Smaller Indiana

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Lindsay Manfredi

Room For Growth: Expanding Mind Evolution Into Company Evolution

I was driving home last night from work and talking to someone on the phone. This person asked me why I would blog, made some comments about not understanding, then said it was kind of stupid. After I hung up, I began to think about personal growth and openmindedness.

How often are companies not growing because the leaders in the company are not growing? One of the things I love about business is that for the most part, the success is truly in our own hands. I am a firm believer that if one cannot grow, or refuses to grow (and what I mean by growth for this is opening your mind to new opportunities), then a business can not grow.

I have to be honest and say that one of the things I love about the company I get to be a part of everyday, is their openness to development and growth not only professionally, but personally as well. I am blessed to be part of a community of companies that have their employees involved in Beyond Your Best, so they can be the best they can be. And do you ever notice that you tend to gravitate and want to support businesses who are real, honest, and take personal and social responsibility seriously?

Anyway, I just challenge you all (including myself) as the New Year approaches, to open your minds to whatever comes your way. We're all here to support one another, and we all have a social responsibility to one another. May the New Year bring about a positive change in you and may the success you initiate within, fuse into your business.

Tags: company, growth, personal

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Lindsay Manfredi Comment by Lindsay Manfredi on December 20, 2008 at 9:36pm
Dawn and Erik! Thank you for the supporting words. Here's to checking your facebook at work, and here's to the top-notch companie that get it!!!!! Cheers!
Dawn Grimes Comment by Dawn Grimes on December 20, 2008 at 2:54am
Hi Lindsay, let me say i support your blogging...so i cancel out the person who didn't! ;) I have written many blogs ...in my mind and am working toward finding my voice in this arena! I very much appreciate your words and encouragment..."creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties...(Erich Fromm) and what drives business if not individuals who collaborate creatively and explore opportunity and possibilities with an open mind? Thanks for blogging! :)
Erik Deckers Comment by Erik Deckers on December 20, 2008 at 1:32am
I've got a friend who works for a large company, and thinks the idea of using social networking or allowing employees to blog is stupid.

"I don't think the secretaries need to be checking their Facebook page," he said more than once, as if this was all social networking was.

"Do you check blogs for your work?" I asked.

"Yes, but I need to learn about some code or solution to a problem," he said.

"So that's blogging and social networking. You're using it. Why can't your company be a part of that?"

"Because the secretaries will be checking their Facebook pages all day."

Blah blah blah. Pick a new song.

Lindsay, it's the people who don't understand something who are most opposed to it. If someone truly understood blogging (or social networking or Web 2.0), they would at least realize it has its place. They would understand why they don't use it, rather than dismissing it as a fad. (They're still waiting for the Internet to end.)

The ones who call it stupid are. . . well, stupid is as stupid does. The smart ones, the open-minded ones are checking their Facebook pages. And the really smart ones, the visionaries, the ones who will succeed in an increasingly connected world, are blogging about their stupid friends.
Kyle Lacy Comment by Kyle Lacy on December 19, 2008 at 2:18pm
It is always interesting to watch the growth patterns of open minded companies vs close minded. I wouldn't be surprised if the open-minded companies flourished because they were will to try new ideas and new concepts. Great post!

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