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Writer's pictureDr. Fardad Fateri

Building a Culture of Ambition

Dr. Fardad Fateri discusses how he looks for individuals who have the desire to be the best, and building a culture of ambition begins with identifying those who have the passion and competitiveness to succeed.



Transcript:


to our culture so out of the ten emails

I send in a month to all of you nine of

them are related to culture different

parts of it we deliberately talk about

culture a lot because everything that we

want all the expectations we have all

the numbers we look at all those results

we share on a daily basis are emerging

properties of culture so if we all of us

share the same values at the same level

and truly exercise them at necessary

levels results will manifest the

implementation of these values does that

make sense we talk about it a lot and

we're very deliberate in building a

culture that we want every organization

has a culture they may not even talk

about it they may not even know it

but every organization like every

country has a culture we have our own

I'm not saying our culture is the best

I'm not even saying it's good I'm not

saying it's bad but it's ours anyone who

comes here and wants to become

successful they need to embrace our

values and again I'm not saying these

are great values but they're ours right

so it's important to understand these

values make sure we live them we behave

them we share them and we make it a part

of everything that we do so we have lots

of components to our culture lots

but I want to focus on just a few today

ambition if your ambition that I see is

to be average forever you will not do

well it's just a prophecy that I have

there is nothing wrong with it right

there's nothing wrong with wanting to be

average and just wanting a job and if we

are not one of your top three priorities

in your life you won't do well here so

if you want to be a soccer coach

basketball coach tennis coach if you

have a hobby of underwater

basket-weaving in addition to dancing

and like if you have if we're number ten

you're not going to do well here I'm not

saying there's anything wrong with that

I'm just telling you the most ambitious

the people who really want to be the

best they're competitive they work hard

they're passionate but they want to grow

they want to grow do very well here is

telling you the secret right and all of

you are definitely that because you're

here ambition is important you know it's

like the other thing I always tell

people is you know I love consultants

right there are millions of them out

there but we don't have those jobs here

if your ambition is to be a consultant

advisor we don't have that

I'm not saying it's a bad profession

it's an excellent profession and I'm not

saying it's right or wrong but we don't

have that we want people here who get

the job done right people who take

charge and say this is my shop this is

my ice cream shop I own it and I'm going

to do whatever it takes to get it done

and my ambition is to be the best and my

ambition is to take the next step and

become better and bigger that's our

culture and whenever I interview people

I tell you I look for these things

because most people interviews they say

well you know after I designed a shuttle

I became an astronaut and after I became

an astronaut I trained other people to

build shuttles of course we say wow

that's amazing let's hire the person we

hire them two months later they can't

even draw a shuttle so

it is very difficult at IEC to hide you

know there are lots of organizations I

worked for 120 percent do all the work

the other 80% are just hiding you know

it's like oh so you walk around thinking

what does this person do what does that

person do you know and and we don't have

that seriously I mean do you all agree

there's no hiding there's a so if your

ambition is to start and hide ain't

gonna happen I promise you the reason

I'm telling you all this is not just for

you I want you to take this message back

you've gotta live these values every

single day through your behaviors right

because you have them


 

About the Author: Fardad Fateri


Dedicated to the advancement of student success, leadership development, and organizational excellence, Dr. Fardad Fateri has devoted his 30-year career to catalyzing innovation and transformation in American higher education.

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