Episode Transcript
[00:00:14] Hello, friend. Skip here and welcome to Imagine the Possibilities.
[00:00:21] Thanks for listening.
[00:00:23] For over 30 years, I worked at IBM.
[00:00:28] I started out on an assembly line building Selectric typewriters and I retired as a marketing program manager.
[00:00:38] Now my journey took a while.
[00:00:41] In between those two things, I did a lot of different things. Different roles, had different leadership, was under different types of pressure.
[00:00:53] At one point, for almost four years, I did business shows.
[00:00:58] I was completely customer facing. Not as a marketing rep, but as somebody that would show the products we had and why you needed them as a customer. And that was fun. I did all kinds of stuff.
[00:01:13] But there was one thing that never changed.
[00:01:17] One word, think.
[00:01:21] It wasn't a paragraph, it wasn't a mission statement, it wasn't a motivational banner.
[00:01:30] It was one word that made everybody at IBM think before we acted.
[00:01:40] Think about the customer, think about about the consequences, and think long term.
[00:01:53] There was something that I didn't understand early on.
[00:01:58] It was the whole fact that the word wasn't about intelligence, it was about responsibility.
[00:02:08] Back in 1914, three companies had merged.
[00:02:14] Each of them had their own culture.
[00:02:17] They each had different identities, and one individual was picked to lead those companies.
[00:02:30] Thomas J. Watson Sr. Was chosen to step in and take over what at the moment probably looked and seemed like a mess.
[00:02:45] Now, he didn't know that these combined companies were destined to become IBM.
[00:02:55] Mr. Watson realized he needed unity, that he needed clarity.
[00:03:03] And he also needed something simple enough that no one could misunderstand it.
[00:03:14] So he chose one word, think, and he had it placed everywhere.
[00:03:22] In offices, in manufacturing plants, in conference rooms, in cafeterias and hallways, everywhere.
[00:03:35] Somebody asked Mr. Watson about that and he simply said, thought has been the father of every advancement since time began.
[00:03:48] IBM built a culture around that one word.
[00:03:53] And I was fortunate enough to spend three decades living inside that culture.
[00:04:00] As for me, somewhere along the way that word stopped being corporate and started becoming personal.
[00:04:12] Years ago, I had the responsibility of reporting numbers up the chain.
[00:04:19] Now, this chain was made up of some pretty powerful people.
[00:04:26] There was pressure.
[00:04:29] Not the loud kind, not the threatening kind, just pressure.
[00:04:37] That kind of pressure. You know what I'm talking about? That kind of pressure just sort of lays on you. Nobody has to say anything.
[00:04:45] Now upper management needed a couple reports showing how the business was doing.
[00:04:52] And I was the guy that had to do the reports.
[00:04:56] Now, I already knew a couple of things about these reports.
[00:05:02] The first was that the company leadership had a pretty good idea that the numbers weren't going to be where they'd hoped they would.
[00:05:15] And the Second, I was pretty good with Excel.
[00:05:19] I knew something else.
[00:05:22] If I emphasized one metric and minimized another, kind of shifted the framing just slightly, I could make things look better, look stronger.
[00:05:39] That would be technically accurate, but strategically selective.
[00:05:47] Now, no one told me to do that, but I also knew no one would stop me.
[00:05:54] I started working on the reports.
[00:05:58] And in that quiet space as I worked, I realized I had a choice to make.
[00:06:05] That word came back to me, thinking, think about trust.
[00:06:12] Think about tomorrow.
[00:06:15] Think about who you are and who you'll become if you make these subtle changes.
[00:06:22] Because here's something I've learned.
[00:06:26] Misalignment rarely explodes.
[00:06:30] It erodes slowly, quietly, one small compromise at a time.
[00:06:40] So I reported numbers straight up.
[00:06:44] No spin, no softening, no dramatics.
[00:06:50] Just honest.
[00:06:54] I didn't hear any applause or see any fireworks for doing the right thing.
[00:07:00] However, on my drive home that night, I felt settled and I felt at peace with myself.
[00:07:10] The older I get, the more I understand this.
[00:07:15] Success without alignment feels hollow.
[00:07:20] We can win the room and lose ourselves.
[00:07:25] We can impress people and disappoint our conscience.
[00:07:30] We're not tested when things are easy.
[00:07:34] We're tested when cutting corners would be convenient, when silence would be simpler, when no one would ever know.
[00:07:48] And that's when think becomes more than a corporate word.
[00:07:53] It becomes a mirror.
[00:07:56] I started looking back at my life, trying to figure out my word impact.
[00:08:06] It's important, but it's not really a core word.
[00:08:12] Growth necessary, but it's not defining recognition temporary.
[00:08:23] Then I ask something harder.
[00:08:27] I ask myself what accusation would hit me the deepest.
[00:08:35] If someone said I wasn't successful, I'd just shrug.
[00:08:41] If someone said I wasn't impressive, I'd just shrug.
[00:08:48] If someone said I lacked skill, I'd just work harder.
[00:08:55] But if someone said I lacked integrity, that would stay with me, that would touch my soul, that would shape me to my very core.
[00:09:11] And that reaction told me something.
[00:09:14] Maybe our word isn't the one we advertise.
[00:09:18] Maybe it's the one we protect.
[00:09:22] For me, it actually feels uncomfortable even saying that word about myself.
[00:09:29] Because I don't believe integrity should be claimed.
[00:09:35] It should be confirmed by time.
[00:09:39] If my grandchildren someday describe me that way on their own, for me, that would be affirmation.
[00:09:49] But if they say it because I told them it was my word, that's a performance.
[00:09:57] Integrity doesn't need applause.
[00:10:00] It needs alignment.
[00:10:02] Actions, words, heart, all moving in the same direction.
[00:10:11] And when those words drift apart, we feel it.
[00:10:17] Alignment brings peace.
[00:10:21] Misalignment brings noise.
[00:10:24] Let's Talk about personal reflection.
[00:10:28] Let me ask you something.
[00:10:30] What accusation would hit you the hardest?
[00:10:35] What quality would wound you the most if someone said you didn't have it?
[00:10:41] What do you hope? Your children?
[00:10:43] Your grandchildren?
[00:10:45] Your friends?
[00:10:48] Whoever discovers about you without you ever saying it?
[00:10:54] You don't have to announce your word.
[00:10:58] Just live it quietly, consistently, and let time name it IBM gave me the word think life, my life and life in general, refined it into something deeper, discerning. Choose, align.
[00:11:23] And once you know your word, the question becomes this.
[00:11:30] Will you continue to live it when it costs you something?
[00:11:35] Thinking is the beginning.
[00:11:38] Living it is the work.
[00:11:41] And for me, that's enough.
[00:11:46] Until next time.
[00:11:48] If you've got a comment or a question, feel free to send me an email.
[00:11:54] The email address is imaginethepossibilities lifegmail.com in closing, I'd like to say until next time, stay humble, be kind, love unconditionally, and laugh often.
[00:12:21] Remember that your future belongs to you.
[00:12:24] And never forget this.
[00:12:27] You are enough, you are worthy, and you are seen, and I have no doubt that you will accomplish remarkable things.
[00:12:43] I wish you much success.
[00:12:46] Have a super day and may God bless you in a super way.
[00:12:53] Thanks again and God bless.
