Good people will join a company for a job, but they will only stay for opportunity. Creating opportunity typically depends upon growth, but growth only occurs when the right elements are in place and in the right balance. Interestingly, those elements are dependent upon the very things that existing employees can do daily to create opportunity in the first place.

If that explanation sounds circular, I suppose that’s because it is. While I won’t grandly compare this idea to the “Circle of Life”, I’ll state with confidence that there is a “Circle of Business” from which opportunity flows.  Opportunity is self-feeding and self-fulfilling. It happens every time:

• A relationship is renewed;
• New work is sold;
• Equipment is fixed;
• Property is enhanced;
• A better way is found;
• Another effort is made to get it just right;
• Waste is eliminated;
• Someone is hired;
• A smile accompanies a job well done;
• Talent is promoted;
• You help a co-worker;
• Clients’ expectations are exceeded;
• A referral is freely given;
• Another person experiences joy from the work we do;
• Training takes place;
• The “light bulb” turns on;
• “Art is Shipped” (thanks Seth Godin!)
• We pause to give thanks.

Opportunity comes in many forms, from small to grand. The awesome thing about opportunity is that it is cumulative; it isn’t something that’s given to you, but rather each and every person has the power to create it and to share it with others.

What are you doing to create opportunity today?