Run Every Play to Perfection

I follow Simon Sinek on most platforms. I’ve spoken and written about him before and Seema, Marty, and I had the privilege of hearing Simon speak years ago at a summit in Toronto. His insight is outstanding and his business acumen and simplified thinking are total game changers.

I came across a video Simon posted recently on LinkedIn. It’s a clip from his podcast “A Bit of Optimism” (Best podcast name, by the way, and so totally Simon.) In it, he’s interviewing John Burke, CEO of Trek Bicycle Corporation. John mentions how, when he took over Trek, sales were about $250-300 million, but now they’re over $2 billion annually in revenue.

John went on to mention how he interviewed Nick Saban, head football coach for Alabama, about his process. Nick’s advice was that his goal was never to win a game, but rather it was to “run every play to perfection.” John then commented that, “If we can do that, then we will earn business.”

This simple truth has astonished, inspired, uplifted, and rejuvenated me. It put into words a core concept that we coach at AYM High: lead with excellence. We are constantly encouraging our clients to raise their prices, but cautioning that with the very important caveat and fact that those prices must be backed up by excellence. You can’t stay mediocre and expect excellent rates, but the two aspects—service and rates—must be in sync.

When we work with each and every one of our clients, we do our best to provide—and exceed—the value they require to earn their business. We’re vested in their success; the more our clients succeed, the more we grow.

Please watch Simon’s entire podcast episode with John’s interview here.

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Fahim Mojawalla is the Motivation and Mission Lead at AYM High Consultants. He loves what he does and would love to show you how to make 21st century sales and marketing easy, simply by being authentic, appreciative, respectful, responsive, empathetic, collaborative, and all-around awesome. Along with his wife Seema, he is an effervescent co-owner of Island Ship Center, the Spa of Shipping. #FahimFix