November 2022 - Excellence

It's not soap. It's an aromatic cleansing bar!

Walking up to the Taj Hotel at St James last Sunday for my whirlwind trip in London, 10 meters from the entrance a doorman rushes over. "Please let me take that for you, sir". I follow him into the hotel and he gives me a ticket, "Please show this to reception and they'll have your bags sent up to your room". At the reception, a very petite lady with a large warm smile greets me and asks for my name. "You're staying with us again!" she almost joyously exclaims. "If it's okay with you sir, we're going to upgrade your room, free of charge". She isn't shy about showing her excitement. I'm directed to the lift and make my way through the wide corridors that are decorated with what must have been some serious design contemplation. Beautiful works of art, ceramic pieces and other artisan features decorate the passageways. Opposite each lift, a very large (almost too comfy) sofa lives waiting to deliver momentary respite for the next human that comes along. After what feels like less than a minute in my room, my luggage arrives and is expertly lifted into its proper place by yet another very smiley human eager to ask if the room met my requirements. 

There's a reason I come back to this hotel and it's the theme for this month's issue, Excellence! The finer details that take a little more time have a big impact. For me, excellence is evident in many businesses, particularly those that also tend to be the quietest because their focus is the thing they're excellent at. The more passionate and engaged you are in the thing you love, the more you expect beyond perfection and you want others to love it too! As many macro factors and fears are affecting us day to day we've started to notice a pronouncement in the Value/Service/Price divide. Businesses that focus on value and service are really leaning into this when choosing a supplier, partner or product and the same goes for the people that focus solely on price.

If value and service are your priorities then aim for excellence and find partners that are as passionate about this as you.

It's been our busiest onboarding month of the year so a huge welcome to all our new clients. A big thank you to our amazing partners for the incredible opportunities this month. And to our teams, thank you for always aiming beyond expectations.

Enjoy your November,

Johnny

P.s - This monthly article is an extract from the Mantra Monthly. Featuring articles and interviews from the Mantra team and leaders from around the world. You can sign up by clicking here!