Hold the Light

All right, so here we are. I don’t know about you, but I’m enjoying the rest of this summer. I read a quote this morning, and it kind of reminded me of our core values. Let me read it to you. It says, “Leadership is not about being in the spotlight; it’s about casting the spotlight on others.”

Now, our core values—humility is one of our core values. In the write-up, if you have read about our core values and you’ve listened, obviously, if you sat in orientation with me or Christian, we talk about and break down what humility really means. One of those things is to hold the ladder and hold the light for somebody else, shine the light on somebody else, and put someone else in the spotlight. This quote goes very well because it’s about humility. It’s not about being in the limelight and saying, “Hey, look at me.” It’s about saying, “Hey, look at my buddy, look at my friend, look at my team, look at the people around me.”

It reminds me of another quote by John Wooden, a great basketball coach, by the way, if you haven’t read anything about him. He said to his team, “If you ever make a basket, make sure you point to the guy that gave you the assist. Give him credit for giving you the assist because you wouldn’t have made the basket if he hadn’t gotten you the ball if he hadn’t made it so that you had the ability to get the layup, to get the points. You need the other guy.” One of his team members said, “But coach, what if he’s not looking at me? What if he’s not watching?” He said, “Oh, he’ll be watching. He’ll notice.”

Again, it’s about that humility. When you succeed, recognize you haven’t really done it all by yourself. It’s a team effort. A lot of the things that we do here at Northwest Enforcement are team efforts. We recently had the barbecues and ended up with three of them. It’s a team effort to set up and tear down, and it’s such a joy for me personally, as a leader here, to see everybody working together and watching something both blow-up and be taken back down so quickly.

I even saw at the last barbecue at the Sandy office, kids out there pulling little balloon pieces out of the grass. It was an epic time, by the way. If you missed it, you missed it. Watching Stewart and Christian and everybody get showered with water, and Jimmy and Jonathan even came and drew Jimmy out. He had a bucket of water dumped on him. It was so much fun, but it was a real joy for me watching people tear down everything and put things away so quickly because many hands make the work light.

So, this is me shining the spotlight on so many different team members and their families. Shannon’s kids were out there for a good 15 minutes or so, just picking up little bits of balloons. We had like 1,200 water balloons. It was such a joy seeing people chip in together and work so hard together. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate every single one of you for the work you do for our community, our clients, and each other.

Remember, it’s about not being in the spotlight but shining the light, shining the spotlight on others. Hold the ladder and hold the light for others. That’s a good thing. Have humility and lift others up, and you too will rise because people will notice that you are humble. All right, guys, have a wonderful rest of your week. I want to tell you right now, God bless you, and remember, let’s keep being valuable because nothing less will do. All right, I’ll see you guys soon. Bye, see you.