Striving towards Excellence

-Karthik Gurumurthy

Friday evening was fun. Since it was a long weekend, we actually had PASE potluck. PASE stands for Product Awareness System Education. To start off the evening, we had all our associates who are in the hunt share what worked well and what didn't in the last couple of weeks. This kind of sharing gave all of us the takehome message about what areas we need to work on. After the discussion, I found one common ingredient with all the people who are getting ahead. What is that?

It is confidence!

Without confidence, nothing great gets done. Sure you can have a gorgeous vision and delicious goals that set your heart aflutter. But if you don’t have the confidence to take the action steps needed to move it all forward, the dreaming has been a waste of time; great ideas without the confidence to breathe life into them through near-flawless execution are mere fantasies. And fantasies don’t lead to great businesses.

I do believe that one of the jobs of a Leader is to grow the confidence of the people who are climbing towards the mountaintop with him (along with your own self – faith). Your job is to remind people of all they are – and everything they are meant to be. Do it with words. Do it with thank you notes. Do it with kind gestures and other thoughtful rewards (behavior that is rewarded is behavior that is repeated). Be a person who builds the confidence of everyone who intersects with your daily path. I guess what I’m trying to say is that – to genuinely lead – make it a priority to help people believe. In their potential. In their talents. In their selves.

I was inspired to see my friend Hemang Parikh shining so brightly. His confidence was contagious. He made us all feel we could be great. And confidence is like that. Once one person feels it, he passes it on – making everyone feel better.