What Tony and Jim Know That The Rest Of Us Don't
Tony and Jim know greatness. Tony knows that out of all the cereals in the cereal aisle at the grocery store, only one is "Greeeaaaattt!" And Jim learned through rigorous study that of the scores of companies in the study group, a mere 11 qualified for the Good To Great moniker. Greatness is rare, and that's as it should be.
Rare achievements are, almost by definition, ones borne of extraordinary effort combined with a measure of good fortune. Lance Armstrong's seven Tour de France victories. Roger Clemens 341 wins (and counting). Michael Jordan's six NBA championships. Accomplishments borne of extraordinary effort, single-minded focus and a measure of luck. Each of us has the ability to control the level of commitment. And there certainly is a measure of truth to a comment made by Thomas Jefferson--"I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it."
There is a wonderful statement by Jim Collins, found on the back of his monograph "Good To Great And The Social Sectors: "Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turn out, is largely a matter of conscious choice, and discipline."
The relevance of this to great client service? Conscious choice, and discipline. It's not just the bus. Its not just leadership. Its the brutal confrontation of facts, using technology right, exercising rigor in decision-making and having the discipline to execute. Focusing on one part of the recipe with indifference to the others is like ordering a steak with sides and having a meal of mashed potatoes and mushrooms. If you miss the meat, the meal suffers.
