MaxMine held its annual MaxMine Day on 9th of March, with keynote speaker Jenn Morris, OAM delivering a powerful fireside chat on the importance of pursuing excellence over success.
Morris emphasized that while many people equate success with excellence, there is a critical distinction between the two. Success can be fleeting and outside one’s control, while excellence is dependable and within control. According to her, pursuing excellence is the best foundation for success.
Morris warned against the dangers of a “success mentality” that can lead to burnout, resentment, and an obsession with fame. She believes that a mindset of excellence and abundance allows individuals to be invigorated by quality in themselves and others, not threatened by other people’s success.
Morris did however emphasize that nobody is all one way or the other. Desire for success and love of excellence coexist in all of us, and questioned – where does the balance lie? and what guides us?
Morris clearly demonstrated her understanding what makes for effective leadership and high-performing teams. Her engaging storytelling ability made for an inspiring keynote address that left the guests at MaxMine Day (themselves leaders in their fields) feeling motivated and empowered to pursue excellence in their work.
Excellence can be achieved through the pursuit of continuous improvement. An excellent performer does not benchmark/compare themselves to others, this could lead to stagnation once that level has been achieved.
One of the attendees, when asked what they took away from Morris’s words
As we all look to move the industry forward, we will take these inspiring thoughts with us to guide our journey. As professionals, we are all responsible for giving back to the industry and helping one another succeed. Let’s continue to support each other and strive for excellence in everything we do.
Morris an accomplished corporate executive and non-executive director for a number of mining boards, drew on her diverse career experiences throughout the discussion. Morris has held a variety of positions, from being the captain of the Australian women’s hockey team (and leading the team to a gold medal win twice), to an executive role at Deloitte as well as a CEO of Walk Free, an international human rights organization – when it comes to leadership, she has seen it all.