These past few months, I have been reading the work of Joe Calloway. Joe is a performance coach and advisor who helps great companies get even better. He is indeed, and in deed. I am impressed with what Joe is doing and how he does it. Most notably, for me, I have found incredible value in his latest book, Be the Best at What Matters Most. I strongly recommend the read. A core piece around which Joe challenges the readers is the choosing of what actually matters most. The challenge, for me, was the articulation of specifics.

Approach to quality.

Am I most concerned with and juiced by the beauty of continuous improvement? Is excellence my primary driver? Where does consistency of effort and result place in my priorities? Is excellence, for me, defined by comparison with competition or a journey of constant perfecting? What matters most to me in terms of the question of quality?

Approach to contribution.

What drives me most about contribution? Is it the ability to serve? Is it all about making a difference? Is my core motivation focused on building legacy? Who do I most want to serve? Who do I best serve? How do I best serve them? How important is that? What is the contribution that matters most to me? What kind of legacy drives me? How do I most desire to make a difference? What are my priorities in terms of contribution?

Approach to joy.

What is most important to me in terms of making this work enjoyable? Is it all about creating? Innovating? Developing? Is fun a core piece for my work? What about fulfillment? How does that play a role? Where does excitement and adventure fall in terms of my priorities? What is most important to me with respect to enjoying the work?

Approach to the numbers.

That being considered, what is most important regarding the size of success? Is growth my core driver? Is it being #1? Is it ultimately about profit? Or sales? Is the number of clients core to success for me? Is the size of the clients I have my core motivation? How about the loyalty of clients? How important is that for me? What are the most important numbers for me?

Joe’s work challenges me to consider powerful questions and many more of my own. He will constructively challenge you. It is about getting abundantly clear on what matters most to you in the work. For me, I found myself including 12 factors… prioritized as vital, desired, and resultant. I found myself identifying 4 vital factors, 4 desired factors and 4 factors that are important but are results of the first 4×4. I like where it took me on clarity.

There is so much more to the book and I strongly suggest you have a read. There is so much more to Joe’s work, and I suggest you check it out. It is in line with my own belief and work in building united, diverse and high performance organizations. Check Joe out at www.joecalloway.com. You will be glad you did.

Peace, passion and prosperity.

Barry Lewis Green, The Unity Guy™