Together We Rise: It's Just About... Life

You can’t do it alone.

If the dream is bigger than you – and most great dreams are – you need a team. Welcome to USHEALTH Advisors, the most dominant selling organization of any kind, in any industry, in America, bar none. And one with its eye on the prize, to become the greatest company in America.

You don’t get there alone.

It’s a wrap on Leaders Meeting 2016 and this one was like all the others because it was different, new speakers, new activities, new (more) people to meet, but at its core it was just like all that have come before because of heart, HOPE and a culture unlike any other. It’s special and it’s deep… that’s what makes it great, that’s what makes it meaningful, and that’s what drives you and everyone else around you to win.

For one person to win it doesn’t mean someone else has to lose!

It’s all about the human connection. Shake a hand, give a hug, ask a question, get an answer, talk about your life and do that with nearly anyone at anytime – knowing that the knowledge and the compassion being shared comes from a place of giving and sharing because anyone you speak to just wants to see everyone else do one simple thing… succeed in business and in life.

“Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.” – Helen Keller

I’ve been a part of and immersed in this culture of giving for most of the past 16 years of my life – and it is truly like no other – how many companies lay it all on the line to make life better for those they serve? With USHEALTH Advisors it’s all about service. The true mark of a great company, one which rises above the rest, is when you put the people before the numbers. When you do that, the numbers take care of themselves. Set the goal and watch everyone grow into it, because when your heart feeds your head, when it pumps life and possibility and power into the potential your mind possesses, than anything is possible. Simply because you believe.

And you don’t look back, at least not too long if you want to move forward. What you did yesterday is yesterday’s news, don’t rest on your laurels, look at the life and the opportunity in front of you and go after it with everything you’ve got.

“Yesterday is not ours to recover, tomorrow is ours to win or lose.” – Lyndon Johnson

This blog is not so much to recap the week of fellowship, friendship and family, there were too many moments to mention in the space of a thousand words, but more to share my takeaways. I’m sure I share many of the same with others who were in attendance and already have amassed a virtual treasure chest full of their own golden nuggets. But if anyone reading this is not with the company, then you should know it might just be worth your time to take a look, take a chance, take a shot and become part of something so unique you might just believe there’s more to selfless giving then you ever imagined.

See we are not all things to all people. Nor should we be. When you try to be everything to everyone, you are nothing to no one. What we are when you peel back the curtain – is pure service, a beacon of HOPE, (Helping Other People Everyday), for those we serve – not only our clients, but as leaders in the company, our agents who need us. Everyone should win, no one should lose. Or as Darren Woodson, former safety of the 90’s Super Bowl Champion Dallas Cowboys, expressed when he spoke to our group: “Embrace hard change. Be a servant leader. Spend time and have an open ear. Get to know someone as a person. That is leadership.”

Message received.

The goal here, as it is in any part of life, is to make someone feel special. It’s about value and appreciation, we all want that and we should mirror those feelings by doing it for others. People matter, as does helping them live their dreams and reach for perhaps what they thought was impossible. Jim Rohn, a business philosopher who would have been right at home with USHA put it this way: “The goal of this human adventure is productivity, pursuing the full development of all your potential. To see all that you can do with all you have been given. Don’t seek security, seek adventure. It’s better to live thirty years full of adventure, then 100 years safe in the corner.”

Risk. Reward. Renewal of the human spirit. To look around the room of leaders at this great american company, to hear them speak about their experiences, to witness our home office staff giving all they can give with all they have created and believe, it is pure selflessness on full display. In the words of our leader and CEO Troy McQuagge: “Life is not about what you get, life is about what you give. And when faced with adversity you have two choices, you can go through it, or you can grow through it.”

Adversity. It’s constant, it’s continuous, it’s part of life. Imagine your life and your work – because so much of our life is about work – helped lift you up because you chose to do that for others. Imagine you were surrounded by people who felt the same way you do, imagine those people looked you in the eye and said, “anything you need, just let me know.”

It’s not hard to imagine, because it exists, its real, and it’s right there with USHEALTH Advisors. Good leadership is not about advancing yourself, it’s about advancing your team. Just help one more person to live the dream, just help one more client to change their circumstance for the better, just help… because that’s why were are here on this earth, (and it’s worth repeating), to see all that we can do with all we have been given.

“If you want to walk fast, walk alone. If you want to walk far, walk together.”

At the center of the week spent together – learning, sharing stories, looking back at accomplishments, staring ahead at the light of a bright future – you are reminded again and again we are all leaders. Captain Mike Aberschoff, former commander of the USS Benfold, who also addressed our group, gave us some serious principles he has learned about leadership:

“See the ship through the eyes of its crew.
The goal of leadership is excellence, not to be liked, but to be respected.
If you don’t get the results you’re looking for, don’t blame the people, look inward, what are you doing, how can you get better?
You’re in the trust business.
When you hear, ‘that’s the way they’ve always done it, question who they are and if it’s not working, look for another way’.
You will never go wrong if you do the right thing, so lead with integrity.
Create unity of purpose.
Create an environment where you’d be proud to invite your sons or daughters to join.
And, never forget the end game, do you want to leave to cheers or jeers when you change command?”

We’re all captains of our own ship. USHEALTH Advisors is the safe harbor where we dock and then launch from day after day. That safe harbor means love, caring and contribution. What Leaders Meeting reminds us is we are not alone, our teams need us and if we serve and inspire success takes care of itself.

Together we rise.