Pursuit of Excellence
| The Pursuit of Excellence |
Abstract:
Whether you are an athlete, a teacher, or a promising high achiever in another walk of life, you can achieve excellence. At a time when numbers speak, performance is equal to profit and getting through the basic minimum at work is the standard practice, does the urge to set benchmarks of quality and excellence become redundant? How many of us go through life simply trying to fulfill the basics and how many set out to achieve true excellence? Steve Jobs the late CEO from Apple was one of those special few with the talent from the Gods with the determination to drive for excellence. In this paper, I will show how Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple utilized and applied four critical elements to guide him to pursuit of personal excellence: Focus, Innovation, Leadership and Charisma.
The Pursuit Of Excellence: The Payoff
’Excellence’ is defined in the Oxford dictionary as superiority, the quality or state of being outstanding or extremely good (Oxford University Press 2012). What did Steve Jobs, Larry Page & Sergey Brin, Bill Gates and Richard Branson have in common? Their names and faces are linked with their respective companies on leadership, innovation and charisma of its leaders. After all, companies such as Toyota, 3M, Samsung and Logitech are also recognized, but the face to the names like Apple, Google, Microsoft or Virgin regularly are recurring headlines for management and magazines and stories of their symbolic leaders. Whether you are an athlete, a teacher, or a promising high achiever in another walk of life, you can achieve excellence. At a time when numbers speak, performance is equal to profit and getting through the basic minimum at work is the standard practice, does the urge to set benchmarks of quality and excellence become redundant? How many of us go through life simply trying to fulfill the basics and how many set out to achieve true excellence? Steve Jobs, the late CEO from Apple, was one
Abstract:
Whether you are an athlete, a teacher, or a promising high achiever in another walk of life, you can achieve excellence. At a time when numbers speak, performance is equal to profit and getting through the basic minimum at work is the standard practice, does the urge to set benchmarks of quality and excellence become redundant? How many of us go through life simply trying to fulfill the basics and how many set out to achieve true excellence? Steve Jobs the late CEO from Apple was one of those special few with the talent from the Gods with the determination to drive for excellence. In this paper, I will show how Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple utilized and applied four critical elements to guide him to pursuit of personal excellence: Focus, Innovation, Leadership and Charisma.
The Pursuit Of Excellence: The Payoff
’Excellence’ is defined in the Oxford dictionary as superiority, the quality or state of being outstanding or extremely good (Oxford University Press 2012). What did Steve Jobs, Larry Page & Sergey Brin, Bill Gates and Richard Branson have in common? Their names and faces are linked with their respective companies on leadership, innovation and charisma of its leaders. After all, companies such as Toyota, 3M, Samsung and Logitech are also recognized, but the face to the names like Apple, Google, Microsoft or Virgin regularly are recurring headlines for management and magazines and stories of their symbolic leaders. Whether you are an athlete, a teacher, or a promising high achiever in another walk of life, you can achieve excellence. At a time when numbers speak, performance is equal to profit and getting through the basic minimum at work is the standard practice, does the urge to set benchmarks of quality and excellence become redundant? How many of us go through life simply trying to fulfill the basics and how many set out to achieve true excellence? Steve Jobs, the late CEO from Apple, was one
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