Are You Operating At A Best-In-Class Level?
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Living a Four Agreements Life
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Robert Gardner, CEPA, CFEd® 972-833-2570 Who Business Owners Trust
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SEPTEMBER 2021
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P H OTO G R A P H Y BY E L I Z A B E T H L A V I N
GardnerWallace.com/business
i love keeping up with dallas real estate executive Jon Altschuler on Facebook. He often poses thought-provoking questions in his posts—on everything from civics and politics to the Cowboys and coffee shops—sparking debate among friends. A few years back, he wrote about how he had begun following philosophies discussed in The Four Agreements. I’ve come to believe the world would be a better place if we all did the same. Laid out in a short, beautifully written book by don Miguel Ruiz and based on ancient Toltec wisdom, The Four Agreements shatter self-limiting beliefs that, the book says, “rob us of joy and create needless suffering.” Altschuler first came across it in a Jason Gay column on Tom Brady in The Wall Street Journal. Gay wrote about how the book had become the quarterback’s mantra for life. “I’ve always admired Brady, so anything I can learn about how he’s operating, I want to understand better,” Altschuler says. He was inspired to buy copies of The Four Agreements for everyone in his firm, and they read it as a group. Since then, he has shared the book with more than 100 people, including me. The commitments are easy to remember—but not so easy to practice: 1. Be impeccable with your word. 2. Don’t take anything personally. 3. Don’t make assumptions. 4. Always do your best. I thought about the agreements while reporting on our diversity, equity, and inclusion feature in this month’s issue (page 38). According to sources whom Dianté Marigny and I interviewed, making DEI progress is turning out to be a bigger challenge than many leaders imagined. And in some cases, change-making efforts are creating more strife. But conflict often comes before change. I remain hopeful that we can battle through and achieve a better understanding of—and appreciation for—one another. That needs to happen before equity can truly be achieved. Following The Four Agreements seems like a good place to start.
Christine Perez Editor
DCEOMAGAZINE.COM
8/9/21 12:01 PM
