I recently had the opportunity to conduct an in-depth interview with Dave Edwards, Vice President of Supplier Relations/Business Development at Premier, Inc. Dave is not only a thoughtful and articulate leader, he is unusually passionate and is definitely “all in” regarding his personal, professional, and organizational mission and role at Premier.
Throughout the entire 65-minute interview, one of the major themes that Dave kept mentioning over and over was to “be a part of the solution.”
What a wonderful personal, professional, and organizational philosophy! What a worthwhile, and frankly all too rare top priority. What a wonderful concept and leadership principle from which to approach each day, each issue, each problem, and each opportunity!
If we leaders want our teams and our organizations to demonstrate and execute leadership excellence, we must adamantly adopt and proactively maintain the perspective of being a part of the solution.
It is natural and so easy to lapse into “protecting our turf”—protecting what we already have, what we have worked hard to achieve, and the way we do it now. So we resist change and new or radical concepts that might ultimately be better for all concerned, particularly those we serve.
But it is absolutely true and a guaranteed reality that the only thing that won’t change is more change!
Far, far better to be a part of the solution than to waste priceless time and energy resisting, fighting, or endeavoring to avoid the reality of ever-present, ever-lasting, ever-powerful evolution and change.
What about your leadership and the leadership throughout your entire organization? Is your organizational culture permeated with the philosophy and priority to focus on and be a part of the solution?
