How do you know it's Good?

"You like it. Your friends like it. Their peer group likes it. The public likes it. Many people buy it. It's all very subjective. But you want lots of approval and lots of sales."

– Sir Michael Philip “Mick” Jagger
English musician, singer-songwriter
(1943 -)











Your organization? Your sales force? Your product? Your story? Your meeting? Your presentation? How do you know they're good?

What's the standard? What's the criteria?

Presumably, at the end of the day, the year, the career, the life – one might want to look back with a certain prideful satisfaction. So perhaps a little consideration devoted to “standards of achievement” is advisable at the beginning. On what basis do you conclude that "you done good?" Is it all “very subjective” or is there instead, a set of objective standards which define “GOOD?”

Many of us conduct our lives hewing to the default standard...the unconscious consideration that we want to "fit in" against the backdrop of common practice, group assumption, the canvas of how everyone does it – peer pressure. We don't want to be noticed or singled out. We just want to get through it. Yet, is it enough to say "I did what everyone else was doing? I was average. I got C's. I lived on credit, had a few flings. Didn't accomplish much, and I was asleep most of the time, but I survived lots of meetings..."

Maybe there's more? Maybe "being singled out" is one indicator of what "Good" is all about. Add that to "raising the standard of performance or service." Should something happen when we finish a presentation? Should our spouse smile when we walk into the room? Should our colleagues seek out our counsel?

Standards.

They are a fundamental – though not always visible – part of our lives. And every day, we raise, lower or leave them in place. Most of the time, they are not objective, or even subjective, they are simply “the default.” (Meetings are dull. Entertainment isn’t. Lives are too often lived on autopilot.)

But occasionally someone, through an exceptional statement, performance or demonstration shakes us all into awareness of a single resplendent moment of personal greatness. Why? Because they had an exceptional standard of aspiration. They wanted more, perhaps to be the best. Maybe they wanted to leave every room better then they found it.

We're not attempting to dictate here, but to create an explicit discussion about something that usually goes unnoticed.

For yourself, your family, the community, the work, make the discussion and the aspiration toward greatness a regular part of life. Be able to say, "Here's what I believe constitutes a successful meeting, relationship, career, and life. These are the standards to which I am committed!" Gives you more to talk about than the weather.

Set Standards! (Having a standard is where it begins.)
Articulate them! (Explicit Standards open the debate.)
Stick to them! (Agreement and Consistency make things stable.)
Raise them! (Continuous improvement wins the competition!)

Go out into the world and prepare to defend your position!

In the end, you'll know "You done good!