Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 27 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: The Encore Effect – Part 2
— From The Encore Effect: How to Achieve Remarkable Performance in Anything You Do by Mark Sanborn
Yesterday we learned about remarkable performances to achieve the encore effect. Today we are going to look at the five traits of remarkable performances.
In The Encore Effect, Mark Sanborn talks about the importance of establishing an encore brand, whether personal or organizational. He defines a brand as “a promise for the future based on past performance.”
As such, an encore brand is one that has performed remarkably in the past and, based on that, we can anticipate that it will, likely, continue to perform the same way. Here are the five traits that encore brands exhibit:
1. Commitment: “Commitment is the price you are willing to pay to get remarkable results. Performance, on the other hand, reveals the price you have paid already. When we deliver a remarkable performance, we are saying in effect, ‘There is no other place or person I would rather spend my commitment on than you.’ And when we deliver a poor performance, we convey the opposite message—that we’d rather spend our commitment elsewhere.”
We all have to set boundaries on our engagements and commitments on a daily basis. However, “the challenge,” says Sanborn, “is to commit ourselves to the things that matter to us the most.”
2. Professionalism: “Your problems and opportunities become those of the professionals, who do their best even when they don’t have time or feel at their best. […] When you realize you are in the hands of a professional, you can relax. You know that your concerns will be addressed and that the professional will take care of you. And that is the feeling of confidence that you want to inspire in others.”
3. Skills: “Making the difficult look easy is a sign of mastery in any profession. […] To do anything adequately requires basic skills. The encore performer has gone far beyond the rudimentary to hone his or her skills to a high level. Encore performers demonstrate that they know how to do what they do, that they’ve practiced and perfected what they do, and that they still have a commitment to becoming better.”
“Are you able to spot opportunities that others can’t? Remarkable performers don’t wait for problems and opportunities to come to them—they actively look for problems and opportunities.”
4. Values: “Values are those beliefs that a person holds most dear. Over time, that which we hold most dear becomes what we are known for. […] Every performer is known for something.”
5. Character: Sanborn defines integrity as, “the distance between your lips and your life.” And he says, “your performance is a visible sign of your integrity and character. […] Integrity, sincerity, honesty, and transparency are all character traits of remarkable performers [whose] commitment drives them to become the very best of who they are. Remarkable performers have consistent values.”
These are the five traits that, in Sanborn’s opinion, are shared by those who excel: remarkable performers. These are the people who attract our attention and gain our trust. The author points out that, “[we] recognize a remarkable performance when it occurs, but [we] also recognize what it means about the performer.”
Finally, Sanborn invites us to examine our win-loss record of performance in our career and personal life: “each one of us has complete control over what we do to keep our ‘fans’ coming back for more.”
And on that note, please come back tomorrow for more, as we will look at the role that passion plays in achieving the encore effect.
ACTION
TODAY: Remarkable performers, according to the author, “think about things that are not being done efficiently or profitably or well in your workplace or industry or community.” Can you come up with suggestions or solutions to a problem that you see?
FUTURE: The author suggests, “Think about how your own life values affect your life, your job, and your interactions with others. Are your values reflected in your actions? If not, what can you do differently?” Over time you will see that “your brand [becomes] a composite of the values you act on every day.”
Know someone who is an encore performer? Please share this post with them via email, Facebook or Twitter, thanks!