Better is better than the best!

We have so many bests around us. From toothpastes to trainers, from hotels to hospitals, from CEOs to Cockroach killers, from actors to assholes! We have number 1 everywhere. And please… don’t ask who decides it, metrics used, or criteria applied.

I get literally depressed when I see the obsession of CEOs and leaders, paying [Yes, paying] to get awards. Sadly, this is not exclusive to CEOs. It is, in fact, more common than most companies/people would like to admit. It’s amazing how many of us claim to be the “best,” offer the “most” or be the “strongest,” when we aren’t.

To be honest, such absolute claims are nearly impossible to verify. Against what criteria? Metrics? Time frame? Territory? On our way back from my daughter’s school sports day, she said that one of her friend is the fastest runner. I said, “yeah, he must be fastest amongst the 24 students in your class, as of today, in 100-meter race.” She replied, “Whatever!”. It was only the next day when I was dropping her to school and she said, “Papa, I think you made sense. He is not the fastest in the world.”

So, what to do about settling your advancement ego? Say better. In other words, claiming you’re best isn’t best…claiming you are better, however, is much better.

Firstly, a claim of “better” can in fact be true without any need to slice numbers or make legal disclaimers or that “Arial Font Size 02, used on 40ft x 20ft Billboard, which makes them more credible. More interestingly, by being better, it suggests that the company is constantly working to improve. And that’s always better.

For example, if I claimed I was the best trainer in the country, you wouldn’t believe me. For one, how can I prove it? In contrast, if I said I was a better trainer than most trainers in the country, not only is it more believable, but I can also say, “and I’m always working to get even better.” You see, there is a margin.

Best is ugly, as it leaves no room for improvement. And who wants a trainer who thinks he/she is the best? Or a doctor who claims to be the best? Or the politician? Or anyone!

I don’t have anything against anyone, per se. I guess I’m just disappointed how a company or an individual make such lousy and worthless claims. Such claims of being the best are normally backed up by finding numbers or comparisons that let them legally make their claim as opposed to focusing on working on actually being better than yesterday.

To sum it up… One who claims to be the best rarely is. Those who strive to be better, almost always are.