Trust is built when you put your people above yourself

I frequently talk about “submission to the process” or “trust in the process” given most of us have a severe lack of impatience. And even though I was born in 1976, I have some millennial tendencies with even worse patience and wanting the future of 20 years to occur now. In Dr. Nels version 2.0, I purchased a business. The main reason was to be a hard-working veterinarian to provide more for my family, in turn, what it really meant was to make more money. But it wasn’t until about the year 2008 when I realized that “purpose” of making more money wasn’t a wise “purpose” for AMC. We were busy, there were times of complete chaos, and lack of veteran leadership to guide the ship through the rough waters of high growth and both more customers and more team members entering a business.

We had an average level of trust, but it wasn’t where it needed to be to be an extraordinary business that could change lives and I was the problem as the leader of the ship. My personal gain was over 50% of my purpose. It took me a bit, but finding a true purpose of AMC was the start of a new chapter for AMC. It started with establishing our core values which then, in turn, led to our purpose, which as of today is to change people’s lives. Changing people’s lives wasn’t where we started, nor where we were even 5 years ago but is where we have gotten to as leadership grew, as I grew, and like all of our people have grown.

The key being, our purpose went from making money, to selflessly serving others to help change their lives, both for our customers and for our exemplary team members, of which our AMC Family is. Not just a team of people, but a Family. The purpose is bigger than any one individual. The purpose holds and has heartfelt meaning that results in heartfelt action. The purpose creates a unity of souls fighting for a cause bigger than themselves and pulling for each other in our times of need. The purpose creates a beacon of light shining from deep within the retinas of our Family lighting the path of hope and peace while in our torrential storms of chaos. Ultimately, the purpose of changing lives has created the opportunity for an extreme level of trust to break out because everyone in our Family knows that no one is doing what they do each day for personal gain. We are all looking to provide for our family’s, but we are all doing so by serving a higher calling and purpose in what we do every single day, serving others, solving problems, deeply caring for each other, with a trust in the process to do great things.

What are your motives? Mine started as making money… and that doesn’t work long term. The trust you need in life, in relationships, at work, at home with your family, in school with your friends, and in everything you do will emerge once people know you aren’t doing what you do for your own personal gain.