I’m reading Joel Osteen’s newest book, You Can, You Will. It’s short and full of motivational material, which is great to be exposed to from time to time.
In the book he identifies “undeniable qualities of winners.” The fifth is “commitment to excellence,” and it occurred to me that this is something that everyone in performance measurement should possess.
Some quotes from the book on this quality:
- “You are a cut above. You are called to excellence.”
- “You should be the model employee for your company. Your boss and your supervisors should be able to say to the new hires, ‘Watch him. Learn from her. Pick up the same habits. Develop the same skills. This person is the cream of the crop, always on time, great attitude, doing more than what is required.'”
- “Make sure you look the best you can.”
- “When you’re a person of excellence, you do more than necessary. You don’t just meet requirements; you go the extra mile.”
I suspect that I developed my own commitment to excellence from having spent almost five years in the army, where such an attitude is expected.
Our company has such a commitment. In everything we do, from every single aspect of our annual Performance Measurement, Attribution & Risk (PMAR) conferences (including venue, meals, speakers, gifts, topics, vendor support), to the materials we provide our clients (including our GIPS® Orientation Kits, GIPS Verification Packets™, proposal materials, books, journals, even the paper we use); from the way we conduct our verifications (thorough, responsive, timely, onsite, accurate, detailed) and consulting assignments (professional, detailed, objective, authoritative), to how we teach our classes (engaging approach, delivery, materials, content, current, relevant): we have a commitment to excellence. Like Joel, we are “constantly evaluating and analyzing…[our] attitude is that there’s always room for improvement. We can always get better.”
The CIPM Program: an example of a commitment to excellence
One way that you can demonstrate a commitment to excellence is by pursing the CIPM® program. If you’ve already done so, congratulations! And this makes it easier for you to encourage others to do the same.
The next series of exams is this coming April. You only have until February 2nd to register, so do so today, and commit to excellence!
It’s obvious that the folks at the CFA Institute have a commitment to excellence when it comes to this program, as they’re also constantly evaluating and analyzing, striving to make it better, more relevant to the industry.
Of course, there are many other ways to have a commitment to excellence. I’ll leave it to you to reflect on this, and come up with your own list. I do recommend Joel’s new book. You may find his other “undeniable qualities of winners” worth adopting, too!