One thing I’ve learned about myself since entering the workforce is why I chose running as my outlet. I didn’t run in high school. I don’t run for medals or t-shirts. You don’t gain a beach body and muscles from running. Running is a way to hold myself accountable. Phil Knight, Founder of Nike, had a quote that has stuck with me:“History is one long processional of crazy ideas. The things I loved most – books, sports, democracy, free enterprise – started as crazy ideas. For that matter, few ideas are as crazy as my favorite thing, running. It’s hard. It’s painful. It’s risky. The rewards are few and far from guaranteed. When you run around an oval track, or down an empty road, you have no real destination. At least, none that can fully justify the effort. The act itself becomes the destination. It’s not just that there’s no finish line; it’s that you define the finish line. Whatever pleasures or gains you derive from the act of running; you must find them within. It’s all in how you frame it, how you sell it to yourself.”The most rewarding part of running is you get to define your own success and you can’t lie to yourself about the results. Running faster, running further, running more often are runners’ goals and no one checks behind them to see progress. Helping someone start running is like mentorship or being a manger. You show people they can set their own goals, but they are the ones they must hold accountable for results.In business we don’t know what will make an idea or strategy successful. I am obsessed with understanding the customer because customers are changing. Doing it the way we’ve always done it is the best way out of business. The enemy is truly the status quo, and we can only hold ourselves accountable for our own results.