Last week, I spent a couple of days with eighty leaders from across my state working on defining our collective vision for the future of the state. As a part of this process, we were asked to break into groups to define what makes something “great.”
This may seem like a fairly easy task. But, before you jump to any conclusions, try it for yourself. Write down how you define what makes something great–not good, not really good, but great. Think about places you’ve been or experiences you’ve had that you remember as great. What was it about them that made it stand out?
It’s a much harder task than it should be. All of us are, or should be, in the greatness business. Hopefully, we aspire to be great, to offer a great product or service, to leave great impressions with people. I think many of us probably think we are working toward ‘great,’ but how can that be if we haven’t defined what it means?
The definition put forward by one of the groups really stuck with me. It was that greatness is transformative. Once you experience something great, the way you view the world had changed forever. Once you have seen greatness, you view everything else through that lens in the future.
That seems like a powerful standard to hold ourselves to as we create. Being good is overrated, everyone is doing it. Be great.