11. Be Aggressively Patient
Yesterday was TJ's (Northern Vessel business partner) 30th birthday. To commemorate the day, he wrote and published "30 Lessons for 30 Years," a reflection on his journey to date. It was a fun list, full of wisdom and insights. Included was a phrase he talks about often: "Be aggressively patient."
He and I have bonded over the mantra over the past few years, which perfectly sums up his career. It's the idea that we need to patiently focus on the long term while giving everything we have in the near term to keep moving forward. It's about trust, belief, work ethic, and personal responsibility. The story of Northern Vessel goes back approximately five years, when TJ was living in Los Angeles. He was inspired by the combination of LA's coffee culture and organizations that practiced top-tier hospitality. Shortly thereafter, upon moving back to Iowa, Northern Vessel was born.
TJ's Northern Vessel story is one of the examples I excitedly detail in my keynote talk. Why? Because it's the perfect representation of failure, patience, aggression, redemption, and success. The Northern Vessel that I'm involved in today is actually the 4th iteration of the company, each coming on the heels of a failure and subsequent shift. The company even folded after the previous fail, but TJ eventually brought it back to life in late 2022 when he opened his brick-and-mortar location. Today, Northern Vessel is experiencing a whirlwind of success. The staff is world-class, the culture is phenomenal, the vibe in the shop feels vibrant, and each week is better than the last. Every single step of the way, he's been aggressive.....and patient. He wouldn't be where he is without the aggression, and he wouldn't be where he is without the patience. Lesser people would have long ago given up on their dream. But not TJ. Not when the "be aggressively patient" mantra is always at the center of his purview.
All he's been through in the last five years is merely the warmup for what's next. To many, 30 seems old. It's not. He's still a baby (I'm still a baby at 41, for the record). He's five years in and has another 50 years to get this right. If I can use a basketball game as the analogy, he's only a few minutes into the first quarter.....he hasn't even broken a sweat yet! If he spent four years getting his legs under him and one year experiencing meteoric success, what does that say about the next 50 years? We're about the find out, and I'm grateful to be on this journey with him.
There's nothing better than doing life with people who focus on being aggressively patient. There's a fire in them, but also a peace. They run extremely hard, but enjoy the journey. They celebrate the big wins, and the small. They never lose sight of where they are going, or where they came from. Always aggressive, always patient!