Results and Excellence

A famous business leader once said there are two kinds of people in business:  those who make results and those who make excuses.  He called these first types of people, “results-oriented.”  I would like to suggest another type.  These are people who very much seek results and do not accept excuses but care deeply how those results are created.  They care about the “how” for two reasons: 1. They want to create ability in their organization as well as results and 2. They want to deeply understand how results are created and how to repeat them.  I call these people “excellence-oriented.” 

Excellence-oriented is a step above results-oriented.  It is based on longer-term thinking and the seeking of what Deming called “profound knowledge.”  Excellent results can be the product of luck in the short term and excellence-oriented people understand this.  That is why “zero accidents” or “zero defects” can only be goal and not a strategy for them.  They understand that excellence is more than a flash in the pan or five minutes of glory.  Excellence is the ability to control results over the long term and this ability is one of the most valuable commodities an organization can have in this age of global competition.

-Terry L. Mathis

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Terry L. Mathis is the founder and CEO of ProAct Safety, an international safety and performance excellence firm. He is known for his dynamic presentations in the fields of behavioral and cultural safety, leadership, and operational performance, and is a regular speaker at ASSE, NSC, and numerous company and industry conferences. EHS Today listed Terry as a Safety Guru in ‘The 50 People Who Most Influenced EHS in 2010, 2011 and 2012-2013. He has been a frequent contributor to industry magazines for over 15 years and is the coauthor of STEPS to Safety Culture Excellence, 2013, WILEY.