Always Try To Be The Best
Posted by Mitch Mitchell on Nov 1, 2013
I check out a lot of blogs and articles on leadership and I get to see a lot of them via recommendations on Twitter. Some people will try to disavow their sharing of links by saying that just because they shared it doesn't mean they don't endorse it; I think if one hasn't proven trustworthy enough to be able to say you endorse everything they put out then you shouldn't share the link; who's with me on this one?
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In any case I read a lot of amazing stuff, and I'm always glad to see that there are so many people who truly understand what leadership is all about. However, that means when I see something that I not only don't like but totally disagree with, well, I won't say I get depressed but it makes me start questioning people's motives for saying certain things, even when they try to explain themselves.
Thus was an article I read last night that was passed along via someone I'm connected to on Twitter. I'm not going to link to it because I don't want to give it much publicity; yeah, it bothered me that much. Its general premise was telling people not to try to be the best because they'll never be the best, and instead try to be unique.
This was a blog on leadership; are you kidding me? The premise behind it was that trying to be the best isn't possible because only one person can be the best, so it's better to be unique because you'll draw people to you and it'll help to make you a better leader.
I can't agree with such a premise and I said so on Twitter; I never heard back from either the person who shared the link or the person who wrote the article, but if anything good came out of it I hope it's this post.
Let me make my point here. No matter what anyone does in life, of course they should try to be the best. Without the best, no one ever wins anything on their own. Did someone tell Mary Lou Retton not to try to be the best? Michael Jordan? Muhammad Ali? Sure, we live in a time where there are a lot of athletes and entertainers who make a lot of money by being average, but they weren't always average. In their own realm all of them were top players, some of them the best on their team or in their league. Some musicians caught a lucky break and had that one big hit and lived the rest of their lives off that one song, no matter how much other music they put out.
However, every single one of them, entertainer or athlete, always tried to be the best, and if they couldn't attain that they tried to be the best they could be. Even Dennis Rodman, one of the most unique basketball players ever, was one of the best rebounders and defenders in the game because he wanted to be the best at it. Without someone like him, it's possible that Detroit, Chicago and Los Angeles have one or two fewer championships to their name.
Don't you want your employees to try their best? if you're in a bowling league, no matter how bad someone is, aren't you hoping their giving you their best? Sure, I've stated in this blog that sometimes you need those middle of the road workers because they're very steady. And yet, you want those people trying their best just to reach mediocre aren't you? We all want people who care working with us, and we want them to give it their all, even if it's not great.
That's what leadership is about. That's what pride is about. That's what winning is about. Be the best you can be; try the hardest you can. If you give your all and it's not enough, no matter; at least you "did it". Agree?
Mitch, thanks for a well thought out post. I believe I saw the post about which you are speaking.
My initial thought was identical to yours. I thought about some of the same points you make in your article. I might not be the best at something. However, I can do my best at learning how to become that something. Often, people have to overcome their fear of not being the best to be willing to learn and do something new.
When I signed up on Twitter, I wanted to share with the world my concern about baby boomers becoming entrepreneurs as a way of overcoming the challenges of retirement that face many of us baby boomers. I thought that Twitter might be the best way of sharing that message.The day I started, I was not the best champion for baby boomers nor the best expert on Twitter.
Today, I am still not the best expert on Twitter. However, with nearly 38,000 followers, I am now among the top 1 percent in the world. That still leaves over 100,000 people ahead of me, better than me, if you will. But, now I am better able to be a champion for baby boomers. It is less important to me that I am not the best in generating Twitter followers and not the best expert yet in the world on baby boomer entrepreneurship.
What is more important is that daily I am getting better at using Twitter to share a message that is helping people. After reading that article a second and third time, I concluded that fear of not being the best at something can get in the way of learning to be the best that we can be. That is ultimately why I decided I liked the article.
Again,I don’t disagree with you and the message you read. But as I thought about it, I saw an additional message that I found important. Warm regards, Shallie
Welcome to the blog Shallie, and that was a very well thought out and written comment by you, and I thank you for it.
I always want to be the best; heck, I want to be perfect. I recognize that one can never be perfect, though they might have a moment where they attain it based on the particular criteria that matters here and there. But working on being the best, even if one never attains it, should never go out of style.
My main problem with the article was its point about being unique. Goofy people are unique but if they’re not competent who’d hire them? Being unique might help you attract business if you’re in an industry where everyone is good but it can also be detrimental if you haven’t earned the right to be unique. That’s an interesting statement on its own but my example would be if you needed a lawyer to defend you against a murder charge and you knew you didn’t do it, would you hire a guy who’s going to show up in court in jeans and boots and tell jokes or are you going to hire the guy who looks like a supreme defense lawyer? You’ll hire the unique guy if you know who he is and what he’s accomplished but if he’s got no track record and is just unique…
True, some people can’t handle the fact that they’re not always the best. Truthfully, that’s where I think playing sports is important, especially at a young age, because that’s when you learn that sometimes being the best still means you won’t be a winner because you can’t do it all, while sometimes someone else might be better than you but you still have your place and might be better utilized elsewhere. But if people never try to be the best, they’ll never know.
Thanks Mitch. I think your title says it perfectly. We should always try to be the best.
Thanks for the welcome to your blog. Though we have communicated often on Twitter, being on the blog is a first. I’ll be back soon to comment on the very excellent things you share about leadership.
How do you define “the best?”. And, best according to whom? These are rhetorical questions; I just throw them out there for the sake of contemplating them. And it’s fine not to agree with their point, but not linking to the article you’re referring to makes it very difficult for people to fully support your premise,or argue the other person’s logic, since we can’t make an assessment on something we can’t examine. Just saying.
In the title I say “always try to be the best”. In essence, it’s asking you to try to be the best you can be. It’s not up to me to define what someone’s best is unless I’m going to work with them. Just asking, but are you saying that you wouldn’t ever try to give your best even if you could define it?
As to the other, you know you can find it by just looking up “unique instead of best” if you really cared to see it. And if people can’t support a premise which says to try to be your best… then people aren’t going to try to be their best and there’s nothing I can do about it.