Recently, I asked our purpose-driven, pet-loving leaders to focus on three things: Warmth, hotel beds, and treadmills. Here’s why those things matter.

Warmth

“You are not warm.”

I’ve been told this more than once in my career. It’s accurate.

I’m a classic introvert—analytical, data driven, direct, maybe a tad obsessive. On one leadership profile assessment, I scored a zero in the “likes people” category. A strange profile for a leader of a large service organization. But I am also told I have a “service provider” mentality. I am not warm, but I do care.

Evidently warmth doesn’t matter as much as truly understanding yourself and your team. Good leaders come in all personality types.

I don’t try to be someone I’m not, and I don’t ask that of our leaders. We are pet people. Our mission is to set the standard for pet care. Our leaders live our mission every day: Many joined us to spend time with pets, not manage people.

So how do they thrive as leaders? They are authentic. They are self-aware. They commit themselves to personal growth. They surround themselves with teams complementing their energy. They communicate transparently. They embrace our diversity. They build trust. And some are also warm.

Whether you are warm or not doesn’t matter. The point is, know yourself. As long as you do, you can build an authentic leadership approach that makes sense.

Hotel Beds

I stay at hotels more than 150 nights a year. I make my bed every morning—even on hotel checkout days. And I don’t make the bed merely to collect accolades from hotel staff, though I’ve had more than a few praise my housekeeping skills. U.S. Navy Admiral William McRaven said it best in his University of Texas commencement speech on success: “If you can’t do the little things right, you will never do the big things right.”

Maintaining operational focus in a purpose-driven organization like ours can be challenging: Dogs and cats are cute, and unpredictable, and destructive. You aren’t really a leader if you haven’t trained a team to put a swimming life vest on an English bulldog.

Excellence starts from executing simple tasks well.

Leaders can overcomplicate things in purpose-driven organizations. Passionate people with ambitious ideas juggle competing priorities in a dynamic environment. Transforming from good to great to excellent requires attention to detail, accountability to team, self-discipline, and belief you can persevere.

In our business, making your bed is the easiest part of your day—and a good place for us, or anyone, to start.

Treadmills

A service-provider mentality means I don’t require encouragement to go the extra mile for clients or customers—a quality cultivated by career mentors. One mentor stressed a willingness to “die on a treadmill.” He borrowed the analogy from actor Will Smith, who used the expression to define his work ethic.

At Pet Paradise, the service-provider mentality is widespread. We operate primarily in the Sunbelt, and our resort and clinic team members routinely work overtime during hurricanes and destructive storms to ensure guest safety. They withstand power loss, flooding, and damaging winds, while reassuring nervous pets and pet parents. They power generators, serve meals, dispense medications, scoop poop, and care for people’s family members during natural disasters.

It is quite humbling to watch and experience, but sometimes passion of purpose can be its own worst enemy. They have difficulty stopping until they get burned out and say, “Enough is enough.” I don’t want our talented leaders to die on treadmills.

Instead, purpose-driven leaders must intentionally build sustainable careers.

They invest in coaching and training their teams. They cultivate relationships with peer leaders; they don’t travel alone. They understand how to recharge by finding that thing (hobby, activity, friendship) that provides energy. And—this one’s paramount—they ask for help. We must dispel the myth that working 30 straight days is a badge of honor, which is tempting as many resort leaders literally live in our resorts.

In summary, I’m here to support our purpose-driven leaders as they grow in three crucial areas: Know yourself. Execute with excellence. And build a sustainable team and career so that nobody, including you, is dying on a treadmill.