From the sound of it, that's what you would think.  Millennials are ruining everything. At least that’s how they’ve been made to feel. "Experts" focus on how different the Millennials are, how hard they are to understand, to attract and to retain.

After reading the experts, I decided to offer my perspective as a managing partner of a 100-person firm where the average age of our firm is 34.65 and 59 of our people are the age 35 or below.  This experience – along with being a father to a 21 year-old daughter,  an 18 year-old son and a 13 year old son – has given me a different perspective. 

In fact, the differences between the generations are exaggerated. It's funny to see how the older generation always looks at the generation behind them and says they are so different and won’t achieve what we have or that they have some “hard to understand” ideas. They said that about me when I was 25.

I love this generation coming up and here is why:

​Esther Brock at 37:19:
I'm in tears. What a beautiful message! Here's my heart Lord! ❤️ Thank you John for reminding me to run to Him, not from Him! ??

Debbie Ackerman at 12:13:
Wonderful message John. Heres my heart Lord...

The popular question today seems to be “why”?  What is your why? Why do you show up every day? I recently asked our Firm, why MRZ and not some other firm? Why are you here? You should know your why! This post is going to very self serving, be forewarned, but it is a challenge to you, do you know your why? Does your company have a why? Here is the #MRZWhy.

There are three distinctive components to the #MRZWhy. The first and most important, is that we set out to create opportunity for financial success for the families of MRZ and our own. A firm that would be more than a job,  one that would enable a life style and provide a clear path to upward mobility and success for our team. While that path may not be to partner, it is a path to a clear and fulfilling career that would mean more to you than a job, more than just a paycheck, a journey for our team and their family. It is foremost in our minds that every member of the MRZ team recognize the value they have to the team, the role they play and that we provide them the resources, motivation and encouragement to reach their goals and dreams.  MRZ MUST be that organization. The first #MRZWhy is OPPORTUNITY. It is why we do this. 

Warning. The following post has a strong religious content. If you do not appreciate strong leadership and vision with a religious twist, please stop reading now.
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I have said before that there are several sources of leadership and “how to” do things that influence me personally. I posted an article titled “Without a Vision, People Perish." As I read through that and really focused on what I had been inspired to write, it came to me that there is such a strong parallel between our business and our church. A church can be a great organization that provides vision, leadership and is great, not simply good.
My family and I attend Royalwood Church in Houston Texas where I am constantly inspired by the leadership of Pastor Ron Macey. @RevRonMac is a visionary that exemplifies what leadership is and what it should be.  What I am writing about parallels the article above in so many ways and whether you take from this a spiritual revelation or a business revelation, I hope that it influences you.  Let make this disclosure, I have not consulted with Pastor Macey and the opinions and examples used are my own, not his.

Three years ago, Stan, James and I set out to create an organization that personified the dream we had to be part of an incredible organization that would stand the test of time. An organization that held people accountable and demanded personal responsibility. An organization that placed family values above the dollar and the demands of the business.  An organization that was exciting, energetic and a place that we would love spending the better part of our lives at.  As I look around our office today, I see that vision in full force.  I had that “aha” moment, we are living in the moment. We are living “in a vision” and not in the circumstances of an organization that simply exists to satisfy the monetary needs of its owners. I see other firms and organizations and I feel terrible for the people that are a part of an organization with no vision and no clear direction.  As Soloman said in Proverbs, “without a vision the people perish”. How true that is! Organizations die because the leaders have no vision.
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