“Performance isn’t what we measure. It’s what we choose to see.”
For the last five years, I’ve had the privilege of leading the Global Business Development team at MarketStar.
Last week, I had the opportunity to host our 2025 overachievers at Presidents Club in Maui.
It’s always an honour to gather the individuals who outperformed expectations — not just in revenue, but in resilience, consistency, and belief.
We shared dinner overlooking the ocean. We laughed. We told stories about deals that nearly fell apart. We talked about families. We celebrated effort.
And yet, on the flight home, I found myself reflecting on something deeper.
Performance.
Not quarterly numbers.
Not incentive trips.
Not recognition dinners.
But the frame people use to interpret success and challenge.
Over the years, I’ve followed and admired high performers across sport, business, music, and creative fields.
The common thread isn’t talent.
It’s how they frame adversity.
They see setbacks as data.
Pressure as a privilege.
Doubt as fuel.
Losses as tuition.
They don’t experience challenge as threat — they experience it as signal.
That framing changes everything.
If you frame pressure as danger, you shrink.
If you frame pressure as proof that you’re operating at the edge of growth, you expand.
s I’ve grown in leadership, I’ve started asking myself a different question:
What do I actually value?
Not publicly.
Privately.
What moments give me a sense of progression — of building an arc rather than chasing an outcome?
For me, it’s rarely the applause.
It’s early mornings.
Training discipline.
Creative expression.
Conversations on business travel that shift perspective.
Time with people I care about.
Small, quiet evidence of growth.
Success, I’m learning, isn’t an event.
It’s a pattern.
And that pattern is shaped by the frame you choose.
The short clip I’m sharing alongside this piece is simply a collection of moments that bring me genuine joy — some personal, some born out of the privilege of building and traveling through business, all reminders of what I’m grateful for
It’s not a highlight reel.
It’s a reflection.
Because Presidents Club isn’t just about rewarding output.
It’s about reinforcing a belief system.
A belief that effort compounds.
That challenge refines.
That consistency wins.
To the MarketStar BD overachievers of 2025 — congratulations. You’ve earned every moment.
And to anyone pursuing something ambitious:
Choose your frame carefully.
Pressure is a privilege.
I’d love to know what you think shoot me a note I’d love to connect – EMAIL
In the pic – Ian White and Jared Rawlings in Maui