“Christmas is a season not only of rejoicing but of reflection.”
-Winston Churchill
“Remember when you wanted what you currently have.”
-Anonymous
The end of 2021 comes with great reflection over a year filled with wins and losses, lessons learned, lots of joy and sadness, success, and a few failures. And while I talked about failing forward last week, I am going to do something I don’t often do and celebrate success.
Over 2021, I’ve talked about grit, optimism, problem-solving, mentorship, mission and meaning. I’ve talked about a “get to” versus a “got to” attitude and “planning & prioritizing.” I’ve even talked about vacations a few times…but the thread that ties all these topics together is leadership. And most of the time, I am writing reflections on how I can do things better or areas I’m striving to improve. I’m writing to you in hopes that we inspire you to think about your leadership roles – at work, at home or in the community.
If you are like me, win or lose, we keep moving forward. We try to learn from our failures and our success. As Chris Earle said, we strive to be “humble in victory and gracious in defeat.” We remind ourselves, “you’re never as good as everyone tells you when you win, and you’re next as bad as they say when you lose,” as said by Lou Holtz. In short, we try to remain even-keeled and balanced and keep looking at the horizon.
But can we really be happy if we don’t enjoy the journey? If we don’t celebrate the wins? If we don’t reflect on progress?
We have 25-year visions and 10-year plans, but for the next two weeks, I will reflect on how far we have come as a team and a company and how far I’ve come as an individual. I’m going to celebrate the wins of the year!
New employees, business growth, better system, new clients, new adjacent possibles, new partners, the launch of MCFA University, Inspiring People & Places podcast and the official launch of the Friendly Strife Foundation (more info coming soon). There is plenty of work to build and improve upon, but we reflect and rejoice for now. We measure the gain, not the gap.
Why celebrate? Because as Oprah said, “The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.” And as leaders, we want our employees to celebrate their successes. And the only way we do that is by doing it ourselves.
To our MCFA team – it’s been a great year. Thank you for entrusting us with your professional career. Thank you for everything you do to represent our company to our clients and help them plan, develop and execute projects and solve problems.
To our partners and clients (past, current and future – that’s YOU!) – we value our relationship with you and look forward to working with you in the year to come.
We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas, a Happy Holiday Season and a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous 2022! May this season be a time of joy, peace, reflection and hope!
The best is yet to come. Cheers!
BJ Kraemer, President