The Walls are Talking! My Report on Year-End Activities at The Kevin Eikenberry Group

Hi. My name is Remarkable House. At least that’s what Kevin and his family and team call me anyway.

For the first 47½ years of my life I was a family home, which was great. But when Kevin bought me, moved some walls and removed the carpet down to my original hardwood floors, I knew my life was going to change.

Boy was I right!

It’s much quieter here nights and weekends than it used to be – but there is sure more activity during the weekdays than I’ve ever experienced before, which I like.

Kevin asked me to write a piece for his newsletter and blog about what has been going on inside my walls in the last couple of weeks. I thought that was a bit odd, but hey, how many houses/offices become published authors?

A few weeks ago there was a Christmas luncheon for the team and then an Open House for Clients, friends and colleagues the rest of the afternoon. This was fun for me, and the thing I noticed most is how much the people cared about each other. It reminded me of the families that have lived here before. Team members say they like working in my comfortable atmosphere and that it makes them more productive. (I like it when they say that).

Kevin made said a few words – a pretty short speech for him the rest of the team commented when he left the room – about why they are in the business they are in. It seems like Kevin talks about “why” a lot; he talks about the importance of purpose – both looking backwards and forward.

I really like the feeling I get when Kevin talks with passion about how what they do for their Clients and readers makes a difference for them – and that in the big picture they are trying to help more leaders make a bigger positive difference in the world. I notice that the rest of the team feels good when they talk about this purpose too. I suppose this is one of the reasons he talks about it so much, but how would I know, I’m just a house.

Yesterday was a big day too. The team gathered in the conference room (I’m still getting used to having my dining room called a conference room) to do what they called 2010 planning. Being a house for most of my life I am still trying to get all this new stuff figured out. What was clear to me was this was a pretty cool meeting. They worked hard, talked a lot, asked each other lots of questions, and, boy, was there ever a lot of food on the table – all day long!

Their process, as best I can tell, started by Kevin talking about this “why and purpose stuff” again, and after some desired outcomes and other stuff they seem to do at every meeting, they looking at some overall goals that had been set in a previous meeting, and began to build operational goals and plans for the New Year, all based on the sights set by the overall goals.

As they were leaving after the full-day meeting, Kevin said, and everyone agreed, that they weren’t done yet. But let me say, it was obvious to me (and I’m just a building) that they have BIG plans, and are very excited, about the New Year.

Who knows, maybe I’ll get to write again and tell you more about what I am seeing, hearing and learning here. If you liked my writing, let me know by leaving a comment – and maybe I’ll get to do this again. (My secret goal is to get more feedback than Kevin, the big writer-guy, gets)

Happy New Year!

Guest post from The Remarkable House