Throughout my life I’ve fallen into an array of different professions. Some have inspired me to new heights, while many have taken me down a road of endless drudgery. Usually, those certain stints had major key factors missing from their equations: communication, variety, and leadership. And when one or more of those components go missing things within organization slowly become undone. I have had dream jobs come my way. Often having to stop and quickly enjoy that “too good to be true” moment. Alas, like within a dream the project’s vision was hazy, translucent, and fizzled out when I woke up. That luminescent glow died off within the first few months and I was soon stuck committing myself to something very uninspiring. What I saw behind the veil of flashy colors and dollar signs was chaos masked as a business.

Whether it was a high profile assignment or even a retail position at the mall, when there was a lack of management to help guide the team towards concrete goals, towards growing success, the organization’s performance suffers for it. I personally could not find myself spending time and energy in a fruitless effort. These days I am more able minded to see past the charades and honeyed words. Unfortunately, less experienced bodies will be taken advantage of with many bitter lessons learned in the end.

But I speak as if all the jobs I ever had were terrible. On the contrary some of the jobs that I continue to enjoy have all the right components that made work seem like play. My past experiences have dictated that my time be invested on projects that are set up for a chance at succeeding. Which to me, means a competent leadership team that listens and is compassionate enough that they dedicate time to nurture talent. They assign me projects that I am bound to shine on. I have a supportive team that is never hesitant to jump on each other’s projects. Our current team, a peculiar mix of emcees, DJs, graphic designers, product mangers, and marketing experts. There’s never a dull moment. And what keeps me staying and contributing is the openness and respect. Those two are particularly important.
I’m not writing a piece about how to create the best leader, or a successful business. That would just take up too much time (and I have a short attention span). What I think works in favor for any business is placing the right people with the right talents within the right jobs. In my opinion good leaders are the ones who can listen, discern, and delegate with efficient care. A good team needs to be able to think on their toes and prepare for setbacks. Most businesses are about profit, yes, but also it is about sustainability for the long term and and a natural appreciation for investing in good people.

- Danny