Long time reader and client weighs in on my last article Amateurs Take Offense, Professionals Take Notes. Which if you missed it is available right here.
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Coach BruI’m a HUGE Rush fan. I’ve seen them 7 times including a couple of years ago in Denver with my son for their 40th anniversary tour. They were just as good as the first time I saw them. Neil Peart was the greatest drummer ever, period. I told people about him when I took a Leadership class a couple of years ago that everyone said I didn’t need. If Neil Peart takes drumming lessons, I am not even close to being done learning. Thanks for this email, great stuff.Derek VolkPresident, VOLK PACKAGING CORP.
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Let me start by echoing Derek’s sentiments in his next to last sentence…
If Neil Peart takes drumming lessons, none of us are even close to being done learning.
Derek is a CEO who walks his talk about this.
We met seven years ago when he hired me to speak at his company’s annual employee appreciation event. Since then we’ve worked together in a variety of capacities and I consider him one of my closest colleagues and trusted friends.
I pushed him to publish his book Chasing The Rabbit as a raw, unfiltered account. He did the hard work of speaking his truth, writing, editing and publishing something that has gone on to change families lives all over the world. He’s won awards, the book has sold thousands of copies and is even a documentary film now.
Derek has attended my events, belongs to my membership community Yesterday’s Underdogs and is a voracious reader.
His company is consistently named a top workplace in the state of Maine and his employee retention could probably set a national record as they don’t simply have employees who stay a while. They’re multi-generational in that their employees children and relatives work there long term as well.
Frankly, their culture is nothing shy of exceptional and if you’re in Maine you should tour the facility and visit with Derek.
Why do I share this all with you? Because success leaves clues.
Derek and Volk Packaging aren’t successful by accident. It’s by design and a BIG part of that design goes right back to his very insightful sentence about life long learning:
“If Neil Peart takes drumming lessons, I am not even close to being done learning.”
If you want to be a lifelong learner and surround yourself with high caliber leaders like Derek Volk, hop on board the YU train right here…
You’ll be glad you did.