Why Greatness Matters to Your Business and Life
If you’re reading this, you’ve identified yourself as a leader, an entrepreneur and/or a high achiever. You’ve likely amassed decades of experience in your industry and count yourself as highly skilled.
But are you great?
What does it take to be a truly great person? And why does it matter to become a great person?
To achieve great things, you have to be a great person. And skill alone does not make you a great person. There’s something more, almost intangible.
(This is part one of a four part series to be aired over the next few weeks.
The good news is, every great person was once ordinary. In years of interviewing some of the world’s top CEOs and change makers, plus my own studies and experience, I’ve discovered that people rise to greatness in one of several ways.
Overcoming an obstacle.Most often, greatness comes from overcoming an obstacle—a personal tragedy, or an emotional or physical barrier. Sometimes I wonder, if everything went smoothly in our lives, would we ever be motivated to achieve greatness?
Pure chance. Other times, chance plays a huge part in making a person great—being in the right place at the right time. Think about generals and presidents. Do we remember generals from times of peace or war? Is a president great because of how he got the nation through a time of prosperity or depression? In such cases, external circumstances played a crucial role in achieving greatness.
Self-created. Others create their fame from passion, hard work, pursuing excellence and raising the bar. Think about artists like Madonna, Andy Warhol or Salvador Dali. They crafted their images and actively courted greatness.
Collaborative competition. You’ve no doubt heard a variation of Jim Rohn’s famous quote “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” This is another recipe for greatness. Rarely is genius created in a dark, lonely corner. Many scientists and academics achieve greatness by promoting their colleagues. It’s collaborative competition; they push each other to do better research, write better, be better. Monet and Renoir were friends and colleagues and they made each other better artists. Simply put, greatness rubs off.
Pursuing excellence. And then there is greatness achieved by doing things you’re passionate about, and doing them with excellence. Life is a constant exercise in self improvement. Yes, much of that improvement is on the hard skills, becoming more educated or rising through the ranks of your profession. But in my experience, when we forget to improve how we treat ourselves and others, that is when greatness (and happiness) will elude us like a clever fox eluding the hound.
I’ve taken years of my own work, experience and study and distilled it all down to the 12 key steps to unlocking your own greatness. I’ll share these steps with your over the next couple of weeks, along with specific action items to integrate each step into your life.
I’m confident if you apply these steps with diligence, over time the results in your life and your business will be astonishing.
Get ready to get great.
