Businesses Are Not Outstanding
There are no outstanding businesses. It is the people who
work in those businesses who are outstanding and who in turn allow us to say
that a particular business is outstanding.
Businesses have no existence beyond the people who comprise
that business. Okay, if you wish to be pedantic, a limited company has a
separate legal existence apart from its members, directors and workers. Without
going into legal reasons for this, the point is that the company can only act
through human agency.
To repeat the point, then, businesses are not outstanding: it
is the people who make up those businesses who are outstanding. Without people,
businesses do not exist. Without outstanding people, outstanding businesses do
not exist. With outstanding people, we all benefit.
"I think the world would be a significantly better place if everyone did their best at their tasks, no matter how unpalatable the tasks may be. And that is why I believe that we have a duty to do our best; always; whatever the task."
So, what makes someone outstanding. Do an internet search on
this and you will find enough material to keep you occupied for a long
vacation. I found several articles offering 20 qualities of outstanding people
and at least one suggesting 30. It is my contention, however, that there are
just 3 qualities. Virtually any other quality that can be mentioned will be
subsumed within one of my 3. Outstanding people strive to do the best job they
can; they strive to improve; they accept responsibility.
The Duty to Do Your Best
Outstanding people are successful people. One ingredient in
their success is that they always strive to do the best job they can. They want
to be the best at what they do, whatever it is that they do. Sometimes that
just comes down to hard work. Listen to what Bill Shankly,
one of the true great football managers, has to say on this.
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| Bill Shankly |
I agree. I think the world would be a significantly better place
if everyone did their best at their tasks, no matter how unpalatable the tasks
may be. And that is why I believe that we have a duty to do our best; always;
whatever the task. The duty to aid others (and, indeed, the duty of
self-development) has a fine philosophical pedigree. Immanuel Kant thought that
we had imperfect duties to assist others and improve ourselves. An imperfect
duty is one over which we have some flexibility in carrying out. It certainly
it is one that cannot be enforced. I have previously
referred to these duties as privileged duties.
"If you are going to be the best you can; you cannot stand still."
There is no task too small to be unimportant. The potential
consequences of not striving for your best are disastrous; quite the reverse of
assisting others The well-known poem For The Want of
A Nail focuses our attention on this.
The Duty of Self Development
If you are going to be the best you can; you cannot stand
still. I believe passionately that we all have a duty to develop ourselves. We
have a duty to ourselves and to others in our community.
We all have a contribution to make to our communities.
Indeed, we have a duty to make a contribution. I do not have to spell out the
consequences for a society where everyone depended on everyone else to make
contributions. Every society, every community, every business benefit
enormously from those who work to improve themselves. Outstanding people strive
to improve. By continually improving, outstanding people benefit themselves,
their businesses and their communities.
The Duty to Take Responsibility
Outstanding people will take responsibility for their
actions (or omissions). If we make mistakes, we have a duty to take responsibility.
Again, the world will be a much better place if we were all capable of taking responsibility
for our actions.
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| Take responsibility |
When things go wrong, it is an opportunity to learn (to improve
ourselves). Of course, the organisational culture has to be one where people
feel safe to take responsibility rather than blame others. There are times,
however, when blaming others creates the culture. The difference between people
who say, “I made a mistake, what can I learn” and people who say, “It wasn’t my
fault” (when the evidence is to the contrary) is an almost unbridgeable gulf.
Conclusion
Outstanding people are not necessarily super-human
performers. They are, though, people who take pride in what they do are happy
with shouldering the burden of duty. This is not always a matter of talent. Some
very talented people may be very unhappy with these things. Talent with nothing
more will not lead to outstanding businesses.
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