Whatever job you have, knock the shit out of it.

That line has been bouncing around in my mind for the past couple of days. I'm pretty sure I heard some variant of it from Ted, two CEO's ago and it popped back up after the recent selction of Corp Middle Managers. Corp transition is a long, energy- and attention-sapping beast, both our source of continuous innovation and our greatest limitation as a company. But now, after five transitions, everyone's in place - from the Board to the middle managers at every store, and most every position is occupied by someone new. Even if you're in the same job, you get a chance to make it your own, and yes, knock the shit out of it.

This can be a problem if you think that you can completely disregard what has gone on before you in that position. It should be the job of your supervisor to make sure that you don't do that, and keep up the progress that was made last year. But every position in this company has room for improvement - I guarantee something about your job can be done faster, easier, cheaper, or otherwise better. And that includes cashiers, grinders, and stockers. What you choose to do with your position is up to you. If you put in the requisite amount of effort, go to the meetings you're supposed to go to, call the right people, and generally enjoy it, you'll do a great job keeping this company running.

But you can also go down the road toward KTSOOI ("kat-sue-eye"?), and set the standard for every Assistant Director of Marketing for the next five years. And then next year, that person will say "yeah, Ryan was great, but I'm going to do even better". Because we're Georgetown students, and Corpies, and we're competitive and energetic and care about making the Corp a little bit better than last year. So harness that, and put it toward your position for the next 9-12 months. But how? I have some general ideas that I'll list here, but I bet other people have better ones that might apply directly to your position, like "if you could fix ____, that would be HUGE).

1. Consistency. Nothing will make a Corp leader happier than knowing without a doubt that something that is falls within your responsibility will get taken care of every time. Often, there are situations where we're challenged by others: vendors, administrators, customers, other Corpies - and being able to take it to the bank that something was taken care of, right away, in the right way is incredibly helpful. It's the difference between saying "well, something could have happened on our end; I'll check with my people and get back with you" and "this is unacceptable and you need to take care of it right away". (see: KT at Accounts Outstanding)

2. Throwing energy into a project not just while you're talking about it at a meeting, or for one night or a few weeks, but several months. From planning, to coordinating, through that death zone in between idea and fruition, all the way to making visible, tangible changes. One of the most disheartening things in Corp leadership is coming across your same idea on a memo dated 2005 and knowing that we have known about a problem for four years and done nothing about it. More likely, something was done about it that got dropped after a few setbacks, distractions, or leadership changes came up. I am as guilty of this as anyone - it's very difficult to maintain sustained effort in improving something in the Corp. Nevertheless, there have been and continue to be a few terrific employees who keep at it, week after week. (see: Lauren Goodman, Alex Klein + the Catering staff)

3. Showing up during the inconvenient and most stressful times to help out your fellow Corpies. No one's going to speak ill of you if you don't take extra Ironman shifts, help Accounting look up costs for summer inventory, or help out Midnight during finals. Really, no one will. But those Corpies with the unfortunately-timed or high-stress responsibilities will really appreciate it (your moving boxes), and it will help them do their jobs (supervising the moving of the boxes) better. (see: Jamie and Scott during Booktastrophe '08)

4. Asking questions. First, asking questions if you don't know how to do something and could use some help from other people who have been there (even of alums). Making sure you do it right the first time is even more important in the Corp, where chances are the person who tries to revamp it won't have been a party to all the conversations you had in planning. And second, figuring out what's going on at all levels in the Corp and trying to get involved with what interests you the most. (see: you, for reading this entry!)

That's all that comes to mind right now. Hope everyone has a relaxing Easter break and is ready for the mayhem to come over the next four weeks.