CHOOSING GREATNESS: What Does it Take to "STAND OUT" Today?
Complacency vs. the COMMITMENT to WINNING...
Choosing GREATNESS…or settling for just getting by?
I was having a conversation with a hiring manager who had been a Top Producer in his company before being promoted to this position.
He was sharing how surprised, even shocked, he was about many of the candidates he was interviewing for a selling position. About how little homework they had done about the company/position, their lack of interest in finding out much of anything other than HOW MUCH they would get paid and how many days OFF/Vacation.
There was ZERO follow-up after the interviews and even one candidate they had sent an offer sheet to who never responded back. So this manager called the candidate and asked him “Are you still interested in the position?”
“Oh Yeah, of course,” was his reply. But that’s NOT AT ALL the message that the candidate’s actions or lack-of-follow up conveyed.
My friend asked me what I thought about that versus when I was interviewing as a Director of Sales many years ago.
I told him as much as the individuals are to blame for their lack of interpersonal skills, follow-up, etc. It’s a direct reflection on HOW LITTLE COACHING/TRAINING these individuals are getting…especially at work. It’s an almost total lack of focus on PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT and PERSONAL ACCOUNTABILITY!
I can’t even imagine what would have happened for me without the teachers and coaches and books and lessons along the way. But at some point it became a PERSONAL decision for me to remain a STUDENT for life. To keep up the LEARNING CURVE. And that really all started when one of my coaches challenged me to “WORK HARDER ON ME…than I did on my job.” I didn’t really understand what he meant in the beginning, but it didn’t take long for me to get what he was trying to say.
I believe it is EASIER to stand out today than ever before.
Just by being a LITTLE BIT BETTER than average or ordinary or those just skating by on their jobs. If GOOD is the enemy of GREAT (Jim Collins/Good to Great) then what kind of a TRAP is MEDIOCRE and AVERAGE?
That same coach sent the message to me in the form of a question… “WHAT IF—Top Performance, High Achievement, Greater income, a great LIFE; What if all those things were as simple as READING, LISTENING and WRITING? We would all have to agree that would be EASY to do. But it’s also EASIER NOT-TO-DO and that is the choice that most individuals make today—to DO WHAT’S EASIER!
Allowing too much complacency creates the wrong environment for Performing at a high level. Teams and organizations that create a foundation and focus on a set of fundamental principles for their employees give the individuals and the organization a better way to WINNING!
One of those organizations I spoke for a few months ago became a fascinating study for me in preparation for my talk at their year-end event.
FIVE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES pretty much summed up what they were all about and what REALLY MATTERS to them.
Next time I’ll share more here about the organization and about those FIVE FUNDAMENTALS…till then—
Have a great weekend,
Michael
EDITORS NOTE:
Michael York is an accomplished AUTHOR and SPEAKER...as well as the Co-Founder and Host of CETV.
In 2022 He was named “Most Unique Leadership Coach” by Corporate Vision International, and in 2023 was awarded the “Transformation Coach of the Year” by Wealth and Finance magazine.
He is an award-winning CONSULTANT and COACH retained by ORGANIZATIONS for his contribution to the improvement of HUMAN POTENTIAL, PERSONALLY as well as PROFESSIONALLY.
He is the RADICAL IMPROVEMENT CATALYST behind major advancements with his clients over two decades and the EVIDENCE of his EXPERTISE is confirmed by empirical RESULTS, some of which can be seen at www.MichaelYork.com