In recent weeks, I’ve been asked by more than one person for some clarity.
How to create positive change? How to actively use values in decision making? No. The question has been about my favorite complimentary close in correspondence. “BE well.”
My choice is not a thoughtless habit, a short hand for “sincerely” or “best wishes.” This phrase is my favorite for a host of reasons, and I offer “BE well” consciously each time.
So, it seems the next questions are, why? Why this phrase, in this way, and why so consistently?
Ironically, my close does deal with change, with turning values into verbs and more. Without burdening you with grammar or platitudes, there is nuance here. The valediction is not “be well,” or “be WELL” or “Be Well.”
Certainly, I wish health and wellness to the folks I’m in touch with, frankly to each person on earth. Wellness, good health is a blessing and critically important. My learning on this issue is clearer as I’ve found myself fighting cancer of the esophagus for the last six months. Today, cancer free and still regaining strength, my close as an offer is different than “just wellness,” and I hope of equal importance.
So, what’s the story? Why does “BE well” matter, and frankly, who cares?
For what is now over 35 years, my team and I have worked with leaders and clients in transformational change. It doesn’t matter if our work was a new opening of a business or the turn around and growth of a 50-year-old company (or older). Amazingly, the industry hasn’t really mattered, either. Our work works.
What has mattered is the ability for any one of us to step into change, to be mindful of that uncomfortable necessity that each of us faces if we choose to evolve ourselves individually or collectively as a company.
For leaders in change, defining a sense of Purpose, what Simon Sinek calls “Why,” is step one of the change process. Finding the bigger reason for the business is key. So…
“We’re a manufacturing company. We make machines that support other businesses.”
My question is, what do the machines provide? Trust, confidence, safety, consistency? Sense of Purpose is to offer staff and customers alike the reality that, yes, we sell machines. However, what we really sell is trust, confidence, safety, and consistency.
The power of this positioning is both subtle and expansive. Instead of working to build a machine and do what the boss tells me to do, I have a higher calling through the effective construction of my machine.
Outcomes, retention, error free production go up. Sales go up. Selling becomes a story instead of a pitch.
Based on what I’ve shared above, with Purpose defined, each day we have a choice – to be on purpose or not, to use our values or not, to be conscious or not. We want to inspire team members to not just be, but to BE on Purpose!
Do you see the connection yet to my complimentary close? I want, I do my best, to encourage folks including myself to BE on Purpose, well… to “BE well” in every choice, in every action on a daily basis. Not rote, not unconscious, rather, awake and mindful of all that’s in front of us minute by minute.
BE well,
Rudy
Wellness doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It requires a process. Discover elements to keep your values on track by reviewing the Miick Six Systems Approach.
