"Without an objective, the objective will not be reached.
Without a goal, the goal will not be achieved.
Without a standard, the standard will not be met.
Without a mission, the mission cannot be accomplished.
Without an ideal, the ideal will never be realized.
Without a clear path, The Path cannot be followed.
Yet, we, as human beings, often go through life without any of these.
And so, we wander.
We wander aimlessly, moving without making progress.
Days, months, and years pass us by.
Time is wasted, which means life is wasted.
And potential is wasted. Our own potential, squandered.
Meandering through life, instead of becoming who we could be — instead of attaining our highest possible manifestation of being, we simply become… whatever we become.
We fall short. In so many ways, we fall short.
But this need not be our fate. We can prevail over mediocracy. We do that by chasing the ideal.
Our ideal.
An ideal that we must define.
An ideal that we must codify in no uncertain terms so we know what we are striving for." -Jocko Willink
What’s the bar for an A-team?
How do you evaluate people within an A-team?
Regardless of industry, you need to take a look at the USMC Fitness Report (1610) as a starting point.
Yes, it is from the United States Marine Corps.
It's such an epic document, it embodies the idea of having high standards.
When you go through it, you’ll know what to do to become a good Marine, or how to step it up and become a better Marine.
It’s a brilliant guide for grading yourself and others.
Consider rating scale for “Performance”:
Meets requirements of billet and additional duties. Aptitude, commitment, and competence meet expectations. Results maintain status quo.
Sounds solid, right?
That’s just the lowest pass grade ‘B’.
It’s just you doing your job.
The middle grade 'D'reads:
Consistently produces quality results while measurably improving unit performance. Habitually makes effective use of time and resources; improves billet procedures and products. Positive impact extends beyond billet expectations.
Think about it.
To get the middle grade, you need to "measurably improve unit performance and go beyond billet expectations."
You have to do it not just once or twice but “consistently".
Well, having said that, are you a “B” or a “D”?
Here’s the top grade:
“Results far surpass expectations. Recognizes and exploits new resources; creates opportunities. Emulated; sought after as an expert with influence beyond unit. Impact significant; innovative approaches to problems produce significant gains in quality and efficiency.
That’s an incredibly high bar.
With 2020 so intense, so filled with emotions and WFH loneliness, just stop, take a rest and assess where you are at.
People are not where they want to be in life because they don’t know where they want to be.
Set standards.
Aspire to achieve them.
Strive for excellence.
How far short of the bar are you falling in the described areas?
Are you explicit about the standards you expect from yourself and others?
Who do you want to become?
Who do you want your employees to become?
What are the standards for their grading?
Do they understand the standards?
At the end of the document, section K summarizes a comparative assessment, considering “all Marines of this grade whose professional ability are known to you personally.”
Jocko Willink calls it the ‘Christmas Tree’.
It kind of looks like a Christmas tree, I must admit.
The whole tree is made up of little "Eagle, Globe & Anchors,” which is the official symbol of the Marine Corps.
At the bottom of this picture, there’s nothing, just empty space.
The label on the left says “Unsatisfactory."
Clearly, there should be no “Unsatisfactory" Marines in your unit.
When you go up one level, you’ll see one single “Eagle, Globe & Anchor” representing one Marine.
It looks like the trunk of this Christmas tree and it's labeled “A Qualified Marine.”
So now you’ve got one guy, that is simply just “A qualified Marine."
He's qualified, but there shouldn’t be that many of them.
When you go to the next level - it’s a big wide area - it’s the middle third of the Christmas tree and that area is labeled “One Of The Many Highly Qualified Professionals Who Form The Majority Of This Grade.”
So, the biggest chunk of your people is sort of in the middle third of this Christmas tree.
And that’s OK.
Above that third on this Christmas tree, there's a narrow section that represents a much smaller number of Marines than the middle group.
If you find yourself there, you're labeled as “One Of The Few Exceptionally Qualified Marines.”
And, finally, you get to the top of the Christmas tree where there's a single Eagle, Globe & Anchor representing the very best of this group.
It’s up there alone, at the pinnacle of performance and there’s a label for this singular Marine at the top of his group.
The label says “The Eminently Qualified Marine.”
And that, ladies and gentleman, is the ultimate praise.
THE EMINENTLY QUALIFIED MARINE.
That is an unachievable human.
You’ll never be that good.
You can’t hold all those categories.
But, let me tell you something.
It’s a path with no end to it.
You’ll never reach the top of the mountain.
And guess what.
There’s no reason to stop.
There’s no reason to not aspire to become the most eminently qualified human being that you can become.
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