Robert Shindell – Setting the Standard of Excellence

Setting the Standard of Excellence: Each and every day, we make choices.

Many of these choices seem relatively mundane at the time.  For example, consider the following decision that happens just about every day in the lives of millions of people.  – “Do I want to eat a salad or a cheeseburger for lunch”.

Seems like a simple decision is the short-term, right?

But what are the long-term ramifications of this decision?

I think we can agree that making the choice of eating a salad is probably a better decision to our health in the long-run.

The same type of seemingly mundane choices are faced by leaders each day.  And each of these choices have both short-term and long-term ramifications – just like the decision about what to have for lunch.

In the movie “Remember the Titans”, one of the leadership lessons that the film illustrates is focused on Leadership Challenge Behavior #6 – I make certain that people adhere to the principles and standards that have been agreed upon.  If you have not seen this film, you should definitely put it on your “must watch” list – it is an amazing movie full of great leadership lessons.

In the film, one of the young football players is not adhering to the standards of excellence that the team has agreed upon.  He is confronted by one of the team captains, who also happens to be his life-long best friend about his lack of effort.

This scene is a pivotal part of the movie as the leader (Team Captain) is confronted with a choice – tell the coach about his best-friends lack of effort and have him removed from the team, or remain his friend.  I’ll let you see the movie for yourself to see the decision the leader made, but in the meantime, think about your role as a leader in making sure that people adhere to the principles and standards that the team has agreed upon.

To learn more about me, click here.

To help you in developing excellence in others, check out this awesome video by Cheryl Ferguson entitled “Motivating People to Excellence”:

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My leadership journey began more than than 25 years ago with The Leadership Challenge, the most trusted source on becoming a better leader.  So far, more than 2 million copies of the book have been published in over in over 20 languages. Based on Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner’s extensive global research, this life changing approach to leadership and their enduring work is critical to help us navigate the world of work today.  The basic premise is that leadership is a relationship that must be nurtured and, most important, that it can be learned.