I love this story.

John F. Kennedy was the president who set the goal for America to be the first to place a man on the moon.

You know the rest of the story. Inspired by the vision and fully resourced by our country, the USA won the race to the moon. The technological developments that came from that effort propelled our quality of life. We still benefit from it in countless ways.

The story goes that during a visit to NASA, President Kennedy ran into a janitor who was cleaning the building. Kennedy chatted with him and asked what he was doing.

“Mr. President, I’m working to put a man on the moon.”

Kennedy was moved by the man’s pride in his role, the power of the mission, and the inspiration it provided to every team member in every role.

Greg Birge offers this take:

We should all identify who we serve. Every one of us has a customer. The customer is our reason for showing up.

We should all understand why what we do for our customers is important. If we do our job right, we provide “needed” services and products. If we succeed, we are getting better. If we fail, there will be setbacks.

Our success connects us to the team. You are doing important work. We can’t do it without you.