Learning to Fly

Good morning and greetings from Los Angeles, California. I took a detour from my usual travel schedule of maintenance and support to use a few days to take stock of my performance, professional trajectory and take a look at my collective relationships with my team and employer. Earlier in February I completed my professional performance goals for 2024. I was not completely satisfied with our company's performance numbers for 2023. They should have been better.  I should have performed better. I recently wrote about my successes in 2023 (You can read about those HERE) and this year I need to build on those successes and grow. Sometimes, stepping away for a bit is needed to focus on things outside outside of our normal reach.

Changing my landscape for a few days made all the difference in the world. Dropping the routines I follow and stepping out of my comfort zone is exactly what I needed. This week I was honored to be invited to the DIRECTV for BUSINESS All hands meeting in Southern California. It was humbling to be recognized for my work in the Commercial group by Senior Vice President Doug Eichler. 

Tuesday night I faced one of my biggest challenges in years by simply pushing a button. An elevator button that would open a door and transport me to the 21st floor of the Sheraton Universal Hotel. Through those doors would be 250+ strangers that I have never met before, all in one room. They all know each other. No one knew me. I almost didn't go. Ok, then I found out there was free food so ya, I totally went...

The following two and half days went by like a tornado. So much information was shared, so many connections were made, and so many new friends were found.  It's a challenging time in our industry, but I am confident that our Leadership team in place can weather the storms and take our brand to new heights. Thanks to all of the attendees. it was an honor to be among you.

I need to send out a sincere thank you to my leadership team for allowing me to spread my wings a little and fly this week. This trip was a huge growth opportunity for me because in many ways I am still learning to fly with my most accomplished peers. I am sure my boss was grateful for his "Unofficial" PTO as I didn't barrage him with emails, calls and other great ideas.  Have no fear, I will be back to normal next week!

I also want to thank Tom Beedon and his team at the Sheraton for the incredible customer service they provided in support of our activities at his resort hotel. If you are planning a vacation to the Southern California area I highly recommend this hotel, which has all of the family friendly amenities as well as a courtesy shuttle to Universal Studios and City Walk.

My plane is about to board, so I will close with this. DIRECTV is a great place to work. I love it here. I have a voice here, and people listen.  I may not always have the best ideas, but I work in an environment that cultivates ideas from ALL Employees, and our ideas are considered. There is a reason why Newsweek named my company one of the Top 100 most loved workplaces for 2023. It's because of our leadership.  Leadership is everything...

To learn more about John and the work he does for DIRECTV please click HERE. 

The views expressed in this blog post reflect the experiences and opinions of the author only and are not meant to be any official correspondence from DIRECTV, its Dealers, affiliates or any related entities. Copyright John Mac's Travels 2024