"Joe," I said, "we have a lot of scrap."

"I know," he replied.

"Why don't you stop the press and inform your supervisor?"

"Because I'd get fired," Joe answered.

"Well," I replied, only half in jest, "if you don't stop it, I'll fire you."

The press operator knew, absolutely, what the company's problem was, but wasn't allowed to do anything about it — i.e., stop the press and call the engineer to let him know that parts weren't meeting specifications.

This anecdote illustrates several important points. In addition to the obvious point about the importance of empowering your employees, it highlights two other important messages: First, most company owners — and their employees — know instinctively what problems the company faces. By adopting a philosophy of continuous improvement, these problems can be addressed one by one until the company, ultimately, achieves success. Second, as the anecdote regarding the press operator illustrates, fixing the problem had nothing to do with beating the competition, "winning," benchmarking or other popular approaches of that sort. It had to do with what I like to call "inner competition" — identifying a goal (in this case, eliminating scrap) and then working to achieve it.

This dual philosophy is one I have lived by since I was a young boy, and it has served me very well in the business world.

As a high school student in Greece, I was active in sports, primarily track and throwing the discus. When running the 440-meter relay, I didn't concern myself with trying to run faster than the other runners — rather, I tried each time to improve upon my own individual best time. I first tried to run it in 60 seconds — and then 55 seconds. And, when throwing the discus, I would place a marker where I wanted it to land and work toward that goal.

Of course, I must admit that if someone else threw it further than my marker, that point would become my next goal — but my emphasis was never on surpassing the other person. The emphasis was always on improving my own performance.

I think this attitude is ultimately healthier, more productive and more rewarding than the "win at all costs" philosophy that permeates so much of today's society. And while I may have never made an Olympic team, I enjoyed myself and felt fulfilled whenever I achieved my personal goals — which were the most important.

One of the problems with setting a goal that's based on someone else's performance is that it may be limiting. When benchmarking, for example, you may aspire to have your company reach the same level of performance as Competitor A when, in fact, you might be able to do much better. You are, in effect, placing limits on your potential when your goal is externally focused.

Having an externally focused goal can also result in disappointment. Let's say, for example, that someone aspires to be the next Bill Gates, of Microsoft fame, or Tom Monahan, founder of Domino's Pizza. While the goal might be considered admirable, it's extremely unrealistic. Both Gates' and Monahan's success — like that of other rare business "superstars" — came about as the result of an unusual mixture of ability, timing, luck and other variables that are unlikely to be repeated again in our lifetimes. Far better to choose a role model whose level of success is much more attainable — or to simply strive to do better and better each day, incrementally, as part of a quest to be the best you can be.

Such was the theme of my first book, "Better Makes Us Best." Its message is deceptively simple: If each member of the company tries to do his or her job better every day, we've become better individually, better as a company and better than the competition.

By first establishing clear goals and then focusing on incremental progress toward them, people not only feel more satisfied, productive and successful, but also their work measurably improves. And that makes the critical difference — in everything from professional development to bottom-line results.

Take the ancient Greek orator, Demonsthenes, for example. He was a stutterer, and the way he overcame this obstacle was to go to the sea coast alone, for years, where he practiced speaking to the waves until he overcame his impediment. But it took time. He improved gradually. That was the key.

Trying to do the absolute "best" tomorrow is easy to imagine, but it's far too difficult a goal to achieve. On the other hand, trying your best to be better today, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, and so on, is an achievable goal and will help you — and your company — become the best.

Only in the last 20-25 years have international markets become important to domestic manufacturers. During this time, the world has become one market driven by global competition. Global competition absolutely requires that our companies and their employees — from the CEO to the person who sweeps up — become aware of the need for the continuous improvement of every job and every process.

As Martin Luther King, Jr., once said, "If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michaelangeo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all ... will pause to say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper, who did his job well.'"

Or, as St. Francis De Sales, put it, "Do not wish to be anything but what you are and try to be that perfectly."

While trying to attain perfection is an unrealistic goal, De Sales' comment underscored the importance of continuous improvement, in the spirit of inner competition ... of becoming the best you can be without paying undue attention to what others are doing.

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