Opinion Best Practice to Surpass Practice

Through a childhood fraught with hardship and living in workhouses,after his mother was committed to a mental asylum,Charlie emerged “a sort of Adam,from whom we are all descended”,said renowned filmmaker Federico Fellini.

Chaplin recounted his beginning like this: “I was newsvendor,printer,toymaker,doctor’s boy,but during these occupational digressions,I never lost sight of my ultimate aim to become an actor. So,between jobs,I would polish my shoes,brush my clothes,put on a clean collar and make periodic calls at a theatrical agency.”

Chaplin’s story felt a little familiar,reminding me of my early struggling era in Paris. Even as a sweeper in a lithography printshop where I used to wear workers’ blues,I’d dress well with a tie from time to time to meet art-related people in my ambition to become a designer and painter.

When Chaplin toured British music halls,worked as a stage actor and comedian,he followed the best practices of traditional comic theatrical genres,including the Harlequinade developed since the 17th century. At age 19,Fred Karno Company took him to the US,where he entered films. In 1914,Chaplin created the Tramp persona by accident. To play a comic role he was rummaging through props in Keystone Studio when he tried on the hat,outsize shoes,tight jacket,cane and moustache. The bumbling,childlike,good-hearted vagrant developed from there. Chaplin continued to hone and sustain this character as his Surpass Practice through his career.

The Tramp portrayed the human spirit through comic,pathos and subtlety. Time magazine listed Chaplain among 20th century’s 100 Most Important People for bringing laughter to millions: “He more or less invented global recognisability and helped turn an industry into an art.” According to film critic Andrew Sarris,“He’s arguably the single most important artist,certainly its most extraordinary performer and probably still its most universal icon.” Film historian Mark Cousins says Chaplin changed the imagery,sociology and grammar of cinema. So breaking all previous benchmarks for comic acts,The Tramp became Chaplin’s all-time Surpassmark.

Surpass embodies excellence. Surpassmark immediately brings in a competitive spirit whereas benchmark is just a catch-up game. Surpassmark is active whereas benchmark is passive. My story today is on how to garner expertise by following the existing best,absorbing that very best,and then going beyond to express yourself differently,to surpass everyone. Being able to surpass existing best practices by bringing in your own originality,you will create your ‘Surpass Practice’. I call this the Surpassmark that competitors will vie for.

Once you become a benchmark,your enterprise obviously becomes iconic,but it’s not a permanent success status in the current,ever-changing digital world. An enterprise sometimes unmindfully lives in that glory,in that comfort zone,just like Kodak did. They forgot to create discomfort,to watch market seriously,so they fell into the Titanic Syndrome of not being alert,so that a small fissure in it can become a strategic hole that drowns the business. Kodak missed the Surpass Practice here.

We’re familiar with Philips’s invention of the tape recorder sound system. But it was Sony’s marketing ingenuity that created a personal,musical,mobile electronic device,Walkman,as the benchmark in 1979. Sony reigned,decade after decade,with this best practice but failed to surpass its own best practice with renovation. The 21st century saw computer science enter entertainment. Apple redefined consumer electronics,making iPod a personal pocket music library,an example of Surpassmark. From the 2001 iPod with iTunes,Apple has evolved to iPod Touch,enhancing consumer benefit with inside engineering,not merely aesthetics,thus sustaining its Surpassmark.

To achieve sustainable profitable growth and establish a Surpass Practice,yours has to be a learning enterprise. Cultivate management and operations to continuously absorb two kinds of best practices: (1) your own industry’s best practices,to benchmark with the finest existing working process; (2) best practices of other industries,to extract diverse benchmarks,adding external newness,becoming leading trends that create society’s new habits. Then filter those best practices and go beyond to create own Surpass Practice.

When you redefine your own working process and customer delivery,the enterprise has to change to leap forward beyond the best practice. The result will create a Surpass Practice,the real plus with exciting distinction. Surpass Practices will increase your enterprise salience,make it outstanding,and attract multiple external and internal stakeholders. Such a seamless process can help the enterprise grow harmoniously by internalising all emerging external factors. Most importantly,Surpassmark will become the reference your competitors will covet.

I’ve heard a lot about best practice,benchmark,even the concept of next practice,but in my experience,unless that learning transcends to Surpass Practice,which can stand for Surpassmark,you remain a me-too. So my proposition to enterprises,irrespective of their industry or size,is to learn best practices but deliver Surpass Practices to become the reference point through Surpassmark.

Shombit Sengupta is an international consultant to top management on differentiating business strategy with execution excellence (www.shiningconsulting.

com)