Good Morning Everyone and Happy Christmas Eve! Today’s Core Value is: We Put People First.
Over the weekend, my family and I watched the 1946 Christmas classic “It’s a Wonderful Life” where Jimmy Stewart plays the character George Bailey. In the movie, George wants to move out of the small town he grew up in, get a college degree, and do big things in the world, like “plan modern cities.” As George’s life story unfolds throughout the movie, life events created a different path, and he questions the worth of his life because all he dreamt of wasn’t going to come true. What he didn’t realize, is that he had all a man could ever want within the life he was living, even though it wasn’t the life he dreamt in his youth.
There’s one part of this timeless movie that especially stood out to me, and it was the scene where George was telling his father, who owned a small “Building and Loans” business, how he doesn’t want to take over his father’s business because he wants to get out of the town and do great things. Without initially realizing how he’s offending his father, George passionately tells his father: “I can’t be couped up in a shabby little office…I want to do something big and something important.” To which his father replies: “You know George, in a small way, we are doing something important in our shabby little office.
Reflecting on the remarkable things we’re accomplishing at Focal Pointe, and how some may perceive a career in the landscape industry; there’s so much about that exchange between George and his Dad that should speak to us. George had to choose between “planning modern cities” or making a difference in the lives of the community members in the small town he grew up in. Remarkably, and by no design of mine, Focal Pointe gives us the ability to walk both paths.
We have the luxury of caring for and beautifying many of the most prestigious properties in the Midwest, while growing into a Top 100 landscaping company in the country, which can be viewed by many as “something big and something important.” There’s no doubt, we should all be proud of what we’re accomplishing. But the real currency, as George Bailey learned, is the difference we make in the lives of others. Said another way, in the language of Focal Pointe, the best part of life for each of us, is how we beautify the world of others – both personal and professional.
I hope as you enjoy the Holiday Season with family and friends, you’re blessed with the gift of gratitude, and able to see all we’ve accomplished together, as the outside world sees it. I also hope you experience the quiet gift of Christmas – the peace and joy that comes from a life of love and service to others.
Merry Christmas Focal Pointe team. Each of you is a gift in my life and I’m so grateful and proud of what we’re building together – big and small. John