Turning Pro means thinking through what 'excellence' means to you.

This is the second in a series to help you think through some of the challenges lay ahead of us all.

Where is the title "Revolution in Human Affairs" from? The full quote is from the Peter Drucker book, ‘Managing Oneself’ is:

“Managing oneself is a revolution in human affairs. It requires new and unprecedented things from the individual, and especially from the knowledge worker. In effect, it demands that each knowledge worker think and behave as a CEO. It also requires an almost 180-degree change in the knowledge workers’ thoughts and actions from what most of us still take for granted as the way to think and the way to act.”

We are now going to talk about excellence.

How do you become excellent? Why is it important? Indeed, what is ‘excellence’?

Comitting to Excellence

A 2007 marketing book by Hugh Burkitt and John Zealley called, appropriately enough, Marketing Excellence offers a specific idea of excellence in marketing.

They argue “excellence has to be unusual and rare”, but add that this must be accompanied by “endurance and sustainability”.

However, what Burkitt and Zealley are really referring to is the outcomes of excellence in marketing.

The book’s introduction draws together common approaches and characteristics of the most successful marketers, which are summarised in three groups:

·       High performers live in a measurement culture.

·       High performers invest in the right skills and capabilities.

·       High performers measure intelligently and comprehensively.

Given that it was published more than 10 years ago, much of the book presages what we call ‘marketing effectiveness’ today.

However, I can’t help feeling that something is missing.

In all of the conversations around effectiveness and excellence, what we are referring to are outcomes.

We never refer to the individual and how they can be excellent.

We never talk about how to develop skills, whether explicitly by studying the methods of learning or indirectly through practice.

Instead, it is implied within phrases such as ‘investing in the right skills and capabilities.’

Excellence is defined as the ‘quality of being outstanding or extremely good’.

Excellence therefore is about committing to an approach of being extremely good in your work, skills and behaviours, and simply enjoying the dedication to working hard at being better.

Turning Pro

So why is committing to excellence important? When it comes to developing excellence and expertise, I am sure you have heard of abstract ideas like the 10,000-hour rule or read about masters in sport, music or chess and how much time and effort they spent on practice.

It takes a while to be good at something; it’s a bit of a grind.

For the individual, regardless of age or experience, I would argue that committing to excellence is about a personal ‘competitive advantage’ for their career.

One of the realisations I had over the last 15 years or so was seeing what sports professionals acutally did, compared to amateurs. Yes, I know they are paid to be sports pros, compared to us Sunday morning kick-around amateurs.

However, what I worked out was that in my 'day job', I was supposed to be a pro - not an amateur having a kick-around.

The question remains: what is the difference between a pro and an amateur in your career?

Here is an exercise for you to think through - spend a few minutes thinking through the answers to these questions:

·       What is the difference between a professional and an amateur

·       Am I a professional or am I an amateur? Be truthful to yourself

·       What does being professional mean to me?

·       What does 'turning pro' mean to me?

Steve Pressfield is the author of a number of books for artists and writers. 

‘The War of Art’, ‘Turning Pro’ and ‘Do the Work’ should be on your shelf.

They are easy to read, but hard to stomach. They are short but they pack a punch.

Start with the ‘War of Art’. Everything else proceeds from this.

Then ‘Turning Pro’ and finally ‘Do the Work’.

I aim to read them every year as they mean something different to me everytime I read them.

The 12 Habits of the Professional

When you read ‘Turning Pro’, you will see a list called the ‘12 Habits of The Professional’:

1.             The professional is patient

2.             The professional seeks order

3.             The professional acts in the face of fear

4.             The professional accepts no excuses

5.             The professional plays it as it lays

6.             The professional is prepared

7.             The professional dedicates himself or herself to mastering technique

8.             The professional does not hesitate to ask for help

9.             The professional does not take failure or success personally

10.           The professional endures adversity

11.           The professional self-validates

12.           The professional is recognised by other professionals

A very interesting list, I think you will agree. One to keep coming back to again and again or even print it out and put it up on a wall near you.

Next article on this topic will dive into horizontal and vertical development.

Thanks for reading Article #2.