After all, in this day of mediocrity, there aren’t many role models for how to be excellent. It seems like the prevailing attitude of most business leaders is get what you can while the getting is good.
I don’t know about you, but that isn’t how I want to live.
I want to live my life with excellence, but also showing those around me how to do the same. And I know there are a lot of people out there like me.
If you are someone who wants to learn how to be excellent, then here are a few things to get you started.
Make a conscious decision to become a person of excellence.
We’re all human – born with human frailties and faults. So in order for us to truly live lives of excellence, we first have to realize we will have to work at learning how to be excellent. Constantly.
So first you have to ask yourself, “Am I willing to put in the time and effort it will take to learn how to be excellent? Am I up for all the self-introspection?” Be honest with yourself – can you be someone who will serve as an example and a role model to those around you? If so, then set your path and work toward learning how to be excellent with everything that is in you.
Be a person of integrity.
This quality is foundational to being a person of excellence. You can’t learn how to be excellent without first having integrity.
So what does integrity mean? Well, for starters…people of integrity are honest. They don’t manipulate the truth or cut corners to make a buck. They do the right thing regardless of the personal consequences.
People of integrity are also people of principle – they do what say they will do when they say they will do it. Their word is their bond.
They are people who commit to something and make sure it gets done. On time and in budget. To the best of their ability.
Have faith in yourself.
Belief in your ability to achieve your goals and dreams is essential. If we don’t have faith in ourselves and our abilities, how can we inspire those around us?
Often our faith is clouded by visions of past mistakes or failures, or distorted by how we think others see us. You have to realize that the past is in the past, and doesn’t have to be repeated. You want to know what the worst thing about making a mistake is? Not learning from it. Mistakes, failures, distorted views of ourselves – we all have them. But truly excellent people will learn to cultivate confidence and courage and move beyond the self-doubts.
One of my favorite books of the last few years is Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. It’s about the powerful transforming quality of trusting your gut instincts. I highly recommend it if you would like to increase faith in yourself.
Have faith in others.
It’s easy to distrust other people. All you have to do is take a look at the headlines. There’s a whole lot of bad in the world.
But people who know how to be excellent have to learn to transcend that way of thinking. Because when you learn to expect the best from other people, a funny thing happens. You start getting their best.
Now, I’m not saying you won’t be disappointed. You will be. But living in a constant state of expectation and positive thinking is much, much better than living in negativity. Expect the best and you are much more likely to receive it.
Lift other people up.
In the “every man for himself” society that we live in, it’s a rare person who consciously encourages and empowers other people to achieve their best. But that’s all part and parcel of being excellent.
Start by showing genuine interest in the things that are important to them. Ask questions; find out who they are; remember important occasions like their birthdays and anniversaries, and the names of their kids.
Another way to lift people up is to give credit where credit is due. I had a colleague once who would take credit for all my ideas. Although it hacked me off, I figured he must really be desperate for acknowledgment. Once I started lifting him up in meetings, he stopped taking credit for my ideas and started generating ideas of his own. His confidence in his abilities soared! Now, I could have reacted by embarrassing him in front of others, or talking about what he was doing with my other colleagues, but by acknowledging him, I not only created a friend for life, but helped create a great employee for the company.
Likewise, always give pats on the back. Encouragement is so incredibly important to us humans. We all need to be told when we do a good job.
Do everything to the best of your ability.
Regardless of what you are doing, always put your full effort behind it. Don’t do anything halfway.
There are some people who will only do enough to “get by,” content with good enough. But people who know how to be excellent give everything they take on their 100 percent best effort. Why? Because they expect it from themselves. They know that is the only true path to success.
Be nice.
Have you ever seen a grown person throw a temper tantrum? I know I have, and it wasn’t pretty. Red face, veins bulging in the forehead…I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
Unfortunately, that type of behavior has become acceptable in boardroom after boardroom around the world. Many leaders believe that ruling by fear is the best way to inspire their workers to get the job done.
My approach, however, is 180 degrees opposite. I believe that if you want to build a company that exemplifies how to be excellent, you need to inspire those around you. You do this by treating them politely and honorably. You say “please” and “thank you” a lot in your conversations. Treat people with dignity and respect.
As my grandma used to say, “You can catch more flies with a drop of honey than a gallon of vinegar.”
Go and be excellent.
In closing, I’d like to end with one of my favorite poems, If by Rudyard Kipling. I think it sums up how to be excellent quite well:
“If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
“If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;
“If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinewTo serve your turn long after they are gone,And so hold on when there is nothing in youExcept the Will which says to them: "Hold on";;
“If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!