Gratitude and Tapping into the Diversity Hiding in Plain Sight

I began writing this blog post with a desire to express my gratitude to the people who have helped shape and grow RESET and our offerings.

As I wrote about the diverse set of people who have impacted our firm, it quickly became apparent that an important concept of our coaching was at work right here within RESET:

The concept of diverse teams and diverse thinking.

This all started when I recently made two of my teammates partners in our firm. I believed this action was pivotal to our growth.

Maurielle Balczon and Kevin Cray have been the longest-standing members of the RESET team. I’m really proud of that because they are both Millennials and have stayed with me for at least nine years — an unusually long time for someone of that generation to stay in a single job.

In that time, they have both made huge impacts on our firm, both in different ways. It got me thinking: Who else has contributed to our growth? Who else has helped me with diverse thinking and unique perspective?

A few people came to mind.

First was Jack Stibbs, our attorney and the founding partner of Stibbs and Co. law firm. He was the person who planted the seed of what we eventually called our Capital Concierge program.

Then I thought of Terri Hoffman, founder and CEO of Marketing Refresh. She helped us understand how important our brand is, and has been the guiding force of that brand. She especially did a lot of heavy lifting in the beginning, helping us launch our book — but over the years she has also helped us see how pivotal social media is in connecting with clients and potential clients.

The next person who came to mind when I thought about the diverse voices who have shaped our firm was our client Tad Tellepsen of Tellepsen construction company. Over the multiple engagements we’ve had with him, he’s pushed us to improve the impact of our business.

Last and certainly not least is my wife and the CIO of American Bureau of Shipping, Maria O’Neill. About 15 years ago, she sat me down and asked me one of the most important questions of my life: “What is it that you can do that could really help companies grow, and what can you do to help owners leverage service providers that they might not be getting maximum impact out of?” It was Maria who made me write down my answer and organize it into the driving force that became RESET.

Those diverse viewpoints shaped our firm into what it is today. I’ll be forever grateful to them.

The Bottom Line

Today there is a big push for more diversity in the workplace — but you don’t have to wait for a diversity program to be implemented to tap into diverse viewpoints. They’re all around you — you just need to reach out and connect with those people who have different experience than you and might think differently.

Make a conscious effort to listen and engage with diverse viewpoints and diverse thinking from people who are already in your sphere and hiding in plain sight. This means far more to your growth than you may realize.