By Josh Gottlieb
In this series, we’ve talked about our long history and some really great results we’ve seen along the way. We’ve done things that I’m proud of, but that’s not the end of our story.
When this company turns 100, I’d like to know that the principles we’ve articulated and built upon over the last decade — passion, knowledge, creativity, commitment, innovation, care — are adjectives people still use to describe our company.
When people talk about legacy, they perceive it to be gifts passed into the future. I’ve had an extraordinary career working with some of the brightest minds — really gifted people — creating tremendous results. With this as a foundation, our legacy is about continuing to pay it forward. I tell the team, whatever you’re doing, make sure you leave behind something better than when you started. When you do that, you leave your fingerprint — imprint — on people, on events, on results. If that’s what we do, in little baby steps over time, that would be something to take pride in.
We’re also an integral part of our clients’ legacies. Our work allows us to dialogue with people about all kinds of big questions, particularly when operating a multigenerational trust. Though people aren’t excited to talk about dying, we frame the conversation around what they want to pass on to the future should the unexpected happen. We ask them if they’ve written down their wishes and if loved ones know about them. Then we work together to create a clear distribution plan. These decisions give clients a sense of ease and purpose, and it’s an honor for The Gottlieb Organization’s legacy to include this kind of legacy-making.
I talk about excellence and going from good to great, but we don’t achieve excellence because we sit back and say how smart, clever or innovative we are. We get there because we’re working every day. We’re always looking for ways to improve on something.
People tend to think that if they want to make something better, that means what happened before was wrong.
That’s not where I come from or what we’re about here. Things change. This globe we’re sitting on is spinning all the time even though we don’t feel it.
To keep pace with constant change, we developed a culture of innovation built on a blend of deep, technical expertise as well as a relentless zeal to find solutions to novel problems. And if we want to maintain this cauldron of innovation in the future, we can’t lose our commitment to either.
So the results that we created — our rich history — are great to build on. And from there, the questions are: What are we doing today? How do we make it better? And that is what we’re about as we look towards the next 100 years. We are finding ways to use our history, build on it, embrace it, be proud of it — and go write the next chapter.
Joshua A. Gottlieb is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Gottlieb Organization.