It's strange how sometimes a thought will come to you and when you start thinking about it you realize that it's been hammering at you in more than one way, sometimes from more than one place.

Business Meeting
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There's this concept of doing what you've got to do that's a big one for me, yet something I don't think about all the time. It manifests itself in more than one way for each of us based on what's going on in our lives at the time.

The first way it came to me was during my consultant's meeting last week when we discussed the generic topic Do You Follow Your Own Advice. One of the consultants there, who's also a health care finance consultant, was mentioning how at least 60% of his business is marketing and that his rate covers the time it takes him to prospect for new clients. The first part I needed to hear again; the second part was so new to me that I had an "A-Ha" moment; love that!

The second came from a conversation I was having with my wife based on her work ethic when compared to that of some of the people she's working with now, as well as some of the people she's worked with in other hospitals across the country over the last few years. It led to my writing an article titled Why Do You Work So Hard?, where I responded to her question by saying we have to do what we do because it's our reputation on the line and no one else's every time we decide to do or not do something. Frankly, basing our performance on how other people do things is distasteful; she agreed with me.

When I talk to people about leadership issues, I'm often saying that it's important for leaders to establish a certain behavior and manner in working with others. I also say that the ultimate goal should be success for everyone on the team, which leads to success in business, and not just the leader.

However, when I think more about this, I recognize that some leaders don't have the skills needed to do all of this. They still need them, but if they're lacking these skills then they should fall back on this premise of doing what they need to do or, to word it differently, doing what it takes to get things done.

After all, in business all of us in the end have to do what we've got to do to get things completed in the most efficient way possible. Hopefully the most thorough way, the most ethical way, the most cost effective way and the most beneficial way possible as well.

Of course this could be taken another way also but for the purposes of this article I think I'll leave it there for now. What's your thought?