Very few people EXCEL in personal / professional life, Do you? – a simple mantra to try!

There are a few leaders in the corporate world, who have provided a steady growth to their organization while they were disrupting the industry at the same time. You see this phenomenon in non-corporate worId also. I observed them to understand what is their secret sauce; what is that they have done which enabled them to excel surmounting the odds. 

After a careful study, I observed one common theme across all these people, their secret sauce. They believed in one simple rule and implemented it rigorously in all aspect of business or any non-business operations managed by them. They made it a point that everyone on their team understands it and incorporates it in their part of work for the organization. The rule typically is so simple that it is very easy to understand and key for winning is its comprehensive implementation across all aspects of business.

Let us take one well known example of Steve Jobs; he believed in the simple rule of “Be Yardstick of Quality”. It is easy to understand; it means the industry should look at apple products for what it is called as “best quality product” and build their products to reach those standards. This is easier said than done though.  It means all aspects of the product right from conceptualization, design, features, performance, manufacturing, distribution, sales and finally service; all aspects, should demonstrate this YARDSTICK QUALITY and being in commercial world, the product also should be price competitive in the market. The apple team, has taken this rule of “be yardstick of quality” and implemented it comprehensively in all aspect of business and result is in front of us. It takes a significant effort to incorporate the theme in all aspects of daily working when there are multiple external and internal stakeholders / partners doing their part to get the product in customer’s hand.

There are several examples like this; " Put the Customer first, Invent and be Patient" by Jeff Bozos; “Be no 1 or 2 in the industry we operate” by Jack Welch took GE to new heights. Similarly, “Non-Violence” by Mahatma Gandhi created a huge freedom movement in India leading to its independence. There are several such rules come to my mind like “Just Do It”, “Be Authentic”, “Do what you say”, etc.

One of the common theme we hear from various people / organizations is around “Customer Centricity or Customer Focus”. Different companies and their leaders provide their own spin of this theme. When we observe these organizations, we can clearly see difference in their performance, perception of their customers about them, their product portfolio, their customer service based on level of depth they have gone to implement the theme they proclaim. The organizations, which have primary focus on customer benefits in preference to regular things like cost, profitability, etc. are seen to be performing well on all fronts, including profitability.

This same thought process or mantra could be extended to an individual who wants to excel. First step is to identify a rule that resonates with you; it could be simple as “Respect Others”, “Do as you say”, “Make others smile” or anything personal like “save 20% of my salary for future safety” and Next step is to implement the same in all aspects of your life and see the miracle. Start small, experiment with it and then create your own niche.

Once again, the Mantra to excel – “Believe in Simple Rule and Implement it rigorously in all aspect of business / personal life”