We are Assurgent
assurgent [ uh–sur-juhnt ], adjective.
- Growing or extending upward
- Rising from the sea
Obviously, growing, upward, and rising are great words to describe people working to get ahead in their careers, and if you’ve made it to this page you fall into that category. Let’s assurge!
assurge [ uh–surj ], verb.
Ok, you got us. This one isn’t actually a word, but we’re going to use it anyway!
Dare Greatly.
Our motto — in truth, our main guiding principal, lifestyle, and our brand — is Dare greatly. In the context of Assurgent Leader, to Dare greatly means having audacious goals. But it also, and more importantly, means chasing them by taking steps towards those goals. Taking one step, no matter how small, out of your comfort zone. And then another. And then another, until one day you look back and realize just how far you’ve come.
Growth starts at the edge of your discomfort and we encourage people to dare greatly by continuing to keep pushing themselves, a little discomfort at a time. Get comfortable with your discomfort and you’ll continuously grow.
Dare greatly is influenced by a speech given by Teddy Roosevelt that embodies what it means to be a leader and it guides what we do at Assurgent Leader. The speech, commonly called “The Man in the Arena” was given in 1910 and talks about the successes and failures that come with the territory of being brave enough to try and do something significant. Being a leader often means experiencing failures and needing to withstand the scrutiny of critics. We turned a couple words from the speech into a command — an action phrase: Dare greatly.
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Yep, our motto comes from the line about failing to achieve, and that is an incredibly freeing thought.
Find comfort in the discomfort and dare greatly, friends.
Dare greatly — Part 2
We use the “pawn with crown” logo to Dare greatly brand, you’ve probably noticed our “pawn with crown” logo. In chess, the pawn is the lowest piece while the King is the highest ranking piece. Our logo symbolizes the dream of going from lowest rung to the top, and other audacious dreams. The bigger the better. Dare greatly to chase your dreams by taking small, intentional, steps towards your goals.
Our Values
Daring (greatly)
Dare to have audacious dreams. Dare to take steps towards achieving them.
Responsibility
Take the reins of your own life and career. You’re your own best advocate.
Intentionality
Have a plan. Have a reason for doing things. Be strategic with your approach.
Learning
You’re never going to know everything. Keep pushing to continuously learn and be your best self.
Authenticity
Be yourself. Show up as yourself. For us this includes being honest, open, transparent, and keeping things light and fun.
Those are the things that shape us. These also match up with key traits of great leaders. If you’re interested in growth these values are a good place to start.
Main Leader Guru
Founder and Chief Leader Guy
Engineering executive by day, leadership guru by life.
MBA with emphasis on leadership and organizational behavior. Professional Engineer. 10+ years of leadership, management, and executive level responsibilities. 8+ years of living and breathing personal growth, development, and leadership. Avid reader of non-fiction.
Oh, and also husband, father x2, default caretaker of Pickles the family hamster, Twin Cities resident, and diehard Marquette University basketball fan.
Ten years ago, I was thrust into a leadership role without any training. I was taking over my manager’s role — the one that he had taken on years ago without any training. And he was taking on a higher-up role. Again with no training. While we both succeeded, thanks in large part to leaning on and learning from each other, it wasn’t easy and it certainly wasn’t smooth. Two years into my leadership role I finally started getting some actual training (spoiler alert — training just like our premium services offer) and started to actually understand my role as a leader. The statistics show that my story is, unfortunately, extremely common across all industries. I’m here to make sure that starts to change.