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Comment. A speech written for one of my clients on 15 October. Researched and written it in 4hours. Need at least a week to write an excellent speech. Not sure that Obama would like thisspeech ;-), but I think it got the message across. Luckily, I was able to tap into Jim Collins’s book,Good To Great and use it as my golden thread. I’ve changed the company name.
Good to Great - A culture of Excellence
Of the Top 100 companies 100 or so years ago, only 14 are still in existence today. We’reconstantly wrestling with the concept of making ABC Co. a viable company for the next 50years. We don’t want ABC Co. to be an “also ran”. We want a vibrant company that cansustain itself, its employees and the community in which it does business for years tocome.We believe that we’re on track to do it. Our 4 success pillars will ensure that:Best peopleRight first timeLifelong partnershipsProfitable growthYou may have heard of a book by Jim Collins called
Good to Great.
The golden thread throughout the book is that
good is the enemy of great
. Good is just not good enough anymore. To win in business today, ABC Co. has to be great.Not just great, but
Excellent.
A culture of Excellence needs to be encoded into our DNA.It must ooze from every pore in our body. When our clients see us, they should say,“There’s something special about that ABC Co. crowd.”We believe that a culture of excellence will give us that something special that will help usstand head and shoulders above our competitors.Let’s get back to Jim Collins and
Good to Great 
and unpack 3 of the 5 guiding principlesthat excellent companies have encoded into their DNA. And, let’s ask ourselves thequestion as to whether ABC Co. is in shape when it comes to these principles. Or do wehave to ramp up our efforts and pull up our boots?
www.jacquesdevilliers.com
 
1. Great companies ask “First Who, Then What?”
Great companies, like ABC Co., focus on employing the best people. You’ve been chosenbecause you have the attitude, intellect, skills, energy and enthusiasm to take a strong andvibrant ABC Co. into the future.Let’s face it, it’s not an easy task. We need our team to be focused on excellence becausewe’ve got a challenging road ahead. Our competitors are hungry ... they’re getting leaner,meaner and sharper and, more professional. The only way we’re going to outpace,outsmart and outwit them is to become even more focused, professional and single-minded about delivering the best service every time.The reality is that in today’s anorexic economy, we’re going to be pushed to the limit andstretched in ways we never imagined. The rewards will be worth it, though. You’ll growpersonally and professionally. Your attitude of excellence will stay with you forever, whereever your journey through life takes you. You’ll stand out as having been through thecrucible of combat and coming out stronger for it.We’re hoping that all of us will get on the success bus. But, only you can make that choice.We all need to ask ourselves the following question: “Do I want to be on the bus or not?” If your answer is “I want off”, then let your conscience guide you. All we know is that the ABCCo. bus is moving forward at a rapid pace and it needs your valuable contribution. Westand here before you today and makes its mark in the sand: “We’re not getting off thisbus.” If you have the passion and enthusiasm for ABC Co. like we do, and I know youhave ... then getting off the bus is not an option for you, is it?[sotto voce] “Between you and me ... nobody’s getting off this bus - capiche?” We’re proudto be part of this team. We have some of the best minds in the business. I know thattogether we can turn ABC Co. from a being good company into a great company.
www.jacquesdevilliers.com
 
Great companies confront the brutal facts (but never lose faith)
This is always a hard one. When we put a mirror to ourselves we sometimes see things wedon’t like.
Let’s look at our 4 success pillars and see how we stack up:
Do we have the
best people
. We believe so. The question, should rather be: “Are weholding ourselves to a higher standard and being the best we can be. If we’re honest, wecan probably do a whole lot better, couldn’t we?
Profitable growth.
Are we achieving this? [chuckle] ... Whenever We meet and talkprofits,
 AN Other 
looks so serious ... you’d swear ABC Co. was bankrupt. We’re onto him,though - he’s just trying to squeeze a bit of extra juice out of us.Jokes aside, he pushes us hard because he knows we’ve got it in us to go that extra mileand extract that extra profit. Let’s not kid ourselves we’ve stretched ourselves and set ahefty target this year - just shy of Rxxx-million turnover. To say we’ve succeeded, we needto come in at a profit margin of xxxx. That’s why we need to run lean, hunt down everysales opportunity like hungry lions and ramp up our productivity through the stratosphere.
Lifelong Partnerships.
Hitchhiking onto the profitable growth aspect. It’s imperative thatwe build sustainable and win-win partnerships with clients, suppliers and each others.What tends to focus us is the real value of the lifetime partnerships. Our partnerships withxxxx, our clients and each other are vital if we want to stay relevant, sustainable andprofitable for years to come.To be blunt, it makes good economic sense to build lifetime partnerships. Let’s take our partnerships with clients, for example. Let’s say our average client is worth R5-million ayear and she stays with us for 10 years on average. This means that she’s actually worthR50-million to us over her lifetime. Now, we’re not sure about you, but a R50-million clientexcites us. This kind of money focuses the mind beautifully and ensures that we’d raise mygame substantially.At the risk of sounding too obvious ...
our clients are the lifeblood of our organisation
.Because of that, we love, nurture and cherish them. You may be wondering why we’ve
www.jacquesdevilliers.com
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