The Value of a Good Start

Since the start of school a few months ago, my wife and I have been reminding our two girls about the importance of getting off to a “good start” during the first quarter or semester of the academic year. We’ve tried to stress the importance of not getting behind in your work, not waiting until the end of the term to turn in extra credit assignments, or proactively asking for help if you feel you’re struggling with a particular subject or new concept. The general idea of getting off to a “good start” is that it’s easier to manage your workload and time when your grades are good than if you are trying to bring them up. Pretty straightforward stuff, but important for teens to learn.

The conversations with the girls on this topic got me thinking about the concept of a “good start” and where it has shown up in other aspects of my life and career. I certainly received similar advice from my own parents while in school. It was a common refrain in athletics, especially during my days as a runner. It’s been true in business as well. “You can’t win the year in the first quarter, but you can lose it” is a mantra I’ve heard many times. The importance of a “good start” for a new product launch, carving out a business, expanding into a new market are fairly intuitive.

Upon further reflection, I realized that the concept of a “good start” was surprisingly absent during a key period of my professional life – the beginning of my career! As a senior in college, the focus of most of my peers was “I need to get a job after school” and not “what is the best way to start the career I want to pursue.” I went into the Army after school not because it was a “good start” but because service was important to me. Four years later as I entered the civilian world, my focus was directed more to “I need to get a job after the Army” and not “what’s the best way to get a good start on a civilian career.” Most of the advice I received was centered on “get a job at a good company”. In hindsight this advice was likely intended to convey the idea of a “good start”, but most of the companies I interacted with marketed themselves as a great place to work, not a great place to start.

I was fortunate that I found a job, at a good company - General Mills - and it was not just a “good start” but a “great start” to my career. However, it’s taken me nearly 20 years to understand why it was a “great start”. Recently, a friend and former colleague from General Mills was named CHRO of a fantastic company. We both started our HR careers at Mills at the same time and eventually leveraged that “great start” into new opportunities that led to CHRO roles. I began to reflect on the number of former Mills colleagues who started there or spent meaningful time there early in their careers and who are in CHRO roles today. A quick LinkedIn search revealed that there are eleven of us.

I had to think about it for a while, but eventually I realized that the most important element of a “good start” to a career is the quality of people you work with every day. I was consistently surrounded by great managers, great colleagues and great employees in the early days of my HR career. They inspired and motivated me to be better, work harder and deliver great results. The value of working side by side with highly talented people is invaluable. So often companies promote their employee value proposition as “a great place to work” rather than “a place to work with great people.” The experience of standing up a new company from a carve out over the past 15 months has really reinforced that the people make the workplace great, not the policies, the benefits or the perks. Without great people, the concept of a great place to work just falls apart.

This is one in a periodic series of posts on management topics and business practices. The views expressed by the author are his alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of his current or past employers nor those of organizations he is affiliated with.