Mary Lou, as you will recall, was the first American gymnast, man or woman, to win a gold medal representing the United States. It was the 1984 Olympic games and she culminated a series of outstanding performances with a perfect '10'.

If you witnessed that supreme effort you saw and felt the excitement, the suspense and the ultimate winning of the gold. It was something to see. That performance in itself was enough to earn Retton's place in history, but in my opinion, what followed was even more exciting, more pertinent and applicable to you and I. As you can imagine reporters from around the world besieged Mary Lou Retton. They all wanted to talk with and meet the young lady. In the process, one reporter asked her a question that seemed to penetrate everyone's thinking to a greater degree. That journalist asked Retton,

"Mary Lou, will you be able to do it again, win the gold, in the next Olympics?"

Talk about having a handle on what it takes to succeed, to achieve, to excel and even on getting ahead in business, our gold medallist responded,

"A GOLD MEDAL PERFORMANCE IN ONE OLYMPICS WILL ONLY BE ROUTINE IN THE NEXT."

Do you understand her reply?

Do we comprehend her important message?

What Mary Lou is saying, is that it is vital, necessary and important to recognize that to win and achieve we must constantly be 'raising-the-bar'! The fact is, if you're selling in the same way you were just thirty-six months ago, you're in trouble! If the company remunerates and manages the sales team as they did three years ago, the business is less competitive in the market place.

Raise the bar!

Demand and expect positive changes in performance and productivity following any and all training activities. Look for and expect an R.O.I. on any investment in training or personal development. Raise-the-bar! Not just to benefit the company: We raise-the-bar for our own security, our own competitiveness, and our own survival. That's a fact.

In any organization there are those who simply will not rise to the challenge. How you deal with these people and those issues are your choices, but 'raising the bar' in skills, performance, activities, and productivity is no longer an option. It is mandatory. It is possible to identify and isolate those who will not get better at what they do. Those people, well in advance of any declining abilities or productivity, communicate their refusal to 'get on board.' What you will hear from them are three defining verbalizations and one very obvious activity void. What they will be saying on a continuing basis will be:

1. "I wonder what this company would do if I ever left?"

   The answer in most cases is 'better'. Changing individuals from one territory to another in over eighty percent of the cases results in increased performance. Additionally this ludicrous statement also suggests the business is beginning to breed 'prima donnas' resistive to both change and training.

2. "We're different!"

   All new ideas are discarded with the rationalization that 'they're not from our industry so what value could they be?' The answer is 'a lot.'

3. "I do the best I can."

   That person is telling you they're not going to do any more. Hopefully the competitors won't either, because the 'I do the best I can people' are at the maximum level of their capabilities right now.

And finally, fourth, they stop bringing notepaper to meetings. They're at a comfort level and have no interest in the necessary, vital 'raising-the-bar'.

What'a ya going to do?