Excellence.
When I say they word you know exactly what I mean.
Excellence doesn’t require a big explanation.
You know it when you see it.
When you experience it you walk away saying…“Wow!”
Excellence triggers a positive emotional response.
My definition of excellence is “first-class”.
In other words excellence is the characteristic of being very good, superior, or of the highest quality.
The Mediocrity of America (Many Things)
We founded our wealth management firm nearly 20 years ago with excellence as a core value.
Why is excellence so important to us that it’s a core value?
Because the idea of excellence seems to be a lost art for many. I often joke that I could write a book titled, The Mediocrity of America. Although, I must say it’s not fair to label “America” as a mediocre country. The USA is actually an excellent country comparatively speaking! However, there are many things and experiences I’ve had with poor customer service that show me that some of us seem to have lost our way.
Excellence As a Standard
Mediocrity is now accepted and tolerated way too often! We justify it on behalf of others. We offer grace. Occasionally that’s okay. Everyone has a bad day once in a while. But no one should turn bad day into a bad year. If your company has a culture of mediocrity it’s inexcusable.
I’ve always seen excellence as a virtue. If you are going to do something, why do it any other way than in a way that’s excellent; or, at your best?
I understand… As a young student I didn’t always put the work in to deserve the word “EXCELLENT” handwritten by my teacher at the top of my assignments. But, when it did happen, it sure felt good! It felt right. It’s the way it’s supposed to be.
We dedicate roughly one-third of our lives to our work. If we’re going to put that much time into something, shouldn’t we want to do it with excellence? And if we don’t want to do it with excellence shouldn’t we find work we are so passionate about that we want to be excellent while doing it?
There is no excellence without passion.
It’s very hard to spark desire in someone to go above and beyond. They have to want it for themselves. This is why we look for hungry people when hiring. If we are hiring right, we know that every one of our team members has the propensity to go above and beyond the minimum requirements of a job or project. Hunger is difficult to instill in a person. They either have it, or they don’t.
When a person’s hunger is aligned with work that interests them it can create passion. This is the key to creating a culture of excellence.
There is no excellence without empathy.
All business is about people. To succeed in business is to succeed in your relationships with people. Your clients, customers, team members, and team mates are all human. Virtually everyone with whom you’ll come into contact with has their own goals, fears, insecurities and misperceptions. These are not to be disputed or argued with; they’re to be empathized with.
Excellence only comes from engaging people.
You see, listening can be a competitive advantage. Excellence is more temperamental than it is intellectual. Excellence is a result of connecting with people on an on an emotional level which is exactly where they make all their critical decisions.
Let’s all work together to be the antidote to mediocrity…
