The Passion of Business and the Business of Passion

I’m about as competitive as they come. I hate to lose in anythingI do. I love to work with people who hate to lose. I want to be around people who get sick and can’t sleep when things don’t go well. People who won’t go to sleep until problems are solved. HDNet, The Benefactor, The Mavs, any of the businesses I’m involved with, I judge the success of each on a 24x7x365 basis.

Passion in business demands passion. A byproduct of passion is saying exactly how you feel in a way that you know will get someone’s attention, and listening to exactly how someone else feels when they need to get your attention. All of this is my way of saying that I expect people who work for me to yell at me, and I expect them to know that at times I will do the same. If someone is pissed off, if they think I’m doing something wrong, or the wrong way, and I’m being too pigheaded to see it. Blast me.

I have told just about everyone who has ever partnered or reported directly to me, that I can get so focused or involved that I lose sight of something(s). When that happens, you have done your homework and are confident in your position,and when I don’t listen, raise your voice. Figuratively, literally, I don’t care. I don’t see decibels as a sign of disrespect. I see fear to communicate a needed message to me as a sign of disrespect. If you don’t care enough about our product, customer, company, employee, whatever it may be to step up and let me have it when I’m screwing up, then you don’t care enough to be here.

Why say all of this? Because to me, a little contention can go along way whether its HDNet or the Mavericks or any business. If I disagree or raise an issue with someone on something, there is only positive that can come from it. One of us is probably going to have a valid solution, and the organization will benefit. If raised voices allows us tocome to a solution, I’m all for it.