You may have noticed that I did not post a blog entry last week. The reason for that was two-fold.
1. I was busy preparing for and then teaching at the e3 summit www.e3summit.com (I will share more on the fascinating time I had there in future entries).
2. I have started producing and sending out an ezine (email me @gary.zandstra@parkwayelectric.com to subscribe) and I wanted to align the ezine content with my blog entries so to have the ezine “catch up” I did not post last week.
I remember it like it was yesterday, yet it was almost 20 years ago…….. Do you have those moments that just stick with you? It might have been a life changing event, a tragedy, a special time with a loved one or one of those Ah-Ha moments. Back in 1991 it was an Ah-Ha moment, a real true epiphany that help me understand what excellence really is. Some 10 years later a friend sent me a quote about excellence that help me better understand how excellence is consistently achieved.
First, let’s go back to 1991. I was never a fashion trend setter nor up on the latest styles so I didn’t even realize how out of date I looked that day back in 1991. The setting was five men sitting in a hot tub at the Chicago Sheraton Hotel. There I was in my maze and blue tiger striped swim suit sporting a rather large mullet (In those days we didn’t call it a mullet or even know what a mullet was, it was just long hair to us). Yes I know that the big hair day’s were in the 1980’s however as I mentioned above I was never really very fashion conscious.
The five of us were in Chicago planning a youth rally that was to take place between Christmas and New Years in 1992. This was our “get to know you” meeting, a chance to scope out the facility and the opportunity to brainstorm about what the event might look like. As we sat simmering in the hot water and chit chatting about the facility, the event, the artists we would invite to perform….. one of the guys stated, “This is going to be an excellent event!” As we all echoed him with our agreement, the question “what is excellence?” was posed by the eldest member of the Group. What followed was a fascinating discussion that lasted well into the morning hours.
During that discussion time many examples, ideas and thoughts on excellence were bantered around. When it was all said and done we had condensed our definition of excellence to the following statement;
Doing the best you can
With what you have
Every chance you get
Flash forward to the year 2000
A friend sent me the following truth about excellence:
“We are what we repeatedly do, therefore excellence is not an act, but a habit.”
The above quote has been attributed to Aristotle (it is actually a summation of Aristotle’s ideas written in 1926 by Will Durant). No matter the source; Truth is truth and our actions more than our words show who we are.
Over my career I have produced events for those with no budget (no money at all, make it happen somehow) to those with no budget (money is not a constraint, make it happen, hire whoever you need) and honestly the most rewarding have been those done with little or no money, but for a great cause. I also have to say that those done with money not being a large concern have also been very rewarding.
I hear often the “if only” lament. If only I had a bigger budget I could do those things. If only I had the talent at my disposal that church X has. If only I had the tech equipment……..
as I always say “if only” needs to be; that “if only” I could forget about “if only” then I can see the possibilities.
A few years ago I was able to put together a three day event to celebrate the 60th anniversary of VJ Day. From impromptu parades, veterans sharing their stories of WWII, Swing dancing in the downtown streets and a musical concert ending in fireworks it was an incredibly rewarding time. The Budget….. I had no budget, just an idea and a passion that was brought to life by bringing together the right mix of city employees, business owners and philanthropists. The event happened as people donated time and resources. Was it a rewarding event, yes because it was way bigger than what I could have done on my own? It was amazing to see so many different people interject so many great ideas and then act on them. I was also rewarding as we honored those who served and sacrificed for our country.
I have also had the opportunity to help design and install a modest sound system for a small mission organization. As is usually the case the head of this organization had a huge heart and passion for his work and very little money to make things happen. Money however was not a problem to him. His belief was that he was only responsible to do what God called him to do, and his passion was to feed and spiritually nourish those who find themselves swallowed in misfortune. To him it didn’t matter why they were poor, hungry and outcast by society what mattered was that God called him to feed them physically and spiritually.
Part of the spiritual feeding was presenting the word of God every time a meal was served. As the ministry grew it became difficult to hear the guest speakers who spoke at these meal times. The organization had received donated “used” sound equipment that did not sound that good and was not reliable. Somehow the head of the organization got my name and asked me to help out. Hearing the passion in his voice I could not say no. When I saw the antiquated equipment, I thought, oh-boy this is going to be fun. With what had been given to them I pieced together a system that could be heard by everyone and was reliable. Did it sound good….. Well in a word… no. Did it help facilitate the goal the organization had to spiritually feed people…? Yes.
Was excellence achieved for in both of these situations?
Doing the best you can
With what you have
Every chance you get
Let me know what you think and what your definition of excellence is! Comment below or email me at gary.zandstra@parkwayelectric.com
