Brothers in Business

As an undergraduate, I majored in business and joined America’s foremost business fraternity, Delta Sigma Pi. Our chapter was strong and engaged on the University of North Texas campus. We all took professionalism seriously which was evident by the commitments we made to perfect strangers by becoming brothers. This experience connected me to some of my greatest friends from my college days that I still speak to today.

We bonded over community service projects, tradition and above all, our passion for business and professional development. Online, we formed a community of accountants, finance experts, marketing junkies, entrepreneurs and management gurus that often share articles, stories and contacts with each other. 


The lines of our professional development blur because we combine our career paths with our personal lives by our commitment to the brotherhood and industry. We contact each other when we have great news to share about our careers or we welcome new people to our family. We hold each other’s hands in prayer when we lose one of our brothers. We’re family. 

Like many, we use Facebook to communicate with our family. When I checked my Facebook on Wednesday, over 10 of my brothers had posted quotes, which is a typical occurrence. But Wednesday’s posts had a theme…

“If you can dream it, you can achieve it.”

"Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude."

"The chief cause of failure and unhappiness is trading what you want most for what you want right now."

Zig Ziglar had passed away.

As business students, we had been encouraged to “read, read, read” and Ziglar’s name was always at the top of our authors list. The marketing majors in Deltasig had something in common with Zig since most of us started our careers in sales. Our professional sales courses took a thing or two from his anecdotes and attitude towards business and friendships. We had come together in an organization to not only advance our own development, but that of our members.

“You will get all you want in life, if you help enough other people get what they want.”

His philosophy taught us about positivity and living a balanced life. He motivated people to set goals and have tangible ways of reaching them, something any public relations practioner can appreciate. Above all his successful career was built on the same principles that PR follows: realizing true character, taking personal responsibility, and laying groundwork with a calm, good-humored personality.

Seth Godin’s blog celebrates him as good as anyone. Both individuals have written influential books in my library and undoubtedly that of my fraternity cohorts. Who are the influential people in your career? 


Edit 12/6 This video explains what "brotherhood" is all about (from the UC Irvine chapter):