The Desire to Be Great

Building a successful organization—whether in sales, an athletics department, or sports—starts with building the right culture. Discover how to shape your organization’s culture in a free seminar from Michael Lombardi on July 10th at 4:30 p.m. EST/1:30 p.m. PST. Spaces are limited to the first 400 registrants, see details below. 

Many tell a tale about the Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh and his success prior to his death. There are fraudulent claims that Van Gogh never sold anything — he wallowed in obscurity for all of his life, and all of his masterpieces became successful once he died. 

To a degree, there is some truth to this tale. The Red Vineyard, painted in 1888, is confirmed to be the only painting Van Gogh sold while alive. It was sold for 400 francs (around £16 at the time) at an exhibition in Brussels in March 1890, just four months before his death by suicide. 

The tale does hold strong truths that Van Gogh struggled to gain recognition and sell his work during his brief lifetime, and he was impoverished for much of his career. Even though he didn’t have success, he continued his work.

Another famous tale involves Pablo Picasso the famous Spanish painter. Legend has it, Picasso living in Paris, was in his studio showing a gallery of his recent works with the owner overlooking each painting. The owner of the gallery was giddy and feeling so fortunate to have these fabulous works available in his art gallery. He loved Picasso and wanted to make the event the best of Pablo’s career. 

Picasso wasn’t so sure. 

He didn’t love the works, as they weren’t to his standards. He didn’t care what the owner thought, he knew what he thought. Then Picasso reached for his knife and started slashing the canvas. Before Picasso was done with his slashing, there were no paintings left to sell. 

One tale informs us success can happen later in life — keep working and doing our best work. The other; we have a standard to reach, and unless we are satisfied, nothing else matters. Never produce inferior work. Even though both display different meanings, they produce the same effect. We are the only judge that matters. Had Van Gogh only cared about what he thought, perhaps his life wouldn’t have ended in suicide.

No one should or can influence our work — good or bad. We should never measure ourselves by others. We should never allow someone else’s opinion to dictate the quality of our work. For us, there are no critics, nether singing praise or screaming unacceptable.

As professionals in the workplace, we don’t work for approval of others, we work for the approval of ourselves through how we prepare, how we create our work.

We are neither “old school” or new school, we are our own school; therefore, how we get to our standard doesn’t matter. We might use a computer, we might not. It must be our way, no other way. Until we reach the level of acceptance from within, nothing else matters. 

When singer composer Bruce Springsteen was young, he wrote down on a card:

He didn’t want to be rich

He didn’t want to be famous

He didn’t want to be happy,

He ONLY wanted to be GREAT.

Picasso only wanted to be great, so did Van Gogh. So should we. 

Discover How to Re-Shape Your Company’s Culture

Looking to re-shape your company’s or team’s culture? Learn how championship teams establish higher standards, more accountability, and a winning mindset from former 3x Super-Bowl winning NFL Executive, Michael Lombardi. 

Don’t miss your chance to attend Michael Lombardi’s live seminar, “Learning to Lead: How Championship Teams Build Culture,” on July 10th at 4:30 p.m. EST/1:30 p.m. PST. 

There are only less than 300 spots left– reserve your free spot now. 

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