“What keeps you going isn’t some fine destination but just the road you’re on, and the fact that you know how to drive.” ~ Barbara Kingsolver

Of course we Ravens fans are disappointed. We wanted a trip to Super Bowl XLVI so badly we could taste it, and the way in which we lost that opportunity really stings. Our guys played their hearts out in that championship game… in fact, they totally outplayed the Pats, yet they fell short nonetheless. The Ravens were unable to accomplish their – and by extension, our – goal of bringing the Lombardi Trophy to Baltimore.

But step away from that sad scene for a moment and ask yourself this: why is it that we, as a society, are so hung up on winner-take-all goals and one-shot outcomes set within arbitrary timeframes? This is a phenomenon not only in sports, but also in our schooling, in our careers, in our businesses – even in our personal relationships and our parenting.

What if we were to turn away from outcomes and instead place our emphasis on the craft – on becoming better at what we do every day as a person, as a partner and parent, as a team, as a company, and as a society? It all comes down to the issue of what’s most important, the journey or the destination. We don’t like to talk about journey because we think it means there’s no reason to strive for excellence, because in the end everybody gets a participation trophy, right? Our capitalistic culture would definitely say that destination trumps journey. But if that’s true, why do we never hear a dying person say, “I wish I’d made more money”?

Back to the Ravens. The Super Bowl was their destination, but unfortunately the team bus broke down before they could get there, metaphorically speaking. There’s nothing to celebrate in that, right? But look what happens when we shift our attention to the Ravens’ journey. We see a group of men dedicated to doing their best work every day, practicing and playing to the max. We see men committed to their teammates, their coaches, their sport, their fans, and their community. We see the superhuman effort that goes into amassing a 12-4 record. We see an entire city united in its passion for football and the hometown team.

Sure, there were mistakes along the way, but there’s still room for improvement. When you’re focused on the journey, there isn’t a dead end like there is when you’re fixed solely on the destination. With destination, you risk running into a big red stop sign at some point. With journey, there’s always a tomorrow. There’s always more road. It’s always first and goal – and it’s always your ball.

Veteran Ravens linebacker, Ray Lewis understands the power of journey. Here’s part of his postgame speech to his teammates following the loss to the Patriots:

 God has never made a mistake. It ain’t about one play.

 This year, we did what we were supposed to do. We fought as a team. There will be one Super Bowl champ crowned at the end of this year, that’s it. So the way we feel, somebody gonna feel like that tomorrow, and somebody gonna feel like that in a week. That’s a fact. And the fact is, we gotta come back and go to work to make sure we finish it next time. That’s all we gotta do.

 … I’m telling you, man, don’t ever — don’t ever — drop your head when it comes to a loss, dog, because there’s too much pain outside of this that people are really going through. This right here makes us stronger. Let’s understand who we are as a team, let’s understand who we are as men, and let’s make somebody smile when we walk out of here. We got the opportunity to keep going, men. Let’s be stronger as a team, men.

 Let’s be who we are.

Yes, Lewis gets it. I believe there are three questions we’ll each ask ourselves at the end of our lives: Did I live? Did I love? Did I give? If you lived (or played football, or worked in business) with journey at your center, you’ll be able to answer each of those questions in the affirmative, just as Lewis did in his speech. In that spirit, let’s reconsider the Ravens’ season.

Did they live? Oh yeah. Nobody could suggest that these guys didn’t live to the fullest.

Did they love their sport… their teammates… their fans? Absolutely. Their passion for all three has been an inspiration all season long.

Did they give it their all? Without a doubt. They left nothing on the field, especially in that final game.

Look, I’m a business guy. I care about my team ultimately reaching its destination and achieving excellent results. But the pressure folks put on themselves toward that end sometimes causes them to botch the essential day-to-day stuff, and when that happens, they risk dropping the ball – and isn’t it a shame when you drop the ball just as you’re about to reach the end zone?

So, here’s to a renewed focus on journey for the Ravens – and for all of us. I predict great success in the coming season as a result.

Joe Mechlinski is the President of entreQuest and has partnered with countless leaders to effectively improve their team’s performance, their clients’ experience, and their company’s profits.

It’s the dawn of 2012 – the year we’ve all been waiting for, thanks to the Mayans and their spooky calendar forecasting the end of the world in December. Some of my friends have jokingly threatened to max out their credit cards, take up smoking, stop exercising, move to a beach house, and live it up this year. Why not, right? If the end time is coming, who cares about bad credit scores, smoker’s cough, or expanding waistlines?

I don’t know about you, but I’m not ready to throw in the towel just yet. The Mayans may have foretold doomsday, but I’ve got my own set of predictions for 2012. I’m not suggesting who’s going to win the next election or the Super Bowl. My predictions are less about events and more about dynamics – the nature of the dynamics between us and our companies, our colleagues, our families and friends, and our communities.

If we’re not careful, gridlock will become a way of life. In 2012, we’ll continue to see gridlock in politics (neither side of the aisle is willing to compromise), travel (out-dated and under-funded infrastructure vis-à-vis our roadways, the FAA, and a lack of fuel-efficient travel alternatives), and customer service (a generally lackluster and synthetic approach to handling customer service issues). Whether it’s in politics, travel, or customer service, gridlock is evidence that assets have been overleveraged; that there is little more to give. So, if all signs point to more impasses, more stalemate, and more logjams, is gridlock something we’re going to have to get used to? Maybe not… I think 2012 has the potential to be the year of anti-gridlock.

What follows are 10 things I think will influence all of our relationships in the coming year to help push through the gridlock that was 2011, whether the Mayans were right about the End of Days or not.

1.  Non-traditional education is in. We all agree that computers (and iPads) should be used in school, and that we should tailor teaching to the way our kids learn, not the other way around. In 2012, we will see the needle move in our antiquated education model. There will no longer be a devotion to one-size-fits-all. The curriculum is no longer a sacred cow. The Khan Academy and Moodle are testaments to this. Open source learning platforms like these will make it possible to get curriculum from anywhere in the world, quickly and inexpensively. This is a game changer.

2.  Tablets will rule the day. The same way smart phones revolutionized the way we navigate our world (now, we can even use our phones to pay for a cup of coffee at Starbucks) so too, will tablets. Tablets are going to be an essential part of our everyday lives, for everything from reading books to shopping to doing our jobs. American Airlines is even allowing its pilots to use iPads in the air versus carrying on hefty flight manuals and charts, and the company estimates it’s going to save over a million dollars a year in fuel costs as a result. Just another environmentally-friendly step closer to eradicating paper. In fact, I think tablets will be the nail in the coffin for conventional newspapers.

3.  Videos, videos, and more videos. Whereas social media was the hot item in 2011, mobile media will be all the rage in 2012. I’m not talking about high-end production in terms of video quality. No, it’s all about the content. It’s so easy for anyone, anywhere, to capture a moment, an experience, or an event and then quickly distribute it worldwide; and what’s going to distinguish all of those feeds will be the content. People will gravitate to what’s most valuable.

4.   The ball is in the employee’s court. Throughout the late 2000’s, providing an excellent client experience was the focus of the most successful companies. But beginning in 2012, we’re going to see the emergence of a talent war which will force companies to not only provide an excellent client experience, but also a superior employee experience. Even though we still have high unemployment rates, there are tens of thousands of jobs available because there is a lack of qualified workers to fill them. There is going to be more competition for talent than ever before, especially in highly technical fields. Those who are qualified will be a hot commodity, and employers will have to compete to attract and keep the best and brightest.

5.   Stories still sell. This is a prediction that would probably come true every single year, not just in 2012. We, as human beings, are always going to be compelled by the will-to-win story, the story of a person or a company who had to struggle to overcome a challenge. We love the underdog because their stories give us hope, which is something we always need. So, stories will be the continued medium for how we communicate – and how we sell.

6.   Grit is the new currency. This goes back to #5: we will really begin to appreciate people who have worked through hardship and persevered. The more challenge you’ve overcome, the more trustworthy you are. In fact, grit is the leading indicator to trust. There’s something pure about someone overcoming a challenge versus someone who’s won the lottery or who’s famous for being famous (Hello, Paris Hilton! Hello, Snooki!). The latter do not inspire compelling, lasting relationships built on trust. They’re the antithesis of grit, and people will soon tire of them.

7.   Advice is a must. In a world where competition is fierce, people will be looking for every edge they possibly can. With fewer resources, less energy, and less to leverage, every decision becomes more critical. They’re looking for the newest, the best, the tried and true – whatever it is that’s going to help them move forward more quickly and efficiently. From consulting to continuing education, if it’s going to help folks net better results, people are going to be into it.

8.   Emotional intelligence finally breaks into the MBA programs for real. At last, the idea that ones’ emotional intelligence is as important to their success as their IQ will become institutionalized, and it will happen in an incredibly important place: the programs that train our business professionals. The notion that it takes more than book smarts to be a great business leader has been teetering on the brink of mainstream thinking for quite a while, but this year it will finally take flight in American MBA programs. It’s about time.

9.   This will be a reinvesting year… again. 2012 will not be a year to make withdrawals, but rather to continue making deposits. Reinvest, reinvest, reinvest, reinvest. I know we’re all tired of this. We’ve been doing it ad nauseam for three years now. But it is what it is, and we can’t expect the economy to be massively different than it was in 2011. Don’t expect to work any less hard. In fact, be prepared to work twice as hard, and be prepared for it to take twice as long to get us back to a pre-2008 economic landscape. We will probably have to do the same thing again next year, too. I know that’s blunt, but there’s no way to sugarcoat it. This is our new reality. It’s about living within our means. Being pragmatic with our finances. Investing in relationships and reinvesting in our companies, in our infrastructure, in our health, and in our communities. Trust me; these investments really will pay off… eventually.

10.   Gratitude is the common ground. Despite the difficulties we’re bound to face in 2012, we still have a pretty unique opportunity in this country. So if we want to find something to rally around, it would be in the form of gratitude, because it can always be worse. Our situation is not permanent. It’s not the end of the world. We have such incredible freedoms and opportunities, and so many choices compared to people in other countries. Sure, we have challenges headed our way, but at least we can be grateful for another year to be who we are, to really begin to share our perspectives with each other, and to listen to one another’s stories, because I believe that could actually move us out of gridlock and into a brighter tomorrow.

Joe Mechlinski is the President of entreQuest and has partnered with countless leaders to effectively improve their team’s performance, their clients’ experience, and their company’s profits.

First things first: we at eQ want to thank every one of you reading this message. We are continually grateful for the knowledge and experiences gained through our work together. It is an honor to know you, and it has been an absolute privilege working alongside you this past year.

As the sun sets on 2011, we can’t help but reflect on what an amazing year it has been. 2011 was entreQuest’s best year yet, not only because of company growth, but also because of all the marvelous things we learned through working with our clients and partners. Today, we want to share one of those things with you – a new trend in our data that is sure to help you kick off 2012 with a mindset for growth.

You know that the eQ philosophy has always centered on the idea that in order to grow regardless; an organization must first change from within.  And now, through recent survey data, we have not only identified the various components necessary to create that change, but also isolated the five internal factors that we believe are critical to a company’s growth and success over time.

Check out this raw data from five of our recent client assessments:

Performance Reviews

• 25 of 555 (4.5%) survey participants reported that they did not have a performance review at all.
• Of the remaining 530 participants:
• The majority (77.92%) felt that their
  performance reviews were very helpful (41.13%) or somewhat helpful (36.79%).
• Only 3.77% of these participants felt their performance reviews were either very harmful (1.70%) or somewhat harmful (2.08%).
• 18.30% stated that the reviews were neither harmful nor helpful.

IN A NUTSHELL: The vast majority of employees surveyed think performance reviews – when done correctly and consistently – help them in their work.

Team Meetings

• When asked if team meetings were productive and worthwhile, 82.60% of survey participants responded affirmatively by selecting
  strongly agree (17.07%), agree (39.84%), or somewhat agree (25.69%).
• 17.40% rated their team meetings negatively: strongly disagree (5.53%), disagree (4.07%), or somewhat disagree (7.80%).

IN A NUTSHELL: A majority of employees surveyed think that team meetings – when conducted correctly and consistently – help them be more productive. 

Goal Setting

• 24 of 562 (4.27%) survey responders stated that they did not have goals and 16 (2.85%) said they had goals, but didn’t know what they were.
•  Of the remaining 522 participants:
• An overwhelming 73.37% felt as though their goals were realistic and attainable.
• 25.29% responded that their goals were either difficult to reach (24.14%) or impossible to reach (1.15%).
• 1.34% responded that their goals were too easy.

IN A NUTSHELL: The vast majority of employees surveyed had goals that they felt were attainable.

Goal Accountability

• Of the 456 survey participants to respond when asked if they are held accountable for their goals by a supervisor, the overwhelming majority (94.74%) responded with strongly agree (4.39%), agree (87.72%), or somewhat agree (2.63%).
• The remaining 5.26% of the responses were strongly disagree (4.82%) or somewhat disagree (0.44%) with zero participants selecting disagree.

IN A NUTSHELL: More than nine in ten respondents said accountability was part of their company culture.

Value Within an Organization

• The majority (85.93%) of survey responders stated that they feel like a valued member of their organization by responding strongly agree (23.79%), agree (42.38%), or somewhat agree (19.77%) to this question.
• 14.07% disagreed on this question with 6.53% responding with somewhat disagree, 4.52% for strongly disagree and 3.02% responding with disagree.

IN A NUTSHELL: The majority of those surveyed feel that they are important to their organization.

We’re not the only ones noticing these trends either.  In a recent article for Forbes online, Eric Jackson lists poor annual performance reviews and lack of accountability among his Top Ten Reasons Why Large Companies Fail To Keep Their Best Talent. Like, Jackson, we at entreQuest believe that that the best employees are those that feel part of something bigger than themselves, something meaningful, and something they believe in passionately.  

Do these results surprise you? Perhaps you’ve always thought that performance reviews, team meetings, goal setting and accountability were the kinds of things that make employees cringe. It’s true; when done incorrectly or with a negative mindset, those activities CAN destroy morale and stunt a company’s growth.  A recent study of 2,141 working Americans conducted by Harris Interactive found that only 37 percent of those surveyed felt they were given useful feedback from their manager during an annual performance review. Additionally, the same survey also revealed that 50 percent of the participants who responded that they had recieved positive performance reviews felt more valued by the company because their performance review focused on helping them succeed in their role.  Similarly, the same report found that  only 32 percent of working Americans feel that their performance goals are aligned with their company’s business objectives; and only 20 percent have even established career goals with their manager.

But eQ’s client assessments clearly illustrate how employees, when offered regular guidance and accountability through efficient, consistent performance reviews, team meetings, and goal setting, are more likely to feel valued.  As a result, these employees will go on to create positive experiences for their organizations’ clients; perpetuating company-wide growth and success.

Your organization can grow and succeed in 2012, too. The eQ team stands ready to assess your current situation and help you implement
proven solutions that spur growth regardless of your size, your industry, or the economy. The eQ Assessment isn’t just for new clients. Many of our longstanding clients and partners undergo an annual company-wide assessment to ensure that all aspects of their organizations are functioning at an optimal level, and if they are not, we work together to improve conditions, building a stronger, more successful business.

Is your organization ready to jumpstart growth and kick off 2012 with an eQ Assessment? Contact us today!

Joe Mechlinski is the President of entreQuest and has partnered with countless leaders to effectively improve their team’s performance, their clients’ experience, and their company’s profits.

Isn’t it strange that even with an unemployment rate of nine percent, people still feel uncomfortable saying that they are looking for work? It seems to me that people hesitate sharing this information because they think the only way to tell someone they are looking for new employment is to use words and phrases like, unemployed, seeking a new position, and between jobs which have negative connotations. So, often times the approach is to say nothing… but as a recruiter, I can’t help but argue the exact opposite.

Admitting that you’re looking for new employment doesn’t make you any less desirable than everyone else in the job market, especially  if you know what to say, how to say it, and who to say it to. 

Each of us has countless interactions every day with a wide variety of people. We talk to family, friends, neighbors, the Starbucks barista, the owner of the local dry cleaners – the list goes on and on. But what people forget is that any one of these interactions could result in their next career opportunity. Rather than keep quiet, you should tell anyone and everyone who is willing to listen you’re looking for a new job. You never know, your neighbor might work at a company that is looking to hire someone with your exact skill set, or a family friend may have a great contact for you to interview with. The key here is to get out and talk about it; explain to people your current situation! 

Now, I’m not telling you to go shout it from the rooftop and sit back waiting for job offers to flood your way – you’ve got to think strategically.  Simply telling people that you’re looking for work isn’t enough.  Here are a few tips to help you get started thinking about what to say and how to say it:  

• Be straight forward
• Be specific
• Be Authentic
• Never Assume
• Focus on the positive
• Ask for advice, not a job

Now that you have a better idea of what to say and how to say it, who do you tell? I recently read an article stating that 60 percent of all new hires come from referrals and a recent study conducted by Facebook and researchers at an Italian university found that 92 percent of Facebook’s users are connected by four degrees of separation. So, that means that at any given time you are only three friends away from connecting to the hiring manager at your next job! With statistics like that, what are you waiting for?  

Social media sites including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn provide a superb platform for referrals because you can easily keep people in your network up to speed on your current job situation. It is vital to utilize as many of these tools as possible to further your ultimate goal of securing a new position. Additionally, more and more recruiters are using the same tools to seek out new talent.  For them, it’s a cost effective and efficient way to secure candidates and for you it’s a simple change to your profile that will undoubtedly increase your odds of finding you next job.  

So, what are you waiting for? You know what to say, how to it, and who to say it to – tell someone! 

Donal O’Donoghue is an account manager at entreQuest who specializes in expanding work forces by finding the best talent with the ideal personalities to place in a wide range of positions across all types of industries.

Thanksgiving evokes images of football, family reunions, roasted turkey with stuffing, and pumpkin pie; but all too often the true meaning of Thanksgiving is lost in the shuffle of the festivities.

This year, as we think about the true meaning of Thanksgiving, the entreQuest team can’t help but express our absolute gratitude to all the individuals and companies we have had the unique privilege to work with. We are truly grateful for the remarkable opportunity to share in their growth and success.

Without a doubt, each of us is grateful for family, friends, and all that is great in our lives, but in a world that is moving so fast, we often times, become immersed in the “actions” of our day, rather than the “impact” of our day and its effects on others. 

Throughout our nation’s early history, several days were proclaimed national days of Thanksgiving and Praise. In 1789 George Washington proclaimed the 26^th of November to be a day of thanksgiving for God’s blessings. Then, years later, in the midst of the Civil War, Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November, “a national day of thanksgiving and praise”.

Surely, our Founding Fathers were immersed in the many important affairs of their day, and yet these men took time to pause and recognize the importance of gratitude and blessings. As we face the ever changing world of today, let us also pause to reflect upon our blessings and to be thankful.

May this Thanksgiving season be filled with peace, health, and happiness for you and your family.

 “Thanksgiving, after all, is a word of action.” W.J. Cameron

Emily Cosgrove is the Marketing Manager at entreQuest and works closely with all team members to provide employees and clients with remarkable experiences. 

Luck isn’t by chance.

If you believe that some people are just lucky, you’re accepting a victim’s mentality. 

That would mean you didn’t have a direct impact on the results you get.  Yet, that’s almost always the case.

Luck is when preparation and opportunity meet. 

• It’s that fifth quote that you finally converted into an order.
• It’s that friendly voice on the other side of the line after 40 blitz calls.
• It’s that one deal that you wrote off that came back to life.

We make our own momentum.   We start the ball rolling – “get it out, fix it, and get it out again.”

There are no Glenngary Glen Ross leads.

That’s good news!  Our preparation directly impacts our success.

As we prepare in anticipation of opportunities, a funny thing happens, we get better.   We go from efficient to effective and increase the velocity of our “luck.”

So, what three things do you need to focus on this week in order to get lucky?

1. Set up 4 referral meetings?
2. Thank 3 clients for their business?
3. Make 10 calls before lunch?

Write them down or put them in your calendar NOW!

Feelin’ lucky?

Mark Slatin is a VP of Sales at entreQuest who is outsourced to a wide variety of companies to coach their teams, improve their client experiences, and raise their revenues.

On my last day as a summer intern at entreQuest, I can’t help but look back on my original goals back in June and assess whether or not I accomplished them over the past few months. 

I am currently enrolled as an undergrad at Temple University and according to our Office of the Provost: “Internships give students the opportunity to capitalize on what they are learning in the classroom and apply it in a work setting.  Internships help students to enhance their skills, provide practical experience so often sought by employers, and offer excellent opportunities to establish contacts in their career field.”

Well, let’s see…  Skills, check!  Experience, check!  And connections, check plus!  All in all, I am confident that I will return to campus this fall having earned the college credit at entreQuest in the manner that Temple University expected.

What I personally didn’t expect to learn, however, was the lesson in what corporate core values mean and the magnitude they play in making a difference in the lives of employees and the lives of clients – and therefore, in the life of our communities.

entreQuest has four core values but the one that speaks the loudest to me today is “demonstrate a relentless passion for what we do.”  Throughout my summer tenure on the eQ team, I feel fortunate to have had the chance to fulfill all three of the behaviors listed under this value:

1. Be a source of unprecedented energy.  This one was sometimes a challenge when it felt like everyone on the team needed help at the same time but I found the best tool was keeping an ongoing list.  Walking into the office with 15 projects to do before you have had your morning coffee is typical in the society we live in today – we need things done and we need it done NOW!  Lists helped me focus on my priorities throughout my internship.  My role was to assist everyone on the team whenever they beckoned and that organized list was what assisted me in keeping my cool and keeping a smile!

2.  Seek out opportunities to surpass expectations.  Here, I found out that being proactive in researching what needs to be done beforehand puts you at an advantage when trying to make the most of the situation as it unfolds in the future.  The more you know, the more you can take initiative and when you don’t wait for people to tell you do something, you can really wow them.  Being as ready as possible in advance also allows you to relax more while delivering the best client experience you can.

3. Invest fully in the missions and stories of our clients.  At first I wasn’t sure how an intern who wasn’t working around the conference tables with the leaders of eQ’s client companies could contribute to the story of their business.  Then I realized that every task counts in forwarding their missions.  Even if I was setting up a meeting room for a group of frontline staff members or bringing in lunch for a retreat among managers, I was providing an essential piece that would enhance their efforts to make a difference for their employees, their clients, and their community.  If I gave all that I could, there’s no telling what kind of growth could stem from even the simplest action.

In closing, here is wishing everyone in the entreQuest community – from employees and clients to friends and family – nothing but continued success as the year reaches the third quarter.  Thank you for the experience to grow regardless as an intern this summer, the inspiration to grow regardless as student this fall, and the aspiration to grow regardless throughout my entire working career.

Megan Chlada is an intern at entreQuest who assists all team members with projects that require her skills in administration, organization, coordination, marketing, and event planning.

If we want to deliver a remarkable experience to a client, we have to earn the prospect first. 

And if we want to deliver a remarkable experience to a client continually over the long-term, we have to understand more than just their problems on the surface to which we can offer quick solutions.  We have to understand their underlying mission, values, goals, and story.  We must uncover their “ends needs.”

If you’re on the frontline staff of any organization that succeeds on sales then you’re on a NEED-to-know basis when it comes to “means needs” versus “ends needs.”  eQ published an article that describes the differences between the two terms in detail as well as how to go about discovering these utmost important needs.  The reading is available at this link:  http://www.entrequest.com/wp-content/pdf/entrequest_means-ends_08.04.pdf?phpMyAdmin=d2c4aa6766ft5760658.

As our oldest clients can attest, eQ has always held the philosophy that profitable prospecting requires researching past the “means needs” (or the solutions needed to fix surface problems) in order to reach the “ends needs” (or the underlying goals of an organization).  Fulfill a means needs and you’ve got a sale.  Fulfill an ends need and you’ve got a partner.

In his new book “Onward,” the CEO of Starbucks Howard Schultz provides a phenomenal example of a B-2-B company understanding his ends need and winning his business.

Faced with the challenge of transitioning himself as smooth as possible back into the role of CEO, Schultz found himself needing professional guidance but not knowing who to turn to for help as the sensitivity surrounding the situation prohibited him from discussing it with employees at Starbucks.  A peer suggested he work with a consulting firm called Kekst and Company which is primarily focused on helping organizations overcome crises, mergers, and abrupt shifts in leadership. 

Kekst and WHO?!  Huh?

That’s right, even Schultz admits he had never even heard of the company but once he sat down with one of its principals, Jim Fingeroth, evidently he didn’t need to hear of any other company.  Schultz writes:

“… as I began to explain the culture and values of Starbucks to Jim, I could see that this was someone who was going to understand and embrace them, as oppose to fighting them as someone else might.  If Jim could not help me make changes in a manner compatible with the company’s culture, and do so with a degree of sensitivity and humanity, then we would fracture our partners’ trust.”

As we all well know, there are hundreds of widely-renown consulting agencies whose reputations proceed them out there.  Certainly any one of them would have gone to the end of the earth to partner on any project with Starbucks and especially a guaranteed newsmaker like the former CEO returning to his post after a historic sales slump for the world’s most famous coffee chain.  However Schultz doesn’t mention considering any other company after meeting Jim and his team at Kekst.

We might not all be that lucky to have an inbound caller like Schultz who goes into the prospecting phase keen on having his ends needs met.  Some prospects are so focused on means needs, they themselves divert attention from their ends needs.   However had Kekst pulled out their portfolio to show what they’ve done with past clients in terms of transitioning leaders and then demonstrated why the same techniques would work with the similar sized company of Starbucks, Schultz would have probably shook the team’s hands, walked over to the nearest Starbucks, accessed Wi-Fi, and continued his search for another consulting company.

The means need here was smoothly reinstating Schultz back into the role of CEO.  The ends need was returning Starbucks to sustainable and profitable growth for the benefit of its partners, its customers, and its community.  In a most genuine, believable, and trustworthy way, Kekst and Company immediately convinced Schultz that they would meet both his needs.

And as we find out a few chapters later, Kekst did exactly that.

But do you think the relationship between Starbucks and Kekst and Company dissolved like a sugar packet in a latte after this transition?  No.

A couple hundred pages later in “Onward,” in the chapter titled “Winning,” the first paragraph reads:

“Sitting in the familiar New York City offices of Kekst and Company – where almost two years earlier, I’d talked about Starbucks’ downfall – I waited to begin what I felt would be the most important earnings announcement the company had made since going public.  Starbucks’ profits were growing again.”

There you have it, proof that means needs might give you success in the meantime but ends needs channel champions until the end.

Joe Mechlinski is the President of entreQuest and has partnered with countless leaders to effectively improve their team’s performance, their clients’ experience, and their company’s profits