It’s nearly Christmas weekend. Presents are under the tree. Eggnog’s sold out. In-laws are in town. Offices have been closed for a week. Malls are full of last-minute shoppers. Everyone is enjoying time with family and friends.

In Houston, Mayor Sylvester Turner is putting a bow around his time in office. In just a few a more days, he’ll leave office after two successful terms. The Houston Resilience Hubs are a part of his legacy. The hubs are community-serving facilities that provide vital resources and services during “blue sky” days and support the community during major weather events, extended power outages, and other emergency scenarios. The City of Houston wanted to send the mayor out in style, so the ribbon cutting ceremony for the first hub was scheduled to be his last act in office.

Each Resilience Hub includes solar power, and the city had a world-class solar energy firm, One80 Solar. There’s a lot that goes into each solar installation - design, engineering, permitting, steel procurement, solar module procurement, and so much more.  The One80 crew had installed the framing and prepared the site for the solar panels, which were scheduled to arrive the Wednesday before Christmas weekend. 

But, Wednesday’s delivery got pushed to Thursday.

Then Thursday got pushed to Friday at 7am.

Patrick, One80’s CEO, had family obligations in Kansas on Friday. But, seeing how hard the crew worked and how determined they were to complete the mission, he stayed on site with them. His fiancée – pregnant with their first baby – was ready to go. The crew was more than capable. They didn’t need Patrick. Nonetheless, he stayed with the crew to finish the job. The crew was determined to stay, because they had a mission and they intended to complete it.

So, working into Thursday night, they did everything they could to prepare the site for the modules. When the arrived the following morning, the solar panels still hadn’t been delivered. Patrick was constantly on the phone with the carrier, but the time kept getting pushed. 12:00, then 1:00, then 3:00.

Ultimately, the panels weren’t delivered until 5:00 Friday evening. While everyone else was kicking off Christmas weekend, the One80 crew was unloading panels. Why were they late? Because the carrier had picked up a load of TVs, which the crew had to unload so they could reach the panels! Still, they wouldn’t give up.

Seven o’clock Friday evening. It was getting dark, but the team wanted to keep working. Patrick went to buy lights and they worked through the night until 2:00 in the morning. Exhausted, they took a few hours to get some sleep before returning at 7:00 Saturday morning to finish the job. Finally, at 6:00 Saturday evening, they put the finishing touches on the installation and went home to celebrate Christmas with their families.

Patrick drove to Austin to pick up his fiancée, slept for a couple of hours, and then got up at 3:00 Sunday morning to drive to Kansas. He got there at 11:30 for their 12pm get-together where his older brother announced that his wife was pregnant too!

Perhaps this story is about living your values. So many companies have their values plastered around the office and on their website. But, how many CEOs actually live those values? Leadership.  Sacrifice. Doing what’s best for the customer. Going above and beyond. How many CEOs stand arm-in-arm with their team working beyond reasonable expectations to get the job done?

That is as much of a “pat on the back” as I’m going to give Patrick. Why? Because he has to approve this blog before I publish it and, in his words, “it’s not a story about a CEO getting a pat on the back for doing something that many people are expected to do – work long, unusual, inconvenient, sacrificial (away from hobbies, friends, family, etc.) hours to pay the bills. The real story is the power of a mission.”

Patrick doesn’t think he deserves a pat on the back, that his actions should be the reasonable expectations for every CEO. He’s right. This is what we should expect from leaders.

But that word - “mission” - it keeps ringing in my head.

Companies often aspire to “save the world.” It sounds great, and perhaps it gives people a fleeting feeling of purpose, but it’s no mission. It’s just words on a website, just like a company’s published vision and values. As Patrick said, “It’s fine if your purpose for existing is to “save the world,” but saving the world will not motivate people in the moment. It’s not a mission.”

Patrick and his team members were not there in Houston on the Saturday before Christmas to save the world. They weren’t there to collect a paycheck either. They were there to complete a simple, important mission – get this solar installed before the end of the year so Mayor Turner could leave office on the high note of kicking off one of his most important promises of making Houston a more resilient city.

Patrick didn’t have to write down that mission. He didn’t have to break it down or spell it out for his crew. There were no OKRs giving them motivation. They knew the stakes. They knew the goal. They completed their mission together.

So, how do you save the world? One mission at a time.

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