When I think about excellence and success, I am always reminded of how Japanese employers would celebrate the success of employees who were promoted in their companies. In Japan, the way they do it is unique. It is not the employee who is the honoree and lavished with praises for a doing good and successful job, but the focus of everybody’s attention is his superior or “boss”, who patiently and tirelessly taught, trained, supervised, and sacrificed for employees, who is given the highest accolades and commendation for his employees’ success. Personally, I feel that there is a good sense in doing the honors and giving them to the right persons using the Japanese way.
As Executives, striving for excellence is the key to success. The realities of the global labor market compel us to think global and do things the global way. It is the only way to compete and survive globally anywhere in the world.
To excel is to recognize, among others, that your first competitor is none other than yourself. The influence that you can exert in your workplace can only equal with the excellence that you display in terms of the passion, creativity and innovation that you put into your job.
People who set standards of excellence for themselves believe that they control the events of their life. They act on those standards, and they really do control their life because they take responsibility. People who accept responsibility will act to make things right, because they believe it’s in their power.
You need to like what you’re doing. Try to stretch yourself, striving a performance that is above your skill level but within the realm of doability — this is aspiring to a higher level. When you avoid the perennial problem of monotony and boredom in your work, it will help you discover your hidden talents and potentials in doing things that you have never done before. Nobody wants to be identified with work that is mediocre and half-done, but with something that is excellent and which one can be proud of. By giving the best of ourselves to our job, it earns you self-respect and self-worth and adds dignity and honor to your being a person, and your job.
Let your light shine! Having a positive impact on all of those you come into contact with — customers, co-workers and superiors. Do this by willing to go the extra mile. Exceed the quota and give back more than what you receive.
Successful executives believe that knowledge is power. Knowledge is also influence. It is money. Knowledge is worth everything it may cost you to obtain it. Education indeed is a life-long process of learning, unlearning, and relearning. The person who stops learning tomorrow is uneducated the day after. As Executives, you must enroll yourselves in a lifetime self-improvement program. You must seek out new and additional information all the time.
More than the knowledge and the material rewards that go with success, the enriching inter-personal relations and the good character and reputation of a person for honesty, integrity and loyalty, hard work and perseverance, remain the key to real success in life.
And, to maximize your leadership impact, developing greatness in others will help you optimize greatness in those you lead.