Simon T Bailey’s Blog

A few years ago Florida Trend magazine interviewed me for a feature story. During this interview, the writer asked me where I saw myself in 10 to 15 years. Amazingly, I said, “I see myself as president of the second largest entertainment company someday and eventually its chairman and CEO.” Was I high on pixie dust? Yes. The day the magazine hit newsstands and I read the story, the full impact of my statement finally hit me like a pile of bricks. What in the world was I thinking? I wasn’t passionate about becoming the number one guy at the house built by a mouse. I felt entitled to a promotion, and I was simply trying to position myself in the eyes of my superiors as the person to consider for the next big move up. Did my plan work? What do you think? Of course not! I learned a valuable lesson about myself, however. Effective leaders understand the difference between being self-serving and being a leader who is sincere about serving others. At that point, my entire professional career was based on the need to perform and impress others, and the truth is that I didn’t even know who I was! I was pursuing a promotion to obtain more status and green cheese (money). Meanwhile, I was smiling on the outside but dying on the inside for my cheese-chasing ways. Chasing after more cheese was more about me trying to impress others than understanding my purpose for existence and expressing it. I was acting as if I had my act together, but I had yet to make an impact. As a Gen Xer, I believed I was entitled (and long overdue) to receive a bigger block of green cheese instead of doing the work necessary to legitimately earn it. An entitlement mentality leads to needs-driven behavior rather than actions that are based on sincerity. When you behave a certain way in order to manipulate a situation to get what you want, you are operating purely from your head and have disconnected from your heart. Remember, what you reap is what you sow – if your behavior is insincere and you have ulterior motives, any rewards you manage to receive may have the same insincerity at their foundation. It can be a hollow victory.

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