Greg Brown, the current President and CEO of Motorola Solutions, was speaking to about 1500 channel partners at a recent conference. He was extremely engaging and personable as he recounted the personal pain he experienced shortly after taking over as CEO of Motorola Inc. effective January 1, 2008. The position was something he deeply aspired to but shortly after assuming the top job, the company began to fall apart. The combination of market pressures on the cell phone business and the deep recession left the company reeling and spiraling downward. The stock was at an all time low and everyone one was upset: investors, customers, suppliers, and of course employees. Brown talks of losing 35 pounds in 45 days and staggered under extreme personal stress. One late night, another sleepless endeavor, found Brown pacing his living room. Eventually his wife, whom he’d been with since high school, came to his side and firmly but constructively confronted him. To paraphrase his wife, “Greg, you are pacing around here carrying the world on your shoulders and making yourself the center of all that’s wrong. The people of Motorola don’t know what’s what. What the 60,000 employees want out there is for you to lead!” Greg Brown goes on to describe that as “the moment” – that inflection point where he chose to start acting differently. The story of a turn around and splitting of the company into two thriving entities concludes the tale.
In the world of being more self accountable, sometimes we need “that moment.” It is usually a time where we say to ourselves …enough! I am going to start now. One step at a time but I am resolved to make things better. It is me. I’m the one who can and will do it. There are going to be no more excuses. No one else including me is to blame. But, I’m in charge of myself. You may recall one of my earlier blogs where Jamie Bruner, the current CEO of Kinetix Living, left the world of being over 300 pounds to become a fitness champ and leading purveyor of nutrition and wellness. He bent over in a restaurant and slit his pants from stem to stern …enough …that moment. Literally, that night the change began. That moment.
Character Move: look for that moment. It’s looking for us. Decide that today or this hour or this minute is going to be the time to start that change. Be accountable. Be honest. Start now.
That Moment in the Triangle,
Lorne