April 29, 2025 • 10 mins
Perfection looks good, but excellence gets results. This episode breaks down:
- A recent failure, the mindset behind it, and how to lead with ownership
- The hidden cost of cutting corners
- Why asking for help shows strength, not weakness
- What excellence actually looks like in action
Jill Griffin, host of The Career Refresh, delivers expert guidance on workplace challenges and career transitions. Jill leverages her experience working for the world's top brands like Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Hilton Hotels, and Martha Stewart to address leadership, burnout, team dynamics, and the 4Ps (perfectionism, people-pleasing, procrastination, and personalities).
Visit JillGriffinCoaching.com for more details on:
- Book a 1:1 Career Strategy and Executive Coaching HERE
- Build a Leadership Identity That Earns Trust and Delivers Results.
- Gallup CliftonStrengths Corporate Workshops to build a strengths-based culture
- Team Dynamics training to increase retention, communication, goal setting, and effective decision-making
- Keynote Speaking
- Grab a personal Resume Refresh with Jill Griffin HERE
Follow @JillGriffinOffical on Instagram for daily inspiration
Connect with and follow Jill on LinkedIn
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey there, I'm Jill Griffin, leadership strategist
and executive coach and host ofthe Career Refresh podcast.
Today I'm talking aboutexcellence.
Don't mistake it.
For perfection.
There's an expression we areexcellent, we are not perfect.
What I mean by excellence iswithin your own ability, within
(00:21):
your own gifts, your talents,your strengths.
What does excellent look likefor you?
It's not what it looks like forhim or her or them.
It's what it looks like for you.
But when we push forperfectionism, it has to be
perfect.
It's image driven, and thatoften leads us into some issues.
So I want to dig into it today.
(00:41):
All right, let's go.
There is a real differencebetween striving for excellence
and chasing perfectionism.
One builds trust, the otherbuilds up your ego.
(01:01):
I saw this play out recently ina situation that left a client
both stunned and exposed.
And, just to be clear, theyhave given me permission to talk
about this situation.
It's one of the reasons whythey hired me.
They were eager for a newopportunity.
There was partnership potentialhere, so there was new eyes on
their work and they wantedvisibility with senior
(01:23):
leadership.
But their desire for the quickwin overrode their discipline.
They assumed it would be easy.
They've done this before theycut corners.
They did the bare minimum.
They had other things going on.
They delivered data without anyinsight here, it's all right
here and they didn't bother toexplain what any of the data or
(01:45):
any of the information meant,why it mattered, why we should
care, what action should comenext.
And there was a real tone andsentiment that this was lazy.
And this lazy output wasdisguised as done.
I did it, I got it done.
They favored some pieces ofbusiness and accounts they were
(02:07):
working on and ignored others.
They refused help when it wasclear that they were so in over
their head.
And why did they refuse help?
Well, because they were afraidthat asking for help would make
them look weak and then they'dlose the opportunity or they'd
have to share it or co-share itor partner in some way.
But they already lost it anyway.
(02:28):
Within a week, leadership hadpulled the opportunity back from
them.
And the worst part which is whythey reached out to me when
they started to realize it isthat they refused to take
accountability.
They claimed that theiropportunity wasn't perfect, it
was flawed, there were issueswith it, or?
Well, the leadership knew this.
They knew that this was the wayit was going to be.
They then blamed the market andthat leadership didn't get it.
(02:51):
But what leadership got wasthat this person was now a
reputational risk to thisproject and, potentially, to the
company.
This wasn't about perfectionism.
Perfectionism is image-driven,right.
It's about controllingperceptions, not outcomes,
(03:11):
hiding weaknesses instead ofbuilding solution.
It's choosing to look smartinstead of being smart.
It's all image-driven.
They were playing in trying tomake it look perfect and
therefore there was a bit oflaziness in there because they
were worried about the imageversus the actual project.
Excellence is something elseentirely.
(03:33):
It is deliberate, I will tellyou.
It is a personal brand value ofmine.
It is grounded.
It knows the difference betweenwhere to hustle and when you
can glide.
It is built on clarity where tohustle and when you can glide.
It is built on clarity,consistency and delivery.
I've seen what excellence lookslike.
(03:53):
It's someone who steps into anopportunity with intention.
They map out the effort, theyask questions, they are curious,
they admit where there needs tobe backup and they deliver work
that represents the fullstrength of the power of the
team.
So whether that's they're thelead and they're tapping into
the organizational structure, orwhether they're partnering with
(04:14):
other people, it is not justabout their personal highlight
reel.
You know, a CEO that I workedwith told me once about a
project that they fought so hardto lead solo and she said that
she wanted the spotlight, thecredit, the win, and it
collapsed under her weight.
And then she said that what shelearned on that was that if
(04:37):
you're going to go out on yourown and not involve your
teammates or the resources, thenyou're on your own.
Meaning on your own.
On your own, and that stayedwith me Meaning.
If you're going to trudgeforward and be like carrying the
flag, and I'm going to do itand I'm not going to bring
anybody in because I need tolook great and I need to be
(04:58):
perfect and I need to be the onewho gets acknowledged and the
spotlight and all the praise,then great, go for it.
I hope you don't have anymistakes.
I hope you don't need help,because if you're going to cut
other people out of it, it's notthe way we work today.
It's not the way we should beworking today.
We should be in a collaborativeapproach to things.
There's not always someone tocollaborate with directly, but
(05:19):
there's ways of bringing inother input and outside sources
in order to make something solid.
So what does excellence looklike in practice?
There are a couple of keythings that I see.
It's only effort, not about theimage.
Now, look, there's always alittle bit of image.
But you know, you have workedwith this person and it may even
(05:40):
be yourself.
You have been with that personwhere everything kind of feels
like vaporware.
Everything feels a little bitlike smoke and mirrors and when
you dig under the surface andyou ask the question it gets a
little scary.
I actually had a doctor likethat once.
I know scary Because of my headinjury.
I've done an excessive amountof studying around the brain and
(06:01):
understanding around functionalmedicine and functional
nutrition, which is really thestudy of anatomy, physiology and
food and how your environmentplays an impact on your actual
physiology, and when you have abrain injury it's really
important.
So back to it.
I actually had a doctor oncewhere every time I asked her a
question she could only touchthe surface and I was like
that's not true, that's notright.
(06:21):
So clearly I stopped seeing her.
But it took a couple of timesfor me to be in a session with
her where I was like, oh yeah,this isn't working.
So this is where you're notworried about impressing.
You're worrying aboutdelivering.
(06:42):
Sure, you want to make surethat things are buttoned up and
it looks good.
But I don't mean looking goodlike snazzy dress looking good.
I mean looking good in thatyour documentation is there,
your resources is there, youhave your footnotes, you have
your data, you have your sources.
That's what I'm talking about.
Excellence means committing tothe actual work, not just the
optics that you know and you'vegone deep and you know the
(07:02):
answers to things, or you'vebrought in teammates who are
excellent in those areas andyou're able to say you know what
Christine over here would bethe best person to answer that
for you and that you're actuallypulling in those other people.
You want to show progress, youwant to share your thinking and
you don't hide behind thepolished spreadsheet and just
(07:23):
say that it's done.
Having the numbers is one thing.
Having the insight is where theexcellence comes in.
Next is use your resources.
Nobody wins alone.
I know you're going to hear thehero's journey and hero stories
.
Guess what?
There's always people along theway who have contributed.
You might be the one or thehero might be the one who's done
(07:44):
the most work and deserves theaccommodation and the credit and
all of that and the accoladesGreat.
But there's still people alongthe way who helped.
So excellence meansunderstanding your limits and
looping in support early.
It takes more strength to askfor help than to pretend you
don't need it and pretending isgoing to catch up with you.
(08:05):
And lastly, I'm going to tellyou to stay steady.
Excellence isn't frantic, itisn't graspy, it isn't needy.
It's about consistency.
It's about managing your mind,checking how you feel If you're
having really crummy thoughts.
It's about balancing back,figuring out what truth from
truth is meaning.
It might feel true from you.
It isn't really true.
It might not really be true.
(08:26):
So let's come back to the facts, because when you're then
operating and looking to createsteadiness, you're doing it from
a place of that clarity, thatconfidence.
It's about managing your mindand when things are uncertain or
hard and I've just dropped anepisode on uncertainty really
checking in.
It's delivering, even when thespotlight is gone.
(08:49):
It's the follow through, it'sthe tying up and making sure the
wrap up report, it's cleaningup after the event.
Again, I'm not saying you aredoing it alone.
I'm saying you're doing it withothers and making sure it gets
done, especially when you're inthe spotlight.
You could be the senior, mostleader, but you're making sure
that you're putting effort andhuman and financial resources
(09:09):
against the back end, not justthe front end, of what you're
doing.
Perfectionism is fragile.
It is going to crumble underpressure.
Excellence is resilience.
It holds up even when no one iswatching, and the choice
between those two is going todefine how your results show up
(09:30):
and how your reputationflourishes.
All right, I, as always, wantto hear from you.
Send me an email at hello atjillgriffincoachingcom, if you
have questions, if you haveexperience with excellence
versus perfectionism.
I want to hear it all.
Until next time, friends,embrace possibility, be
excellent, be inspired and kind.
Hey there, I'm Jill Griffin, leadership strategist
and executive coach and host ofthe Career Refresh podcast.
Today I'm talking aboutexcellence.
Don't mistake it.
For perfection.
There's an expression we areexcellent, we are not perfect.
What I mean by excellence iswithin your own ability, within
(00:21):
your own gifts, your talents,your strengths.
What does excellent look likefor you?
It's not what it looks like forhim or her or them.
It's what it looks like for you.
But when we push forperfectionism, it has to be
perfect.
It's image driven, and thatoften leads us into some issues.
So I want to dig into it today.
(00:41):
All right, let's go.
There is a real differencebetween striving for excellence
and chasing perfectionism.
One builds trust, the otherbuilds up your ego.
(01:01):
I saw this play out recently ina situation that left a client
both stunned and exposed.
And, just to be clear, theyhave given me permission to talk
about this situation.
It's one of the reasons whythey hired me.
They were eager for a newopportunity.
There was partnership potentialhere, so there was new eyes on
their work and they wantedvisibility with senior
(01:23):
leadership.
But their desire for the quickwin overrode their discipline.
They assumed it would be easy.
They've done this before theycut corners.
They did the bare minimum.
They had other things going on.
They delivered data without anyinsight here, it's all right
here and they didn't bother toexplain what any of the data or
(01:45):
any of the information meant,why it mattered, why we should
care, what action should comenext.
And there was a real tone andsentiment that this was lazy.
And this lazy output wasdisguised as done.
I did it, I got it done.
They favored some pieces ofbusiness and accounts they were
(02:07):
working on and ignored others.
They refused help when it wasclear that they were so in over
their head.
And why did they refuse help?
Well, because they were afraidthat asking for help would make
them look weak and then they'dlose the opportunity or they'd
have to share it or co-share itor partner in some way.
But they already lost it anyway.
(02:28):
Within a week, leadership hadpulled the opportunity back from
them.
And the worst part which is whythey reached out to me when
they started to realize it isthat they refused to take
accountability.
They claimed that theiropportunity wasn't perfect, it
was flawed, there were issueswith it, or?
Well, the leadership knew this.
They knew that this was the wayit was going to be.
They then blamed the market andthat leadership didn't get it.
(02:51):
But what leadership got wasthat this person was now a
reputational risk to thisproject and, potentially, to the
company.
This wasn't about perfectionism.
Perfectionism is image-driven,right.
It's about controllingperceptions, not outcomes,
(03:11):
hiding weaknesses instead ofbuilding solution.
It's choosing to look smartinstead of being smart.
It's all image-driven.
They were playing in trying tomake it look perfect and
therefore there was a bit oflaziness in there because they
were worried about the imageversus the actual project.
Excellence is something elseentirely.
(03:33):
It is deliberate, I will tellyou.
It is a personal brand value ofmine.
It is grounded.
It knows the difference betweenwhere to hustle and when you
can glide.
It is built on clarity where tohustle and when you can glide.
It is built on clarity,consistency and delivery.
I've seen what excellence lookslike.
(03:53):
It's someone who steps into anopportunity with intention.
They map out the effort, theyask questions, they are curious,
they admit where there needs tobe backup and they deliver work
that represents the fullstrength of the power of the
team.
So whether that's they're thelead and they're tapping into
the organizational structure, orwhether they're partnering with
(04:14):
other people, it is not justabout their personal highlight
reel.
You know, a CEO that I workedwith told me once about a
project that they fought so hardto lead solo and she said that
she wanted the spotlight, thecredit, the win, and it
collapsed under her weight.
And then she said that what shelearned on that was that if
(04:37):
you're going to go out on yourown and not involve your
teammates or the resources, thenyou're on your own.
Meaning on your own.
On your own, and that stayedwith me Meaning.
If you're going to trudgeforward and be like carrying the
flag, and I'm going to do itand I'm not going to bring
anybody in because I need tolook great and I need to be
(04:58):
perfect and I need to be the onewho gets acknowledged and the
spotlight and all the praise,then great, go for it.
I hope you don't have anymistakes.
I hope you don't need help,because if you're going to cut
other people out of it, it's notthe way we work today.
It's not the way we should beworking today.
We should be in a collaborativeapproach to things.
There's not always someone tocollaborate with directly, but
(05:19):
there's ways of bringing inother input and outside sources
in order to make something solid.
So what does excellence looklike in practice?
There are a couple of keythings that I see.
It's only effort, not about theimage.
Now, look, there's always alittle bit of image.
But you know, you have workedwith this person and it may even
(05:40):
be yourself.
You have been with that personwhere everything kind of feels
like vaporware.
Everything feels a little bitlike smoke and mirrors and when
you dig under the surface andyou ask the question it gets a
little scary.
I actually had a doctor likethat once.
I know scary Because of my headinjury.
I've done an excessive amountof studying around the brain and
(06:01):
understanding around functionalmedicine and functional
nutrition, which is really thestudy of anatomy, physiology and
food and how your environmentplays an impact on your actual
physiology, and when you have abrain injury it's really
important.
So back to it.
I actually had a doctor oncewhere every time I asked her a
question she could only touchthe surface and I was like
that's not true, that's notright.
(06:21):
So clearly I stopped seeing her.
But it took a couple of timesfor me to be in a session with
her where I was like, oh yeah,this isn't working.
So this is where you're notworried about impressing.
You're worrying aboutdelivering.
(06:42):
Sure, you want to make surethat things are buttoned up and
it looks good.
But I don't mean looking goodlike snazzy dress looking good.
I mean looking good in thatyour documentation is there,
your resources is there, youhave your footnotes, you have
your data, you have your sources.
That's what I'm talking about.
Excellence means committing tothe actual work, not just the
optics that you know and you'vegone deep and you know the
(07:02):
answers to things, or you'vebrought in teammates who are
excellent in those areas andyou're able to say you know what
Christine over here would bethe best person to answer that
for you and that you're actuallypulling in those other people.
You want to show progress, youwant to share your thinking and
you don't hide behind thepolished spreadsheet and just
(07:23):
say that it's done.
Having the numbers is one thing.
Having the insight is where theexcellence comes in.
Next is use your resources.
Nobody wins alone.
I know you're going to hear thehero's journey and hero stories
.
Guess what?
There's always people along theway who have contributed.
You might be the one or thehero might be the one who's done
(07:44):
the most work and deserves theaccommodation and the credit and
all of that and the accoladesGreat.
But there's still people alongthe way who helped.
So excellence meansunderstanding your limits and
looping in support early.
It takes more strength to askfor help than to pretend you
don't need it and pretending isgoing to catch up with you.
(08:05):
And lastly, I'm going to tellyou to stay steady.
Excellence isn't frantic, itisn't graspy, it isn't needy.
It's about consistency.
It's about managing your mind,checking how you feel If you're
having really crummy thoughts.
It's about balancing back,figuring out what truth from
truth is meaning.
It might feel true from you.
It isn't really true.
It might not really be true.
(08:26):
So let's come back to the facts, because when you're then
operating and looking to createsteadiness, you're doing it from
a place of that clarity, thatconfidence.
It's about managing your mindand when things are uncertain or
hard and I've just dropped anepisode on uncertainty really
checking in.
It's delivering, even when thespotlight is gone.
(08:49):
It's the follow through, it'sthe tying up and making sure the
wrap up report, it's cleaningup after the event.
Again, I'm not saying you aredoing it alone.
I'm saying you're doing it withothers and making sure it gets
done, especially when you're inthe spotlight.
You could be the senior, mostleader, but you're making sure
that you're putting effort andhuman and financial resources
(09:09):
against the back end, not justthe front end, of what you're
doing.
Perfectionism is fragile.
It is going to crumble underpressure.
Excellence is resilience.
It holds up even when no one iswatching, and the choice
between those two is going todefine how your results show up
(09:30):
and how your reputationflourishes.
All right, I, as always, wantto hear from you.
Send me an email at hello atjillgriffincoachingcom, if you
have questions, if you haveexperience with excellence
versus perfectionism.
I want to hear it all.
Until next time, friends,embrace possibility, be
excellent, be inspired and kind.
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