Company Blog

Perfect Revisited

by Adam Zack — February 12, 2020

He’s the best of the worst!

Some time ago I went on a rant about how “Perfect!” is the most overused response in America today. Everything you do – Perfect! It dilutes the word so much, that no one really has a real idea of what perfection is and if it’s even attainable at all. To me, perfection is more of a goal than actual results. Many people fall very short of even attempting perfection. Their attitude is more “Nobody’s perfect…”. They have compromised attempting perfection before they even start. The bar is lowered from the get-go for them. So while true perfection is rare – think a perfect 10 in Olympic gymnastics, a perfect passer rating in the NFL (158.3 – There were 5 in 2019 – Lamar Jackson (twice) Dak Prescott, Aaron Rodgers and Deshaun Watson), or a wine that scores 100 points – attempting perfection is a character trait of your top employees. I think a more relatable way to aim is to be the best. And not in the “best of the worst” group.

Being outstanding sounds much more achievable than achieving perfection. In the movie Ford vs. Ferrari (again with the movie references!) race car driver Ken Miles was explaining to his son his driving strategy to drive the perfect lap to win the race. His son said “But you can’t drive the perfect lap every time.”, to which Ken replied “But I can try.” Be a better leader, friend, father, son, husband every day. I can try. Perfect.