"Find your greatness"
This quote (from the NIKE campaign), introduced by a friend in the later part of 2022, seems to define most of the year for me. As I await the new dimension of 2023, I write this annual year-end blog with more reflection than resolution –– because I move forward with a large mission rather than defined goals in mind.
So, did I find my greatness this year? or did QC?
Well… we inched towards it and also asked existential questions until it became clear that GREATNESS can be achieved via action, not rumination.
ACT to be GREAT thus became a cornerstone of 2022. There were several lessons of greatness I learnt this year.
On the QC side, we acted to exceed expectations across all our consulting work. We exceeded in most, succeeded in the others and missed one(not telling you which one!).
As the world found its feet after a raging pandemic, I saw my work expanding. This year we did several interesting and impactful projects around the assessment of talent. The pandemic and the rationing of budgets have driven some general common sense on who should be assessed and for what purpose. I saw clients moving away from what I call “Janta work” to offering specific pools of people interventions. The lesson – everyone needs to find their own GREATNESS in their own time and context. You cannot prescribe it.
I did less but high-value work and I met very interesting clients who challenged me intellectually (a major feat these days, if you ask me). I loved working with my partners and bidding for work jointly. Each of my partners is a different personality but they have a common shared passion for “good work” and each presented a different challenge to me – some of scale, some of quality, some of the innovation – from each I learnt a common lesson– that the limitations of my business model are only in my mind. This year I witnessed an elasticity in my business that I never imagined it had. The lesson - GREATNESS is not a format or a tried tested model, greatness lies in change.
While I read a lot this year (like every other year), I found lesser books that left a mark on me and that gained a permanent place on my bookshelf. “The confessions of a bookseller” by Shaun Bythell and “Em and the big Hoon” by Jerry Pinto were my surprise “loves” this year. When I bought these books, I was not expecting them to be GREAT – like in so many other areas of life – never judge a book by its cover! The lesson - GREATNESS is never in the face, you find it in the most unusual, unsuspecting places.
My daughter, now 11.5 (.5 is the most important) surprises me with her ability to define and test her limits. She surprises me with her resilience and persistence, each time I feel we are at wits end with our sudden increase in school subjects. She (and I) survived her first-ever “exams”. The study grind bought us closer – we fought more and cuddled more. Overall I rated her exam system a 9/10 ( surprising myself). The system helped her (and me) understand that GREATNESS is about persistence, discipline and optimism.
My greatness in Tennis is a different matter altogether. my friends just got to know I lose games every day. My confidence and daily excitement to get to court somehow makes people feel that I am a superstar player. I plan to keep their illusions intact. My knees and back remain ready for 2023 tennis, despite the addition of candles on my cake. There is GREATNESS in loosing , in remaining consistently average and in enjoying the ride . It is not always about winning and being in the forefront.
So… did I find my greatness? or did QC?
We both did… because we showed up, we acted, we exceeded and succeeded and the best part – we were our own audience.
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