I sometimes have to remind my two young sons that I have feelings too, that adults also get tired or frustrated or emotional. That leads me to wonder, shouldn’t this be a reminder for all our relationships, including business interactions? Regardless of 2020’s financial impact on each of us personally, those who didn’t deploy an empathetic mindset were compounding the issue instead of facilitating a solution.
And, in the wake of 2020, empathy and solutions are exactly what is needed to move forward.
Beginning with reflection is how I approach projecting each new year. I started early in December when we made the decision to part ways with a client who was a key source of revenue for EP. Sure we could've used the business, but it wasn't worth forfeiting our core values and our business soul. The situation reminds us all that you cannot leverage money over humanity; emotion can't rule solely, but feelings do have to be factored in. We exist to elevate the people and the brands we serve in a greater good way; a true partner treats people justly.
We all lost something or someone in 2020. Whether it was a place we were slated to visit, an activity we had on the calendar or in the worst case scenario, a person we knew and cared for. Many lost their source of income causing fiscal and mental suffering. It's time for our actions to define us more than our assets. May we all bring more intentionality into our 2021, especially purposeful leadership.
Years ago, my vision was to evolve our exhibit company into an engagement agency. In a way, 2020 served as a catalyst to ignite this change and invite awareness. We purposefully expanded our digital and video capabilities to evolve the ways our clients needed to reach their audience for 2020 and beyond. We took time to make sure that our clients knew all the sides of our business, not just the services they had used us for previously. We delved deeper into the retail world with great success. We believed and now our clients are seeing it too!
So, here’s to 2021. Let it be a time for continued evolution, growth and learning. Let compassion and partnership guide our business strategies. And let us all have a healthy and successful year!
-Matt Williams, CEO, Exhibit Partners