As I thought about what I could do in an article during our anniversary week, I decided I could focus on some of the core things that I feel like I've learned in this decade and a half, and that I try to apply in dealing with our team, our clients, and the procurement community at large. So I broke it down into seven topics. So first, find your ikigai. I've mentioned before the Japanese concept of ikigai, or a reason for being. Picture four overlapping circles. What you love, what you're good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for. I'm fortunate to have established that with Civic for myself, and then shared that with our great team, who we pick for culture fit first over all else. Second, prioritize your physical and mental health. You can't do anything when you're dead. Or to say it a different way, your robust life is tied to your health, strength, and mental fortitude. There will always be more work to do and success can create a lot of noise that can make us feel pressed to find time for both work and ourselves. Create an exercise plan and reserve time for it. Prioritize protein and eat thoughtfully. Find activities you enjoy and create social connections. Take time away. These are all common sense elements of life-work balance that we emphasize at Civic and they're the most personal commitment you can make to yourself. Do a favor for future you. Third, earn your sunset. John Cena, yes, that one, the wrestler turned actor, had an interview in the last couple of weeks that put words to a concept much better than I ever have. So I will actually play them for you. I

was put on there to be a WWE superstar. And then I started doing a little bit of acting and I'm like, well, it's easy. I'm a storyteller. No, I'm a human being reading the air like everybody else. And I'm Significantly insignificant. I'm a grain of sand on a beach at a pale blue dot out in the middle of nowhere. I just want to be useful. Life to me is a gift. In my tenure, I understand I have been given lottery ticket after lottery ticket after lottery ticket. I am lucky. I understand my luck and I try to live each day grateful for the luck. So when the sun goes down, I look at what I did for the day. What if it's relaxed? Did I earn the sunset? Some days I don't, and I motivate myself to try to do it again. But most days I do. And that's my sense of purpose.

Fourth, find the signal through the noise. There's so many ways you could spend your time in a day or in an hour. And there is noise everywhere that wants your time and attention. From the totally frivolous, to the fast but small, to the long but challenging. Trying to shut out the background noise and lock in. on what you're trying to accomplish is one of the critical skills for both individual and team leadership. Some days are harder to find focus than others, but keep coming back to what is the best thing I can do right now. This is a technique that keeps me in the zone. Find your muse and let them lead you back to purpose and meaning. Authenticity shines. So you can probably picture to yourself someone you know who you consider to be a very authentic person. and potentially someone you know who's not an authentic person. What's the difference between them? You know that they know what they are talking about and you know that they mean what they say. I certainly seek to hold myself that way personally. More globally for Civic, I've dedicated from day one to the proposition that it's better to teach procurement professionals about consulting than to try to teach consultants about procurements. Almost every single person at Civic that interacts with a client, from the project teams to client success, outreach, marketing, are all authentically people who've done the job of our clients. This is corporate DNA for us at Civic and a driving factor in our longevity. Sixth, learn about humility through Sonder. What is Sonder, Dustin? It is a newly coined word from 2021. If you haven't heard it yet, let me introduce it to you. It means humility. The realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own, populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries, an epic story that continues invisibly around you like an anthill sprawling deep underground with passageways to thousands of other lives that you'll never know existed in which you may appear only once as an extra sipping coffee in the background. There's a humility that comes from understanding that We're all the main characters in our own story. And this sudden realization instills empathy and respect for others as they seek to find meaning in life. Once you really understand that, I think that you treat people differently. Even if you have a disagreement, you understand them as human beings. I've always said it's very hard to be successful in life unless a lot of other people want you to be. And that generally comes from a place of humility and appreciation for the people who have helped me in my life to be able to be where I am today. So finally, combine it all. It's about servant leadership. I believe that someone who believes in servant leadership strives to serve from a place of purpose to chart a vision that will attract authentic people to fulfill it. For our clients, we go above and beyond and are focused on the long-term relationship. So, do I earn my sunsets? Some days I don't, and I motivate myself to try to do it again. But most days I do, and that's my sense of purpose.