Most folks use the word championship in the context of competition....the rigors of competing in an event, against other individuals or teams. Another way of thinking about the same word is, the intentional pursuit of a cause or purpose with excellence and excellence creates champion-ship. In my 40 year experience, I have distilled excellence down to three essential qualities.

1. Don't allow situations or circumstances to compromise your ethics. Unfortunately situational ethics is too frequently the standard. While never stated, winning the day at any cost can be a constant damocles to compromise. Let your yes be yes and your no be no, but do it with kindness and wisdom.


2. The plan is never more important than people, but inspired people make the plan work better. My champion-ship is to intentionally find ways to inspire those I work with, work for and work for me. When thinking of ways to inspire, I divide it into three categories. Kinetic, Emotive and Cognitive or, What can I do for them? How can I make them feel better and What can I challenge them to think about? We all are inspired by these categories. Find the right one for the person and watch champion-ship come alive.


3. An excellent attitude breeds champion-ship. I am constantly measuring my attitude for excellence. For my attitude to be excellent, I need to have perseverance as a core value. When we allow our attitude to be adjusted negatively by unmet expectations, an attitude of perseverance will center us again.

Lets determine to foster champion-ship in our co-workers, contributors, stakeholders and friends.