​How good do you want to be?  Is average good enough?  Or do you have higher aspirations for your life and career?  How about becoming Great, World Class, or One-of-a-kind?  Each level requires more: more skill, greater experience, enhanced training, boundless energy and, most of all, unyielding commitment and gritty determination.  One need not look further than the recently concluded Rio 2016 Olympics to see how that looks in real life.  (Think Michael Phelps, Katie Ledecky, Simone Biles or Usain Bolt, to name but a few extraordinary performances…)

At the heart of this effort is the uniquely human desire to create something special. In this context, special means distinctive, memorable, and absolutely worthwhile.  It’s about delivering more than the work; it’s about delivering an experience.

I recently revisited a favorite book that explores just these topics.  It’s titled The New Gold Standard; 5 Leadership Principles for Creating a Legendary Customer Experience, by Joseph Michelli.  The author explores the key principles that define the Ritz Carlton brand and its legendary guest experience.  But the book isn’t really about hotels; it’s about creating something special by:

• Defining and Refining what it means to do what you do.
• Empowering others through trust.
• Realizing that it’s not about you.
• Delivering Wow!
• Leaving a lasting footprint that transcends the work you do. 

In reality, “something special” in a service business isn’t a finished product; it’s a continuous quest to improve daily.  In some ways that is even more difficult to achieve than training for superb performance at a moment in time.  Being part of a talented team, with shared goals and who support one another, makes the climb possible.

Enjoy the Journey!