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My long time pal and former airplane partner Howard Livingston was in a selling mood, so one day he sold his very successful precision machining company and his house and moved to the Keys.  Once there he started an island band and Howard Livingston and Mile Marker 24 is now the #1 band in Key West.  Howard really is into excellence and, trust me on this, you want to give a listen.

While you’re enjoying the music, poke around his web site because Howard and his band model something that’s important to you and your business.  Check their schedule you’ll see that they’re doing a benefit concert this week for the Literacy Volunteers of America and there’s an upcoming event to benefit Habitat For Humanity.  They do benefit concerts regularly for a wide range of worthwhile organizations and that’s the key learning for you.

I continuously review material dealing with what motivates employees, including what causes them to apply for work with a particular company (other than the obvious – that they need a job), what causes them to want to stay with their company and why they are motivated to give their best.  It turns out that one of the most important things to Gen X-ers and Y’s is to work for a company with a good reputation in the community.  It’s important to these folks that their company does things that tell the world, “We care about others.  We give back.”

If you want to attract the best and have them stay and give their best, try doing a company outing to a retirement home or do a food drive for a local food pantry or put together a team for Race for the Cure and organize non-walkers into support teams.  You get the idea.

We humans are peculiar in the animal kingdom in wanting to have meaning in our lives and we don’t want to have to check it at the door to work.  Instead, do what Howard does – give back to the community and involve all your people in the giving.  It will be sweet music to everyone who looks to you for leadership.

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