The garish cartoon below reminded me of Aristotle!
It was Aristotle who suggested:
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
So the quote below – “excellence in excellence” (see pic) – is about installing great habits in your firm.
And because this hints at raising the bar habitually in your firm, it hints at raising standards.
And raising standards is suggested as a source of up 40% improvement in bottom-line results according to a comprehensive study by David Maister in his book ‘Practice What You Preach’
Every step you take towards raising the bar in your firm improves the likelihood of you raising your profits and profit growth.
Which of course improves the capital value of your firm.
How big an improvement in your team’s perception of standards should you aim for?
Only 10-15%.
Maister’s research suggests a 10-15% improvement will generate the 40% gain in financial performance.
How can that be?
Because when you raise your standards, employee satisfaction will increase and your firm’s performance on quality and client relationships will improve too (according to Maister’s findings).
And these two issues help drive the results in your firm (according to Maister and according to common sense too!)
“Excellence in excellence” is a worthwhile goal it seems?
And it seems a relatively small gain (10-15%) will generate a relatively large upside (40%).
Go for it!
Paul
PS: If you want to learn more about the artist of the cartoon, Hugh MacLeod, and his Gaping Void site, go here.