People who thrive on excellence stand out.

They pursue their goals with a will, with energy. They contribute more than talent and time - they care.

They don’t wait for someone else to do what needs to be done. They seek no easy way out; they know that excellence is hard, and you have to pursue it purely and relentlessly. They persevere. 

They have a sense of priority and purpose. They appreciate the dignity of others. They enjoy the journey.

Quality doesn’t just happen - it’s the result of excellence consistently delivered by people who know what they’re doing and care constantly about doing it better. People who have prepared themselves to do it, and then do it.

Think how different you are from, say, a barnacle. The barnacle is confronted early in life with a big decision - the only decision it ever has to make, in fact: it has to decide where it’s going to live. Then, once it decides, it spends the rest of its life with its head cemented to a rock. Haven’t you seen people going through life like that, with their heads cemented to one kind of rock or another? Lethargy, laziness, carelessness, complacency, paralysing caution, or hidebound tradition?

Compare them to the winners of the world - the people who bring curiosity, courage, and commitment to work with them, every day. The winner analyses and takes the long view of things. The winner thinks clearly and broadly. If you’re a winner, you regard change as just another of those things that come along to separate the winners from the losers, so you don’t waste any time worrying about it but instead, you figure out how to put it to work for you.

Let’s take that thought with us today. As leaders and future leaders, we are the artists who help others find the unknown less threatening. We are the people who can look at something common and see the uncommon in it - the new idea, the new way of doing things...the competitive advantage. We are not welded to rigid facts and numbers. We are flexible, creative thinkers.

If change is the only constant, it is certain that a changing world is constantly offering new opportunities to those who are prepared, imaginative and diligent. But the path is not clearly marked - the signs say only ‘quality’ and ‘excellence’. The map offers no other directions. But maybe this much is enough.

At the Nintendo company, a game designer asked his boss, “What should I make?”

“Something great,” the boss answered. “Something great.”

Let’s all do something great.

(Acknowledgement: Quality and Excellence, extracts from a speech by John K Lawson, Senior Vice President, Deere and Co, delivered at the 25th anniversary of the College of Education, Iowa State University, 1994)