In the race of excellence, there is no finish line…

I got an opportunity to speak at a large conference in the States in September 2018. The organizer of the event and I had several discussion regarding the topic, and we agreed that I would deliver a keynote and duration would be 30 minutes. This was in January 2018. Considering the lead time to submit my final synopsis and draft presentation, I started preparing by researching the audience based on the past conference attendees feedback, and registered participants work profile. This usually will give any speaker a great idea of who your audience and based on the topic; what would they expect. My keynote topic was “Lead an Innovative Service Culture – A way to Build a Competitive Service Differentiator. 

My first draft was sent to the organizer on 10 March 2019. Within 48hrs, I received a response which read as: “Hello Afeef, topic looks great, lovely ideas. However, I have a question? Is this the best you can offer to the conference attendees? Is this your best work? If you believe you can improve on this (presentation topic, style of visuals used, content key points), I suggest you prepare a second draft and send it to me. Regard, Steve”. 

I was stunned to receive this note. I have had the opportunity to speak on nearly 30 audiences (Local and International) before this event and first time an event organizer shares such feedback and most importantly challenged me. It took a moment to understand his point, and I responded, stating that, I will review and get back with an updated deck of slides. I knew I could do better. I believed I could add more value to the participants. I revised all the slides, keeping the core message of my presentation and new visuals, focusing more on linking with the topic and sent to the organizer on 20 March. Response from the organizers came to my inbox on 25 March. It read as: “Hello Afeef, this looks much better. Do you believe this is your best work? I believe you can do better than this? If you believe this is your best work, I am happy to keep as it is. If no, please review and send me a revised slide deck and synopsis by the end of day 30 March.”  

Receiving this response; I smiled, had a little pep talk to myself. Quite a question right; “Is this your best work”? I gave it a couple of days and spoke to one of my mentors in the lane of speaking/coaching, send a revised presentation on 24 March evening. My email cover stated as “ Hello Steve, Thank you for your feedback. I have revised the content, visuals, and my message is now toned to fit your audience. I believe this is the best I can do for now”. :)

On 26 March, evening, I received a response as; Hello Afeef, Great work. If you believe this is your best work, I am good for now. All the best. See you in Chicago this September.

Rest is history, and I spoke twice in the same conference now. I was scheduled to deliver a speech at the same conference this September. Likely this year’s event will be a virtual one as travelling to States is not ideal at this moment. When I finished my 2019 keynote, I remember Steve came to me and said: “In the race of excellence there is no finish line…”.

The key learning is, for humans to reach their full potential and perform at a level of excellence, we must always have colleagues, leaders, coaches and mentors to challenge us. What we do and how we react following those challenging conversation is what helps us to grow. 

Here are six tips you can follow to reach the line of excellence…

- Have coaches and mentors that you can reach out and ask for guidance and support.

- Let people challenge you and ask a question that no one ever asks before. The magic lies in those questions. You never know what you will do as a response to those questions. 

- Be a naturally light-hearted person. This means you are always open for ways to improve. 

- See feedback as a hope, encouragement rather than a critic. The way we frame feedback always let us do better than our current state.

- Once you have completed a task, whether it is delivering a project on time, achieving a goal, take a moment to reflect and ask a question; What can you do better next time, if you were to take on a similar project? 

- Build an inner circle around you that wants make you do better and perform at a world-class level. 

Note: The above conference is referred to as “The Chicago Service Council Conference”. I am happy to serve this team and appreciate my friend, mentor and Ron Kaufman for introducing me to the Service Council Team of Chicago. 

News link to the event coverage: https://www.traveltrademaldives.com/luxresorts-afeef-hussain-speaks-at-the-chicago-service-symposium/