From Good to Great to the BEST

THE FIVE THINGS NEEDED TO BECOME THE BEST

“Good people need a few things to be the best: knowledge, principles, motivation and will, money, and recognition.” — Sergio Borjas

Knowledge:

“A teachable, receptive, humble spirit remains open to learning from anyone at any time.” — Charles Swindoll

Principles:

“Integrity is the glue that holds our way of life together. We must constantly strive to keep our integrity intact. When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when character is lost, all is lost.” — Billy Graham

Motivation and will:

“I don’t want to hear that someone can’t handle pressure. Everyone can handle pressure but most people choose not to you because it’s easier to stay safe in the comfort zone.” — Tim Grover

Money:

“You get paid in proportion to the difficulty of the problems that you solve, the more difficult the problem, the more you make.” — Elon Musk

Recognition:

“When you’re good at something, you’ll tell everyone. When you’re great at something, they’ll tell you.” — Walter Payton

KNOWLEDGE:

“A teachable, receptive, humble spirit remains open to learning from anyone at any time.” — Charles Swindoll

Knowledge is power?

People say that often don’t they?

But is it true?

Have you ever met someone who has 5 degrees? How has that communication been?

Maybe it’s been great — and that’s awesome.

But I think back to many of my college professors (and I studied business) and they were good but not great.

They knew what the textbook said but beyond that? Not much for many of them.

There were a handful of incredible professors that I greatly respected and learned a lot from. But there were also a number of them that I truly didn’t learn from. I could have learned much more in much less time by reviewing the textbook on my own time.

So knowledge is important — it’s the first key — but we can NOT stop there.

If all we have is knowledge, knowledge is all we will have.

I’ll keep with the college example since that’s fairly simple.

I have friends who got different degrees and spent lots of time studying for A’s and 4.0 GPAs. That’s great, I commend them — but it’s not what I did and it’s not what I’ve seen work best.

It depends on what your goals are, but if you want to be the best… knowledge is only the first step.

I always come back to the adage, “You don’t truly know something until you can explain it to a child.”

And that’s so true.

The best know their craft so so well that they can explain it to anyone.

What do you know better than anyone? That means you’re good.

Now, let’s look at the next 4 ingredients that lead you from good to great to the best.

PRINCIPLES:

“Integrity is the glue that holds our way of life together. We must constantly strive to keep our integrity intact. When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when character is lost, all is lost.” — Billy Graham

What happens when you lie to someone?

What happens when you cheat someone?

What happens when you deceive someone?

After that? You’re on the run.

You’re constantly looking in your review mirror because they could approach with a vengeance at any time.

That’s not a good life to lead.

That’s not an easy life to lead.

That’s not a sustainable life to lead.

But so many people live life without principles. Many people lie on the regular (some psychologists have shown that EVERY person lies at least once daily).

Warren Buffett is one of the most economically successful people in modern history. Billy Graham was the first person I referenced for this portion of the piece but Buffett has a great quote of his own also.

“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.” — Warren Buffett

Beyond that, there have been numerous studies to evaluate the most important characteristics of leaders. The resounding answer is integrity.

“I would prefer even to lose with honor than to win by cheating.” — Sophocles

If integrity is so incredibly important, why don’t people have strong principles that they live out? There could be a number of reasons but I’d chalk it up to lack of motivation and will.

MOTIVATION and WILL:

“I don’t want to hear that someone can’t handle pressure. Everyone can handle pressure but most people choose not to you because it’s easier to stay safe in the comfort zone.” — Tim Grover

Wow. Cold hard truth.

It’s real though. Do people really want to grow?

What’s the way to grow? PRUNING.

All good gardeners know this.

Why don’t we do this to ourselves as people also? Because it hurts.

Everyone can be great. There are so many examples of people who became successful in the eyes of the world and shared how they weren’t even the best when they were younger.

People like the rapper Russ Diemon who shared that growing up, the two people he made music with were much more talented than him. Why then did he experience and they didn’t?

Motivation and will.

Russ says in his song “Since I Was Broke”

“I been sayin’ I was rich since I was broke yeah, yeah

It’s a state of mind, you gotta know yeah, yeah

That it’s gonna happen fo’ sho hmm

Had to take my time, take it slow yeah”

He knew he was going to get there.

Ask him today and he’ll tell you that he wrote, engineered, and created 87 different songs and 11 albums before he started to be recognized within the music scene.

He’s just one example of what resilience looks like. There are numerous athletes who grew up with people much more talented who never went far.

Studies have shown that most of the Fortune 500 CEOs had GPAs closer to 3.0 than 4.0. Why?

Jack Ma has said something in relation to this. He has said that he doesn’t believe students should strive for A’s but rather to understand the material. Only then do students have enough time to learn another skill.

Motivation and will.

You must want it, work for it, and go get it.

MONEY:

“You get paid in proportion to the difficulty of the problems that you solve, the more difficult the problem, the more you make.” — Elon Musk

Not everyone likes money and feels rewarded by receiving greater amounts of money for the work that they do.

There are a great number of people who do things without expecting any sort of monetary reward.

In the same breath, money is ultimately the universal way to measure and acknowledge someone’s great work.

As Elon said, we are paid in direct proportion to the problems that we solve.

The average wage for a full-time worker in the US today is $48,000.

That’s good. That’s not great. That’s certainly not the best.

It is good and it is a livable wage by all means.

Remember though, we are paid in direct proportion to the problems that we solve. So for those who make the average wage, or near it, how difficult are the problems that you are solving?

Within life, money makes society move, it’s a necessary input. If you are working for a billion-dollar company as the CFO and make the same amount of money as the bookkeeper, that’s not very good, is it?

Even if money doesn’t drive you, that’s not going to make you feel good. You are not going to be incentivized to do more. You’re the CFO, you’re supposed to be doing things with much greater responsibility and solving problems with much more importance than the bookkeeper is — you should be financially rewarded as such.

Money pushes people to the next level — it’s a way to measure oneself against someone else or a past version of oneself.

Money is not the last ingredient though. As mentioned, not everyone is driven or motivated by greater financial rewards, we need recognition.

RECOGNITION:

“When you’re good at something, you’ll tell everyone. When you’re great at something, they’ll tell you.” — Walter Payton

Recognition is one of the most underutilized aspects of leadership and life in general.

If we truly want people to grow and move from good to great and ultimately to the best, we must recognize them.

It’s simple.

Everyone has a birthday, recognize them.

Everyone does things that they worked for, recognize them.

The person that inspired this piece, Sergio Borjas, does an incredible job of this. I recently finished up my MBA studies and upon the attainment of that, he made it a point to recognize my accomplishment. He provided me with a thoughtful gift, a heartfelt card, and sincere congratulations.

Not everyone does that.

I don’t parade about telling people about my accomplishments. Most people I worked with knew that I was getting my MBA — I had to leave work an hour early a few days a week for class so most everyone knew — but not everyone provided recognition.

I know what I need to do and I do it. I knew what I was working for and I made it happen.

MBA studies were never to attain the praise of others but rather my master’s degree is for myself, for my future, and for my vision.

If someone wants to go out of their way and recognize me for that personal accomplishment, that pushes me to the next level.

During the beginning of 2020, I’ve seen a number of people in my network attain different certifications, rewards, or achievements. It doesn’t take much time to reach out and pass along a word of congratulations to them, but it will mean a lot to them.

Whether I say it out loud or not, it does mean a lot when people recognize what I’ve done.

Tim Grover said it best in his book Relentless. He says,

“You don’t celebrate your achievements, you always want more.” — Tim Grover

That’s true. I don’t celebrate myself, the job isn’t finished yet. I’ll celebrate once I’m finished with the job. Until then, it’s back to business. It’s back to refinement, it’s back to grinding, it’s back to improvement, and it’s back to moving from good to great to the best.