A Story On Excellence..

Here is a story that I wanted to share as it had a grain of truth.. ( Courtesy: Forwards)

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A gentleman was once visiting a temple under construction. In the temple premises, he saw a sculptor making an idol of God. Suddenly he saw, just a few meters away, another identical idol was lying.

Surprised he asked the sculptor, “Do you need two statutes of the same idol”. “No” said the sculptor. “We need only one, but the first one got damaged at the last stage”.

The gentleman examined the sculptor. No apparent damage was visible. “Where is the damage” asked the gentleman.

“There is a scratch on the nose of the idol.”

“Where are you going to keep the idol”.

The sculptor replied that it will be installed on a pillar 20 feet high. “When the idol will be 20 feet away from the eyes of the beholder, who is going to know that there is scratch on the nose?” The gentleman asked.

“The sculptor looked at the gentleman, smiled and said “God knows it and I know it”.

The desire to excel should be exclusive of the fact whether someone appreciates it or not. Excellence is a drive from ”Inside” not ”Outside”.

Tata Business Excellence Model

Tata Business Excellence Model, or TBEM as its known in the short form, is a wonderful framework to enhance the quest for excellence in the Tata Group. I was fortunate enough to attend a three day session on this excellence model to observe the intricacies of this model. It was quite a learning experience and it made me realize the need for the alignment of goals, guidance of the vision. mission and objectives, and effective communication to create the focus on the results for the on going survival of the organization. After all, what is business if it works only for profit without delighting its stakeholders in the process?