I was reading a story about some airline employees failing to take care of a passenger with MD, and one comment mentioned how a Japanese airline employee hand delivered a jacket a passenger had left behind on the opposite side of the country. Without making any particular comments on the US airline industry’s current level of service or on the impact of cultural differences on job dedication, I started thinking about what it would mean if we all committed to excelling at our jobs.
Regardless of the job: J2EE Architect, startup founder, plumbing, vacuum cleaner sales, whatever it is. Spend every moment on the job, doing the absolute best job you can. Doing your duty and as much more as is possible. Not complaining, not shirking, not stopping at the bare minimums. Doing your job in a way where you would be proud of every moment, every line of code, every happy customer. Helping out your coworkers and clients beyond the scope of your defined job.
What would happen if 10% of people did that? If your mechanic, your doctor, your pet sitter all did the best, most complete, most detail oriented job possible. And went further than that. If your mechanic fixed a couple things for free while he was in there. If your doctor gave you a two minute answer on the phone for free. If your developer wrote well documented, efficient, and clean code.
What if it was only 1%? What if those 1% could find each other and do business with each other.
It’s probably not feasible to be 150% on the job all the time, but try to make it a goal. Put up a reminder to yourself on your desktop.
Who’s in?
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