What does it take to excel in leadership?
Excellent people exceed expectations.
In other words, they go the extra mile, they do more than is asked, and they take extra steps to ensure the highest quality. If people were to describe your work, would excellence come to mind or simply mediocrity? You can run into mediocrity accidentally but you have to purpose to be excellent. Thus, exercising minimal effort will lead to a mediocre performance at best, but really going above and beyond the call of duty takes a conscious effort.
Colossians 3:17 says, "Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus . . . " and later Paul writes, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward" (Colossians 3:23-24).
Therefore, we are called to strive for excellence in order to be the best testimony for the Lord that we can be. Non-Christians are watching to see what kind of a difference Jesus is making in your life, and you can point others to Him by being diligent in your tasks and being above reproach in your ethics. Daniel exemplified this spirit during his service as a highly regarded administrator in a secular environment. The Scripture says that "he distinguished himself among the administrators . . . because of his exceptional qualities" so much so that "they could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent" (Daniel 6:3-4).
“Excellence does not necessarily mean the absence of mistakes, but it does mean the presence of faith and determination.”
To be excellent at whatever God has called you to do, you must first ask for His strength to accomplish the task and then, secondly, His endurance to complete it. Daniel was met with obstacles in his endeavor to serve the Lord wholeheartedly, but he remained steadfast to the course of action he believed the Lord set for him to task
The epitome of this philosophy is to leave a legacy to family, friends and others: in other words make you some mini me’s.