Whatever Worth Doing … The Essence of Excellence
Whatever worth doing is worth doing well. I don’t know who first uttered this phrase – probably someone’s wise grandmother or grandfather – but what could possibly capture the value of excellence better? Everything we do, we should do to the best of our ability.
Our work is often done behind the scenes, and success can be difficult to measure. Yet, our clients know when we’ve helped them reach their goals. They tell us so. And when they’re successful, we share in it – behind the scenes.
I tell our clients that they’ll get our very best effort, every time. And I expect every member of our team – myself included – to deliver on that promise. No halfway efforts. No “this-is-good- enough.” No “oh-gosh-the-deadline-is-looming-I’ll-just-pull-this-concept-off-the-shelf.” Our people are dripping with talent … I expect us to bring the full force of that talent to bear on our clients’ communications needs each and every time.
I feel successful when we make our clients’ jobs easier and take some worry off their plate. I know we’ve succeeded when our clients feel better positioned for success … and when they see that success coming through the door.
I often think of integrity as doing the right thing, even if no one is watching. No matter what project I’m working on, I’m applying the same level of work to produce a positive outcome for each and every client.
I enjoy watching track and field events. It is always obvious to me when athletes are putting forth their very best effort. To me excellence speaks to your “track” record. The importance of getting things right needs to be evident in my work ethic and, of course, in my work.
When I was in college, imagining my life as a graphic designer, I pictured success as winning awards and having my work published in magazines. While approval from our peers is great — and we have achieved industry recognition for our work — I’ve learned that, more importantly, success means creating work that our clients love.
Integrity is about being honest with yourself at all times. Warren Buffett has an interesting thought experiment: “I want employees to ask themselves whether they are willing to have any contemplated act appear the next day on the front page of their local paper — to be read by their spouses, children and friends — with reporting done by an informed and critical reporter.” In this day and age where anyone with a Facebook account can play the role of the informed and critical reporter, integrity is an especially important value in life.
Success is closure. It’s a great feeling, no doubt, but it doesn’t come without hard work. Like many, I consider myself addicted to success. But more than that, I consider myself addicted to hard work. For me, the journey to success is equally (and oftentimes more!) satisfying.
Our theme song could be “Nobody Does It Better,” from “The Spy Who Loved Me.” We may not have a 007 on our staff, but we do have a few tricks at our disposal. And when it comes to tackling your project, we’ll give it everything we’ve got to obtain the excellent results that we expect and you deserve.
Being boastful is antithetical to our collective persona, but the fact is, “Baby we’re the best.”
