I once had a CEO who wanted me to create a channel program.
"Partnerships, partnerships, partnerships," he would say. "You can grow without, but the way you build a colossal revenue and growth function is through the channel."
I was resistant to the message. Not because it was bad wisdom, but because we couldn't maintain a consistent standard with our product and service. It felt weird to build bridges knowing they would be burned not too long after.
Nonetheless, the wisdom stuck with me, and once we officially started Unity Behavioral Services, partnerships were a part of our immediate focus – I WANTED TO PARTNER WITH EVERYONE.
We are working with children, after all. This is a high-risk special-needs population. Everyone working in this field must care so deeply.
Needless to say, I don't have concerns about service excellence this time, but I learned some lessons I could have easily learned in my past life:
Unfortunately, I was wrong about everyone caring so much, and there are bad actors in every industry.
Bigger isn't always better.
Some people will say they are in it for the right reasons, but money has a way of rearranging some people's priorities.
Most importantly,
Not everyone is for you.
And you are not for everyone.
I was rewatching a great video by Simon Sinek recently that landed differently this time around.
"The goal of business should not be to do business with anyone who simply wants what you have. It should be to focus on the people who believe what you believe."
We always come back to the same lessons… Don't we?
The only question is whether we were paying attention the first time.
A strong village is built like planets. Thousands of years, rocks crashing into each other, soil deposits, and randomness. This randomness includes everything. The people we meet on our journey, the detours, the side quests. They all shape our mission.
We are a focused team. We don't stray off course. We know where we are sailing, and we are maniacal about getting there. We sometimes take a little longer to reach the next stop because we take the time to learn about the interesting ideas, islands, and people along the way.
We learned our lesson. Not just as it relates to partnership, but as it relates to everything, and we know who we are:
We are curating a community of people (clients, partners, and crew) that BELIEVES!
We invite people who are interested in problems and good at solving them.
We don't like excuses, and we don't focus on the things that don't matter.
We take ourselves seriously, and we treat ourselves as well as we treat others.
Everyone is welcome, but not everyone is worthy.
We will continue to become the best of the best, and we are excited to watch this community evolve in the pursuit of ensuring every child finds their Ikigai.
Set sail, friends! Adventure and act in such a way that you sleep soundly at night. There's no better guide than consciousness. There's no better journey than one painfully traveled with those we love!
With Love,
Armon