Excellence

Jay Z defines excellence as one, two or three decades of high-quality output.  While I am not known to quote rappers, there is something to that.  Now in my 5th (hard to believe) decade of construction, I have seen a lot.   And excellence is an inside job.  Some people, many at the Douglas Company, live this philosophy without even knowing it.  They have an innate commitment and are dedicated to doing their best each and every day.  There is a price to pay for this.  Other aspects of your life may suffer.  You will certainly lose sleep and probably some hair.  But there is an inner peace from doing this.  You know that you have done your best at the end of each day, and better than most.  And you get the appreciation from clients and teammates who are counting on you to “contribute to their success”.

I have learned much from our superintendents on this.  The first I worked for espoused the “doing your best each day” comment above.  And another said he “does what he doesn’t want to do today, so he won’t have to do it tomorrow.”

It would be easy to kick back and take it easy, but for those with the excellence affliction, it is not an option.

And that’s a fact and I’ll be back with my act in July (get it?  Rap!)

Peter Douglas, P.E.
President
The Douglas Company

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