Apr 17, 2026
Regional Director of Sales Bill Funcheon has a proven track record of success in his first six months with Russell Cellular. In January, Verizon’s Atlantic North market recognized his team, among other RC teams in the market, as the January agent of the month.
Bill knows success comes from within. He begins each workday the previous night by looking over assessments of his team’s performance, which helps him decide which store he will visit the following morning.
There is a variety in Bill’s field work, from conflict mediation to showering deserving stores with praise to hiring new District Sales Managers. Bill’s self-motivation is what propels him through the day, and RC encourages this, helping him grow after he left a different company. “Self-motivation is being a part of a company like RC,” he says. “The history, the family ownership, the family mindset – when I chose what my next job was going to be back in September, that was super important to me.”
He chooses to instill these same values in his team. “Folks see potential in you, and they think you can do more; they want you to do more,” he says. “You want to be in an environment where, constructively, you can be challenged and you can grow. All those are true here at Russell.”
#Verizon #5G #LTE #Fiber #RussellCellular #BetterTogether #CareerHere #WTGBill
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Mar 2, 2023
I see you.
This is one of those lines from a movie that sticks. It’s from the James Cameron 2009 sci-fi film, Avatar. Simply said, this movie has many layers of allegory. One hidden in plain sight is that its indigenous inhabitants, the Na’vi, have a saying, “I see you”. It’s more than just the physical seeing-ness. It’s deeper. A sign of respect, and conveys that the one sharing the greeting values the one receiving it.
I have seen a version of this in the workplace. One of my peers uses the phrase, “I appreciate you”. When I first experienced her using this, I have to say, I heard it and lifted an eyebrow. It sounded a little cheesy. And then I saw her face, and how she delivered it. She offered it with absolute regard, respect, intention, and wholeheartedness. It floored me. What a tremendous way to share value with the people we work with. Every day I do my best to use it the same way as my peer: to genuinely share appreciation for others.
Employers need to see their employees. They need to appreciate the value they bring to the health and well-being of the organization and the day-to-day performance. And the employees need to do the same. We are not higher or lower; at least, we shouldn’t be. Instead, we are alongside one another. We need to see and appreciate each other and lift up the value we provide both ways.
This series has been a follow-up to the series that came before it. The Great Realization series elevated the employee’s point of view and looked at the job along the path of the employee’s life cycle. The Why People Stay series was the perspective of the employer and what leadership can do to engage and invest in making the employee experience matter.
At this point, the two perspectives converge. The job, and how each of them has influence. Here are five places where convergence matters.
1. Cause
Purpose should never be one-sided. The argument may be that it’s up to the organization to establish the mission of the business. I contend when the mission is fully shared, and everyone has a stake in the value proposition, that’s when performance takes off. I have always said if the goal identifies profitability as the only measurable, then the business suffers. The job has to have purpose, and every team member has to feel like they are contributing to the greater good. Beyond the business and into the communities they serve, the teams must feel like they are all striving to somehow make a difference. This isn’t anti-capitalism, or that paying attention to the bottom line is bad. Profit is still a goal. Just not the only goal.
2. Clarity
One of the most effective ways to ensure people are thriving in their job is to ensure that the expectations given are clearly defined and communicated. Ever been told to do something and not told how, or maybe even more importantly, why? How’d the success go? How successful was the business when everyone tried their best to figure it out inconsistently as they worked through the day? The simple approach here…when something needs to be done…state clearly, what, why, especially how, and to what extent. If I’m the leader, what’s the gap? If I’m the team member, same question.
3. Coaching
Feedback, insight, advice, and correction are all gifts. And when there is a defined and regular time when all leaders and team members can talk about the job, people get better. Relationships get better, and that impacts the business. If I know I get to talk regularly about what’s happening, why, and how, then we move forward together toward success, and control is elevated. Even if the conversations are about failure, as well as success and keeping things real, then I feel like I’m growing with others. Not just trying to do my best, isolated, and on an island doing my own thing.
4. Connection
What are the ways we all come together? Is it team meetings? Is it the platform where everyone communicates? How are we plugging everyone into the flow and direction of the organization? Live streams, summits, virtual platforms, collaboration sessions, and team-building opportunities? Leaders and team members thrive when they get to connect. It’s not just the information or nature of the business, it’s the power of community. Peer-to-peer engagement makes everyone better.
5. Culture
The bottom line, everything flows downstream from culture. Belief, especially collective belief, is a fuel for organizational health and well-being. It stimulates drive, innovation, ownership, empowerment, and a sense of belonging. We are all walking the same path together doing what we do in our jobs, or we’re in silos doing our own thing. Call it family. Call it being part of a clan or tribe. Are we better together or just doing the best we can, as we can, separately?
The constant will always be the job. Selling the product. Managing the inventory. Taking care of the billing and cash receivables. Ensuring the technology is working. Each job with a specific function. It’s the variables, though, that make the job worth doing or can make it feel like a day-to-day grind. All the things put into place to support the leaders guiding it and the team members getting it done. It’s the value we place on it being done, and being seen as valuable doing it.
Why People Stay and the Great Realization are saying the same thing, albeit from two different perspectives. The job is important, but it’s not the main thing. It’s how we apply meaning to what we do and how we do it…as a leader and as a team member. And the greatest part of the journey, whether it’s getting an employee to stick around or realizing what’s important in our career, is ultimately how we get closer to figuring out who we are and who we are becoming.
Check out our other blogs at: Blog – Russell Cellular.
Feb 14, 2023
Visualize the Future
After so much has gone into establishing our job and all of the efforts along the way in our employee life cycle, we do reach a place where we start to see something take shape in our future steps. Maybe it’s a snapshot into the future about how we plan to grow into the organization. Maybe it’s feeling like, “Now that I know what I know, I am ready to take a step into a new direction, doing something completely different.” Or maybe, the future looks like exactly where you are, developing your influence, and investing in the job culture and the people around you. If and when you realize it’s not a job, but start envisioning it as a career path, you start to treat the job a little differently.
Let’s go back a bit. Have you ever been asked, “Where do you see yourself in five years?” I have never been a fan of that question. Not about its intention; I understand that. It’s more so about how hard it is to answer. We live in an immediate gratification current scene, and seeing what we may want to be doing in one year, let alone five, can seem daunting.
If we have started the job, fully engaged in it, and leveraged to grow ourselves in our position, it stands to reason our confidence in the future elevates. And when that elevates, so does our ability to see, even a little bit more clearly, what we see ourselves doing. This job, maybe another job, creating a new job, tapping into our passion, being entrepreneurial, or encouraging others in their path…it’s all possible.
Asking the Question
Two types of questions; internal and external. One that challenges what we need to do next or what we want to evolve in ourselves and the job. In a way, it’s unpacking the five-year question of where we are. The next is the one we ask our boss about how they see us evolving. This might be a tough question to ask; either there’s nothing obvious or maybe you don’t want to seem pushy or ungrateful. It’s about growth and pushing your capabilities…they need to know your interest and drive.
Crafting Your Brand
How do you see yourself and how do you want to be seen? When time, tenure, and confidence elevate, I contend, this is when you start to stretch. You need to stretch and begin defining who you are, who you are becoming, and what gifts and value propositions you offer. Personally speaking, after doing the consulting and facilitation thing for a while, I began to see my niche. I began to craft the best things and greatest attributes I could offer others focused on that. Turned “I can deliver anything and everything you want” into “I deliver this and will provide value here”. I branded my strengths.
Mentoring Others
I believe the true test of competency and confidence is when it is seen by others, and they ask, “How would you handle this?” Or “I’d like to pick your brain about how you have done ‘x’…tell me about your story.” I also believe there is time in your job when it’s time to develop others; either out of necessity (succession planning for the next-gen) or out of a heart to help others and lift them up (servant leadership, even if you’re not a leader by title). Either way, our future may be about others so they also can begin to envision the future.
Taking a Small Step
We’ve tagged taking risks in an earlier share. Well, that is also a prominent aspect of envisioning forward. To see yourself doing something – maybe something untried, unexpected, or unbelievable, and then taking a small step of action to start doing it. Maybe it’s something you are passionate about, and then aligning it with your job. Or maybe it’s taking some research of interest and applying it to your day-to-day. It could be presenting a case study to expand what you do. Just to see what happens next.
Painful Realization
The reality is, we may very well come to the belief and understanding that it’s time to move on. While yes, the impression is, if we do all these things in the employee life cycle, we will become one with our current job, that is not always the case. We may conclude, it is time to move on to the next chapter of our professional journey. And, by the way, it may not be such a bad thing for all parties, just a necessary one.
You know, I wasn’t sure what to call this episode. What comes after leveraging and expanding our job? Then a colleague shared a word: envision. The definition…to imagine a future possibility. To visualize or expect something to happen, appear, etc. in a particular way. Envisioning the job, more specifically, seeing the future seemed to make sense.
Five years seems like such a long time. And yet, think about the last two years, and all that has happened. What might we have said about our job before COVID and all the ripples it created? Is it conceivable that all of that changed our trajectory and did it force us to realize what we really wanted and why? I am not sure if my five-year vision for the future changed, but how I engage in it has. At least, that’s how I see it.
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Jan 30, 2023
We grow or die.
Sound harsh? This is not literal sense, although, for some, it can seem that way. We either grow in what we do and how we do it each day, or we can become stagnant and apathetic. We can feel stuck if we are not intentionally looking at ways to improve, work more efficiently, skill up, and become better at leveraging our job.
Once we establish our rhythm and routine, the risk becomes settling into a job. While being comfortable when we do what we do is not an unacceptable posture, it’s more how we can acquiesce and become complacent. We need to keep challenging our mindset and skillset. In a way, we need to infuse some disruption and discomfort to stimulate growth. Like pruning a tree to support future growth.
I have seen employees become so settled that when change comes, and change is definitely inevitable, they fight it. They wrap their arms around the comfort, dig in their heals, and miss the opportunities to grow into and through the change. They may very well lack the willingness, honesty and openness to be uncomfortable and grow forward. Resulting in not leveraging their job.
Employees need to learn to be okay with the unknown, and often, the unexpected. They need to leverage where they are by testing their boundaries, challenging the impossible, and questioning everything. They need to learn to capitalize on challenges rather than be defeated by them, and maximize the opportunities and possibilities that lie ahead rather than letting the potential slip by in favor of being comfortably settled in.
Be Curious and Take Risks
Just because we have the knowledge to stay busy does not mean we shouldn’t continue to broaden what we know and learn new things. Once we have the foundation established, it’s a reasonable time to take some risks. What’s the old saying, “better to beg forgiveness than ask for permission.” Not necessarily all scenarios; ones within reason. Connect with our boss and peers, share our vision and give it go. Explore and be curious.
Seek Growth Opportunities
Maybe there is a company succession plan to follow for leveraging your job. Some type of strategic process for identifying high-potential employees with specific steps to prepare them for future positions. Could be inter-departmental, leadership or educational development opportunities. And if there isn’t a pathway, it’s on us to look for ways to develop and improve our skills. Workshops, books, videos, research, blogs, mentorship – each of these are available if we put in the time and energy. Also, check with the employer, there may be ways to encourage and subsidize these opportunities.
Relationship Building
Relationships are essential in any job, whether we’re on a team or have to work alone. As we grow into our job, the goal is about enlarging our sphere of influence through networking, collaboration and simply getting to know the people around us. Sometimes we must be wary of select relationships, and ever mindful of the extent we relate to one another. I often tell my mentees that working within a company is similar to playing chess. Calculating moves and counter moves. Be aware, pay attention, and remember, it is better to remain silent and thought a fool, than speaking and remove all doubt.
Ignite and Amplify Your Passion
Just because we may not be doing what we thought we’d be doing; doesn’t mean we can’t do what we are doing in a way that aligns with our calling. My cancer story highlights a realization of how I saw my passion and purpose become transformed. I took what I was doing, and crafted ways that purpose could work in tandem with my day-to-day. Each day, we decide…are we constrained by a job or committed to live out our passion in any and every way possible?
It’s the Little Things
This last call-out is subtle. It is challenging each of us in two ways. One, always look at the details. Take the time to pay attention to even the slightest of things that make us better…for each of us and the people we serve. People notice details. Two, it won’t necessarily be big things that help us get the most out of leveraging our job, it will be little things, done each day consistently. We leverage the most of our job when we can show the same amount of energy for the mundane than we do the extraordinary.
Let’s be real, jobs come and go. Paraphrasing from an old study, the average number of jobs a person would have in their professional life changed in each generation. For the Greatest Generation, it was 1 job. Boomers were at 2, Gen X at 6 to 7, and Millennials averaged at about 13 jobs. Accuracy of this data aside, it does show, people are presently more likely to job hop. This became a very real aspect of the business reality in the past two years with the Great Resignation.
I am finding the realization is we are now more mindful of the job we have. We want meaning and purpose in our nine-to-five, and are more intentional about how our purpose intertwines with our day-to-day. Leveraging what we do and how we do it can lead us to the difference between a job or a career. Because, me, I don’t have a job, I have a joy. Our choice.
This is the fifth episode in the series, The Great Realization. If you are new to The Great Realization, check out our other posts in this series.
Dec 5, 2022
The Diamond in the Rough
The definition of that phrase is about finding a diamond in nature, or in the rough. A raw material that requires some effort. In order to reach its full potential, it needs some attention; to be cut and polished to reveal its worth. Ultimately, it is a metaphor for a thing or person hidden in the surroundings and circumstances of the world. Virtuous and unseen… untapped value waiting to be developed. In the case of you and me, untapped talent. After almost three years of enduring the pandemic, how many of us see ourselves as that diamond? Even if we didn’t engage in the Great Resignation, or are left reeling from the Great Regret, we may still be in search of a job that develops our passion and purpose. We may still be questioning our calling and what fulfills our work life.
That being said, let’s pivot the focus of the diamond metaphor. From us to what we seek. The job. Looking for the diamond in the rough. Knowing that when we find it, it will take some work on our part to polish it. To reveal its worth.
The Job Search
In our last episode, it was about defining what we want and what we are looking for. For now, where do we start? Where are we looking? There are jobs everywhere. Which means, I can understand being picky or considering all the options before jumping into anything. My fear is we may be too picky or eliminate a “diamond” because it may take time and effort before we see the value.
When I started my professional career right after graduating university, it wasn’t in my field of study, graphic design. It was with Dillard’s department store in Fort Smith, Arkansas. I accepted a manager’s role in visual merchandising. I took it not knowing what I didn’t know. Make sense? I thought it would be a start of something. Not knowing what that something was going to be. Very shortly thereafter, I was recruited by Polo Ralph Lauren, and ending up starting my career in Men’s fashion in New York City.
What are some ways we can find our start or our next gig? Here are a couple of suggestions.
Talk to People We Know
Networking is one of easiest and most accessible of resources. And more than just a connection, go deep. Find people who may be doing something of interest or know people who are doing something interesting. Invest time in asking questions and developing contacts. Create a funnel of people who can be potential promoters and champions for your cause.
Research
As much as this has become a trite response, “google it”. Yes, do the research. Utilize resources like LinkedIn, Indeed, and Google. Investigate job possibilities. Explore what’s out there. Consider the industries and positions with potential gaps needing to be filled. What organizations are growing and looking for talent?
Find a Recruiter
If there is a need for a specialized job, involve a third-party advocate, like a recruiter, who can act on your behalf and help with the search. While this typically has an associative cost, many times that investment is covered by the employer as part of the search.
Next Steps
Once some options have come into view from your job search efforts, I suggest making the proverbial “pros and cons” list. Reflect and begin connecting the dots with the identified things we wanted in a job as well as our passion, purpose, gifts, talents, mindset and skillset to each of the possibilities. It reminds me of something Steve Jobs said about the unpredictability of life when we are planning our future.
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So, you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”
Once we turn the possibility into an opportunity, here’s the “diamond” moment, how will we see that potential job? Maybe it’s a first job. Something new, or it’s another job in a long line of jobs. Can we see the potential beyond the first 30/60/90 days? Can we see how this might open up doors in the future for what we really want to do?
Let’s be real, when we find the job with a high degree of interest and we are contemplating the decision to accept it, it does not mean we are saying yes to an absolute or final job. It does not bind us for life. We’re not aiming for perfect. We’re making the best decision for the opportunity that lies ahead. Realize, a job doesn’t define our journey, it’s part of the journey.
Make the decision… Pick up the diamond and let’s see what happens next.
Nov 21, 2022
Introduction
This is the first part in our series, The Great Realization. If you missed our introduction to this series, watch the introduction before diving into Part 1: Defining a Job below.
Defining A Job
The grass is always greener on the other side.
Yes, that is a very familiar term. About when we think one circumstance is better than another. Laced with a bit of envy, this perspective can shape our decision making even if appearances are deceiving. And they usually are. Especially when we add another oldie, but goodie statement, “If it seems too good to be true…” Which can mean we are suspicious that something must be wrong with something we are unexpectedly enjoying.
One of the big conversations regarding the COVID impact on the business landscape was The Great Resignation. A phenomenon that saw employees actively and intentionally leaving their jobs. COVID locked people in place, at home. During this required downtime, it appears to have stimulated thoughts about their job. About how they saw meaning in what they did. In time, it pivoted into a virtual job with the workplace being the kitchen or dining room table. This change provoked people into evaluating their purpose. This was the catalyst for looking for the dream job. People started leaving.
As we enter the third year of COVID, we have shifted the awareness of people leaving jobs to people evaluating something else. Did they make the right choice to leave and is the ‘grass truly greener’?
A March 2022 Guardian article noted this “resignation” turnover was real and lots of people had changed jobs in the past two years. In fact, the feeling was it wasn’t so much leaving jobs as swapping jobs. It cited a job research study by Muse, which found as much as seventy-two percent of workers experienced surprise or regret in their new post. Nearly half (48%) said they would try to get their old job back. They called this “shift shock” So, it begs the question…is the grass actually the exact same color?
Based on what has happened and how to move forward, I challenge some of the following considerations in searching for a “right fit” job.
Purpose. I thought I would tackle the biggest rock first. COVID may very well have stimulated this contemplation…what do I really want to do? That can be a complex answer, or it can be simple. What do you want to do versus what do you have to do versus what do you get to do.
Want to do; this is about desire. Maybe it’s something you’ve always wanted to do. It’s been in the back of your mind, and you’ve always wondered “what if”. One side may say “That’s high risk – to step into something new you’ve dreamt about”. Another side may say “That’s high reward – to step into something you’re passionate about”.
Have to do; this is about necessity. If you have to create provision…provision to maintain a quality of life, support your family, consistently pay down debt…you may have to take the job that supports your needs at this time. This doesn’t mean you can’t dream or work towards another future. It does mean it may take time. And who is to say you can’t or won’t be fulfilled in a current post. It could very well be the exact laboratory to perfect a targeted skill set for the future.
Get to do; this is about appreciation. Maybe we are in the right job, and we’ve forgotten to fully engage in its possibilities. Maybe we have felt stuck, and all we have to do is expand and evolve in the job. We may not like certain aspects of the job, and yet it is precisely where we should be. Maybe we haven’t given it a chance to have it be bigger than it is, as well as recognizing the influence you can have on others and your own purpose.
Purpose aside, now the considerations wrap around personal need – what we need and a job that provides support for those needs. Maybe it’s about compensation like pay scale, commission, potential for bonus, etc. Maybe it’s about benefits like healthcare, 401k programs, paid vacation, flex schedules, and so on. Maybe it is about personal growth like ongoing development, promotion, educational opportunities. Maybe simple things like convenience, geography, accessibility, and maybe even culture – that the company stands for something and has purpose beyond profitability.
It reminds me of Maslow’s Hierarchy; a concept shared by American psychologist Abraham Maslow in his 1943 paper “A Theory of Human Motivation”. It provides a look at human needs within a five-tier model. The hierarchy is often displayed as a pyramid, with basic needs at the bottom and more complex needs at the top.
Starting at the bottom, it identifies physiological need, or the base needs for human survival. The next level is about safety needs, including things like our health, our employment status, our home, and so on. The next is love and belonging, which involves a need for the love, appreciation and value in our relationships. The fourth level is esteem; specifically, things like self-worth, status, achievement, confidence and a sense of social significance. The top of this five-tier pyramid is self-actualization, or the need of feeling fulfilled and living a purpose-driven life.
If you think about trying to find the “right” job, maybe we start with Maslow’s pyramid as we step into our opportunities. Grass being greener must begin with how we define ‘green’. Because without that kind of realization, the job may be a checked box and not a part of personal growth journey.
