointing fingers.

Whatever it is, there’s a good chance your company leaders have been looking for that kind of gumption – and that they’ll be watching.