We can learn about a thing like love in part from its opposite. Would we understand the breathtaking majesty of the mountain apart from being in the valley far below?
Hate is ugly, true love is beauty. The opposite that is missing teaches us about the good once discovered.
In a hookup culture – with all kinds of media hype to dazzle and confuse – we often find romance, sex and love are publicly conflated. Each is properly distinct, although there may often indeed be connections.
Commitment is an amazing sign of true love. Stable families are born of faithful commitment. In our industry, we see it all, because we are housing Americans and people from across the globe.
So we see the heartache of divorce. We see the lonely in and out of marriage. We see too the dazzling splendor of a family growing up together in a deeply committed love.
All involved in providing quality affordable living for tens of millions ought to step back and reflect at what we see in the light of days like Valentines Day, or Mother’s or Father’s Day.
TV and the movies often depict steamy, romantic sex as being found only by those dating or having a fling. The meaning of it all may seem blurred, save in the light of committed enduring love. The married say, ‘until death do us part.’ Then they give everything, including their own bodies, to the one they’ve pledged their love to for life.
That is commitment, and that is a visible symbol of love. That is success.
Broken families are more likely to be poor, jailed or struggle financially. Whole families are the historic bedrock of any good society. They are also more likely to be successful in life.
Anyone that tells you differently is selling something. Love and commitment are hand in glove. Can disadvantages be overcome? Can the broken be healed? Yes, and we have numerous examples of that in society too. Those from the broken households typically achieve ‘success’ by doing what was lacking in the shattered domestic life in the first place.
So the exceptions prove the rule. Whole families and committed couples – these are the foundation – the bedrock for a healthy society.
Love, Commitment and The Professional Echo
There are way too many people who misunderstand the nature of success, professional as well as domestic. Part of that is about ‘falling in love.’ Part of it involves commitment.
When in our contract services or consulting process we recruit, hire and train new team members for a client, part of our process – as corny as this may sound to some – is to teach them why they should fall in love with MH. Then, we teach the candidates what it means to be committed to a process that yields long term success. Love the business, love the plan and the likelihood of success is stronger.
While there may be more front end cost, the mid and long term benefits makes the investment a no brainer. Plus, guess what the bonus is for having new team members ‘in love’ with the profession and the process? They are routinely happy team members who ‘get it’ and desire it, because loving their profession and the process makes it easier and more enjoyable.
So is it a surprise when they become more productive or ‘successful’ too? We think it is the obvious outcome of that understanding, love and commitment.
The ideal business is much like a healthy family. There is mutual respect. There is nurturing. There is listening, and yes, ‘obedience’ because it is necessary and good. One does for the organizational ‘team’ what one does in a healthy family.
Then you love your work, and your work becomes such a radiant joy that even the customers who walk in the door can sense it.
Not Misty-Eye Idealism! This is REALITY
Lest some think this is soapy emotionalism or idealism, pardon me, but the facts and experience bear this column out.
Because most truths are eternal ones. Yes, technology changes. Society and policy vacillates back and forth, then the pendulum swings again.
Love cares about the person. It is not manipulative. Companies should – and good ones do! – care about people too. Good companies don’t manipulate a customer, they serve them so well that all are pleased with the outcome.
When you foster success for the person, in the right framework, you foster success for the firm too. Servant leadership anyone? We’ll look at that more in a future column…
A Second or Third Career?
When I began college, “manufactured housing” were not words in my vocabulary. I had a journalism scholarship. A history major with a minor in businesses was pursued. Manufactured or modular homes? I didn’t have any feeling for those either way, because I didn’t know what it was!
Tens of millions in the U.S. today still don’t know about MH. Or what they know is flat dated and thus wrong.
So when I literally stumbled across the MH industry as a result of a wrong turn off I-240 onto Shields Blvd, it was an eye opening moment for me. You might say it was a career ‘love at first sight.’ When I ‘discovered’ MH for myself, I vowed to get into this business, and did so as rapidly as possible.
Falling in and out of Love?
Couples may fall in and out of love for the same reasons that people fall in or out of love with a career choice. The day to day realities become a ‘grind’ instead of a joy. We take another person (or that person takes us…) ‘for granted.’ That can happen in homes, offices and work places.
Keeping the Dream Alive!
Back to basics! Back to the roots, back to that first look of love! That is what keeps things fresh in marriages, and in careers too.
Take ten. Step back from your work and relationships. Are you and they committed?
The famous line in the movie Jerry McGuire is, “You complete me.” This is a deep truth found in that romantic comedy. God made humanity male and female, each ‘completes’ the other, but is also a visible reminder that we need others.
Even together, we are still incomplete. But with patience and love, through commitment and understanding, we learn to be ever more complete. This is true personally and professionally.
Love. Commitment. Understanding. Respect. These are among the building blocks of true success. This is true in marriage, in faith, in business, in an industry and for a nation. Enough said for now, happy Valentines Day. ##
(Editor’s Note: Sorry for the long weekend without online service, but it was necessary due to the major upgrades we are putting in place. There may still be a bump or two, as new software is adjusted. Thank you for being a committed reader here! ;-)
