In my column last week, I made the case that
doing your Job At The Top requires continual alignment between three fields of
view on your business: Vision, Strategy, and Execution. For yourself, and for everyone
else.

That practice will keep you solidly in the game. Over
both the short and long runs. But true greatness – not only setting the pace
for others, but astounding them – requires something else.

In addition to thinking about your business
effectively and making sure others do too, your own personal actions are what
inspire other people to join you. In becoming more than even they themselves could
have imagined becoming. Your personal character is the crucible for a
fission-driven atmosphere of zeal in your business. And it can come from no other
source than you.

Don’t confuse character with style. Character’s
not about what you look like. How hard you work. Whether you’re a great orator.
The smartest or not. Not even about whether you have life to which others
aspire.

It’s simply about how much you care for others
who’ve chosen to work with you. And how you show it.

Curiously, caring about others isn’t a long suit
in our legacy model for behavior in our Jobs At The Top. Our model is the
cold-hearted drive for numbers. EBITDA, Cash Flow, ROI and Value Creation. 

Dare to be different. Lead with your passion for
your business and for your people. And the arithmetic everyone else is looking for
will follow!