Dave Ciambella

Do You Have What It Takes? (Part III: Reserve & Excellence)
August 2, 2007

Reserve and excellence are the last two components of the acronym D-E-S-I-R-E that I have shared with you this week.

At the risk of alienating those of you who are not football fans, I thought I would use another football analogy with respect to succession planning. If you have watched college or professional football, one of the things that today’s players do is hold up four fingers as they make their way down the field at the end of the third quarter. When I first noticed this gesture I wondered what in the world that meant. Then it dawned on me! That is their way of saying we are going to the fourth quarter and we are going to outlast you and ultimately defeat you. You see these players believe they have “paid the price” in the off-season through conditioning and relentless preparation. They have developed a qualified, healthy depth chart and bench strength in an effort to achieve their goal. Have you done the same? Does your business have the Reserve in the tank to achieve succession? Have you “paid the price” confronting the difficult issues that are holding your business back from achieving your goals? If not, it’s time to get started! There is never a better time to start than today!

Finally, let’s conclude with Excellence. For those of you who have read Jim Collins’ book “Good To Great,” you may recall him stating that good is the enemy of great. Complacency can be detrimental and in some cases fatal if you are one of those individuals who believes “I have it all done.” The fact is, the only thing that remains the same is change! Therefore, strive to achieve and maintain excellence by regularly reviewing your plan to ensure it is consistent with your current goals and changing circumstances.

D-E-S-I-R-E: 
Dedication, Endurance, 

Strength, Intensity, 

Reserve, Excellence.

That is “the secret”. Do you have what it takes?

Posted by Dave Ciambella on August 2, 2007 | Comments (0)