Do it until you do it right. Then do it until you can’t do it wrong.”
——Monica Almada, Navarro College Coach
Unknown by most of the world, are the annual National Cheer and Dance Championships in Daytona, Florida, where a small Texas community college, Navarro, has racked up 14 Association Championships and five Grand National Titles in the past few years, all since Monica Almada started coaching there. And, we’re not talking about shaking pompoms here.
There are ten muscle-bound young men and ten equally fit young women who literally fly through the air to form one unbelievably complex tower of bodies after another. All this is possible because of the focus and power of a coach, who is mama bear to this team of cast off kids—kids whose back stories are as complicated and difficult as the routines they bring to the stage.
They come from the streets, from violent homes, from drug dens and poverty to try to get on this team. One of at the star athletes admitted, “If I wasn’t here, I’d be in prison.” The thing that makes them great is the atmosphere of love and the requirement of excellence in attitude and execution that drives them to be champions.
Nonprofits have to live up to that same high standard too. We have to do our jobs right, then do them again and again, working with people of all kinds, often from difficult backgrounds, we show our love through our work and require excellence in attitude and execution from our staffs. The kids at Navarro College know what successful individuals and businesses everywhere know, that right attitude and proper execution are the very keys to success.
Whether you’re building a winning organization, or struggling to succeed at a second chance in life, every one of us has to face the same challenge: To do what you are supposed to do until you do it right, and then do it again and again until you can’t do it wrong. There is no substitute for excellence.
Jim
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