Hard work produces the best work...

·       An "Illusion of Grandeur" is when you believe that you have more power, wealth, smarts, or other grand traits than is true. 

·       "Visions of Greatness" refers to the concept of envisioning a future state of excellence, whether for oneself or a larger entity.

 

An illusion of grandeur is often found in a person who thinks they’re always the smartest one in any room. Sometimes they’re wrong, but they’re never uncertain. With a vision of greatness, a common person can help lead others to greatness. That’s all about teamwork. The first is about ego, the second about team. The first may be exciting to be around but the second won’t let you down. You’ll initially love the first in an interview, but probing questions will ultimately guide you to the second. Don’t let the first excite your ego while allowing the second’s humility to underwhelm you. In interviews or interactions, be sure to keep asking them both to tell you more – that’s where the real substance will be found. If you’re more like the second, don’t let success go to your head – be thankful anyone listened and let you get far enough to see your vision become reality. Because one good idea doesn’t confirm greatness. Several, maybe. But even so, we all must earn our stripes every day. People will rather work with someone who is hard working than someone who tells you they are. Because everyone’s shoulder to the collective wheel is the best way to work today.

 

Edwin Louis Cole (1922–2002): Founder of the Christian Men's Network, an American religious organization devoted to helping Christian men and fathers. He published many books and preached numerous sermons relating to men and religion.

Keep on keeping up...

It isn’t easy going from good to great. One of the best parts of working is seeing if you can make something better. Some businesses are generally open about how they do things – like Disney, which is proud to showcase their customer and employee service programs and systems. It’s one thing to go observe, but many won’t take the time and money and focus to implement and continually improve systems they have or see in others. Toyota viewed Ford’s prowess (at its Rouge manufacturing plant) at the time and did what it took to make it better. And better yet, they became nimble enough to keep making on-going changes and improvements as experience, technology, and competition marched on. It isn’t easy to adopt a process of incremental but constant improvements designed to cut costs while boosting overall quality … let alone manage it. But that’s the business world and everyone, no matter what your role, must seek to do some of this within the sphere of their influence. And because it’s sometimes harder to do this from the top – a better scenario may be that managers do this in their individual departments. If that sounds like something that might interest you - search ’Kaizen’ or ‘continuous improvement’ with Google or AI, learn more about it, and see if you can improve something. And then lobby senior management to support your efforts. Don’t overlook organic opportunities for continuous improvement today.

 

Eiji Toyoda (1913-2013): President of Toyota Motor Corporation toasting Philip Caldwell, the head of Ford Motors who in 1982 was visiting Japan.[1]

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[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiji_Toyoda