Looking for Olympic excellence? You may not have to look far

By Brian Alm
Editor
Rental Management

Editors - all editors, not just sports editors - are inspired to write about the Olympics when they come along because they raise us all, however briefly, to some higher vision of human effort and excellence. The pageantry and the grandeur of a world met in peaceful confrontation compel public passion and inspire the scribes among us to capture the moment in words. Sports editors will ponder the thousandths. Editorial page editors will celebrate the symbolism of a moment in which Russian men presented flowers to American women, their counterparts as gold medalists in gymnastics - "The Cold War is over," said an NBC commentator; it was a recognition of something fine, and worth saying, no matter how trite. The Olympic Games again have given us a peaceful paradigm of what the world could be like if it were ruled by the angels of our better nature, such as mutual respect, fairness and decency.

There is power in the Olympics, power to inspire and challenge and raise our horizons. The Olympics crystalize an image of something fine and human - and achievable, no matter how difficult - and that is a good thing for a world with a Bosnia and a Burundi to account for.

But these are thoughts of Greek proportions, grand and lofty. What we're supposed to be dealing with here is how to be successful in the rental business. What does all this inspiration have to do with that?

Ultimately, what the Olympic Games cause us to do is reflect on our own lives and translate their lessons to other forms of excellence. Business is one of those forms, and rental people - who put their skills, experience and raw courage on the line day after day - have every right to think of themselves in such terms.

In Rental Management you read, every month, about the Olympians of rental. They're not all the biggest. In fact, few are the biggest. Rental Management believes excellence is found in large and small alike, so we talk to everybody and believe everybody is eligible for the gold.

All of you who put in the long, hard hours and take the risks and strive to do better tomorrow than you did today will medal. Your laurels are satisfied customers who will come back, people who will tell others about how you helped.

At the Olympics, we see athletes from nations across the globe doing something very hard very well, and we call it "world class." Tomorrow, at work, you too will do something very hard very well. The better you are at it, the easier it looks, and maybe you don't think of what you do so well as "world class." But make no mistake: it is.

Beyond the noise and hoopla of world-class achievement, there is a silent, underlying truth: that decency, honesty and determination, no matter how extreme the demands of the effort, produce honor and reward. In August we had the opportunity once again to see that truth enshrined in sport on the grandest scale the world has to offer, but in September we can see it too: in the daily excellence of work done well. We just have to stop sometimes and recognize what we're seeing.

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