8 StepsToward Excellence

And why I’m OK that Nothing is Perfect…

The great coach Vince Lombardi once remarked that “In striving for perfection, we achieve excellence.”

Early in my career, I used to think that what I continuously sought — and usually frustratingly — was ‘perfection’. As I matured, I accepted that nothing is perfect, and that what I was really seeking was excellence, which we as humans, despite our various flaws and with our many gifts and abilities, can indeed realize.

I eventually learned the lesson that Lombardi taught in his quote, that in pursuing perfection we’ll catch excellence.

I also realized some other very important things along the way which guide my personal and professional life — and that of our organization, :

1. Excellence should not be a foreign concept for an organization. It should be the goal.
2. We cannot always expect others to be in the same place as we are or be as driven, but we can expect excellence from them.
3. Excellence in an organization is usually always a team effort.
4. We should expect it to be hard to work with others who do not expect excellence of themselves or of their organization.
5. We sometimes do not have full control over efforts that can result in excellence but we can control our own attitude and span of control in regard to being excellent.
6. We must always work for excellence in our personal and professional lives.
7. When things do not go as well as they could or should, then we must remain positive and find other avenues toward excellence.
8. At minimum, we should always strive to remain positive and optimistic — key initial steps toward excellence.

I believe we expect only two possible outcomes in our various efforts, especially in our work with our clients — and ‘failure’ is not one of the options. The only possible outcomes are to be ‘successful’ and ‘wildly successful’.

Here’s to wishing excellence for you!