# Chapter 227

Don’t make your people guess how excellence looks. - Masterminds

Live it. Model it. Show it. Applaud it. Cheerlead it. Be enthusiastic about it. Talk about it. Live it. Model it. This is one of the foundational bricks in my life and you definitely want it to be one of yours. We get so widget-making focused and production oriented that we begin counting numbers all the time, and excellence is usually the first causality of that approach. Production is necessary, we all get that, but what you are producing is even more important. The “what” being the quality and character and nature of whatever it is that you are making. Like this keyboard that I am typing this chapter on, just has functioned so amazingly for years and years, and it doesn’t go with this iPad any longer, but it shows no signs of quitting and little signs of wear even though I have dragged it through 12 countries and endless trips around the world and while I have worn out the travel bags I carry it in, the build quality of the keyboard is astonishing. Its durability is unbelievable. But none of that kind of excellence would matter if it were a lousy keyboard.

But its the best keyboard ever! So its build quality just is the perfect match to its style and usability. So whatever we make or produce or accomplish, we need to have a level of excellence that is unmistakable and clearly visible, so that you people can see what you are made of and what you make is made of. Set the bar. Reach the bar. Succeed.