We love New Year’s. It’s time for a fresh start, to hit the reset button and make new goals for the year ahead. For us, a big part of being Resolute means looking back and learning from our past. What worked? What didn’t? Why? As we reflected on 2015, we realized we learned a lot – from some pretty wise clients. Here are our “Resolute-tions” for 2016:
Think SMART
Two things can be said about Magnir‘s Fred Menge. He’s incredibly organized (the man helps manage data and records for Fortune 500 companies), and he’s extremely disciplined in his goal setting. Fred is a firm believer that we should all have professional and personal goals, and to be most effective, they should be SMART: Strategic, Measurable, Attainable, Results-Focused and Time Sensitive. Without goals, how will you know if you’re making progress in the right direction?
Dream big
Don’t be afraid to think outside the box – big time. We thought of Elizabeth Frame Ellison who leads the second generation of the Lobeck Taylor Family Foundation. She saw a problem of entrepreneurs not having access to the right resources to establish and grow their new businesses. Her solution? Build the resources. She formed Cultivate 918, co-founded 36DegreesNorth and launched Kitchen 66. The landscape of entrepreneurship already looks vastly different because of the Foundation’s efforts, and this is just one example of her dreaming spirit.
Share
To say Reliant Technologies is a successful Tulsa company is an understatement. Chris Wright’s team has provided HR software expertise to national companies such as Love’s, Coca-Cola and Charlotte Russe. But he certainly isn’t stingy about how he got on this road to success. He’s taken that knowledge and shared it with Tulsa’s up-and-coming startups, helping feed their chances of success through the Forge and one-on-one mentorship sessions. And they’re paying it forward. The founders of Medefy, a healthcare pricing tool and former Forge tenant, are frequent go-to’s on the topics of entrepreneurship, funding and how to work through the challenges of owning a growing business.
Keep smiling
Imagine you’re organizing the only marathon in the country that doubled in size. Its events are three days long, more than 15,000 people are attending, and participants are pushing themselves to achieve health goals that take months of training to achieve. Is it stressful? Probably. But you would never know it looking at Chris Lieberman and Kim Hann on the Route 66 Marathon’s race weekend. They. Always. Smile. Why? The love it. And it’s contagious. Working the Marathon means you’re part of an incredibly supportive network of people who are all loving working toward the same goal. But it starts with this dynamic duo and their positive attitudes.
Be grateful
When I think of the word “gratitude,” David Charney with Capital Homes immediately comes to mind. We had the chance to interview him last year for a blog article about gratitude, and he summed it up perfectly.
“It’s easy to take a full belly and a warm blanket for granted when you’ve always got one. Many in our community still go to bed cold and hungry. A grateful attitude helps us recognize how difficult life can be for some, and then spurs us to act to help make their lives better.”
Give back
We’re pretty fortunate in Tulsa. We have nationally recognized philanthropists, results-driven foundations and all around good-hearted people who care about giving back to the community in a meaningful way. Through our work with National Philanthropy Day, we had the opportunity to highlight a handful of this year’s honorees. Thank you for making Tulsa a better place.
