Pursuit of Excellence

When we started our production house, besides setting goals, short and long, we focussed upon the path we would travel to achieve them. And there was no path better than excellence.

– Haresh Mevada, Founder of Mirror And Smoke.

Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.

Michael Jordan, arguably the greatest basketball player of all time had this to say about his approach to life, I have the goal of being the best, but I approach everything step by step using short term goals. When I meet one goal, I set another reasonable goal that I can achieve by working hard. Each success leads to the next one. Each time i visualize where i want to be and what kind of person and player I want to become. I approach it with the end in mind. I know exactly where i want to go, and I focus on getting there. As I reach those goals, I gain a little more confidence. It’s all mental for me. I never write anything down. I just concentrate on the next step and I’m never afraid to ask anybody for help. My attitude is – Help me and give me direction.”
This blueprint is valid for anything in life whether you wish to be a doctor, engineer, sportsperson or an artist. They are like pieces of a puzzle coming together to form the final picture.

Quite often the difference between a good job and a great job is the attention to detail and the extra hour or two that has been put in. Most men make it three quarters of the way, the reason there are so few great ones is simply that there aren’t too many men who can push themselves in that final quarter. In business every entrepreneur gets blindsided from time to time. Sins of omission in estimating and contracting can pulverize profit before the paint dries. Deadlines, fatigue and fuzzy expectations conspire against the most seasoned contractors. It is the attitude that men display when they have their backs against the wall that matters most.

The society we live in glamourizes individual success without considering the process involved. What if you have a CEO with a great idea but he doesn’t have the people to make it happen? If you don’t have all the pieces in place, especially at the front lines, the idea will remain just an idea. The greatest sales people in the world cannot sell a product if those involved in making it are incompetent.

It falls on the managers to find ways to utilize the talent and resource that is available to them to achieve the target. This is a selfless process. In our society, sometimes it is hard to come to terms with having to fill a role instead of being the one in the spotlight. We have a tendency to ignore or fail to respect all the parts that make up the whole possible. In any arena, it is important to grasp the fundamentals.

There are those who skip a few steps in the interest of instant gratification but eventually this will catch up to them and the person who toiled away without skipping any step will leapfrog them in the long run. This is all the more important in today’s society where to sell your product you have to be the best. The competition might have better resources, more manpower, more financial muscle but your commitment to doing the best will ultimately prove to be the curtain between success and failure. Getting to the top is easy but staying there requires you to exhibit consistent excellence and that is only possible if you stick to your goal without skipping any steps or taking the easy route at any level.

An integral part of any success where more than one person is involved is strong leadership. A leader earns the title. You aren’t a leader just because you are the smartest person in the class, best player on the team or the most popular. The respect of those around is earned through actions. The approach needs to be consistent whether you are dealing with a sales meeting or your family. Those around you must know what to expect from you. Leaders have to imbibe confidence in their team members that their performance will remain consistent irrespective of the task that is being undertaken.

It falls on the leader to bring the parts together and make the sum greater than the individuals. As a leader you have no room for excuses and you are accountable for how the team performs. Quality in action is a way of life and this is reflected in work and outside it. These skills need to be transferred to whatever environment you work in. For the good of the team, there will be times when team success needs to be put above individual success and it falls on the leader to make that tough call while maintaining harmony within the team. A leader is a person who has had success in tough situations before and is able and willing to take a chance and lead his charges down that road again.

Along the way, you also have to stand up for what you believe and hold onto your convictions. Every home, every business and every neighbourhood needs someone to lead. And only the excellent can dare to do that.