NEW: Emma Brown

We can’t give of our absolute best all the time, so we have to be selective, but how? Who’s getting your best and who could be getting better?

Who’s getting the best of you?

Over the weekend, as I was working away, my fiance was watching the Live Earth event on TV. The lyrics of one of the bands caught my attention: “Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?” I raised my head and thought about that for a second. I wonder who’s getting the best of me?

Is it my people? I’d like to think they mostly get the best of me, but there are moments when I’m not being the best leader I could be, or not bringing their best out in them.

Is it the members of my community and my customers? I certainly put a lot of effort into being the best I can be with them, and I deliver nine times out of 10.

Is it with my family? They certainly don’t get the best of me. I give them a little bit of time every week, but they don’t get the best of me.

Is it my fiance? Yep – I put all my effort into ensuring he gets the best of me.

We all know that it’s not possible to always be our absolute best. What I’m interested in, though, is where we choose to be our best. It appears to me that this is in direct alignment with our values and what we place importance on. If your people are the most important thing, then you’re going to be “on” at all times: 100% present, committed, interested. If customers are the most important thing for you, then your best side will be revealed to them. If your values lie in family, then that’s where you’ll be your best.

Ask yourself the same question. Who’s getting the best of you right now? Who could be getting better? If you’re not your best in your business, then find people who are going to be their best. If your customers don’t get the best of you, then find someone who will.

Emma Brown, at 28, has bought three businesses and sold one. She is Chief Chick of Business Chicks – www.businesschicks.com.au, Australia’s leading community for women, and Managing Director of Last Thursday Club – www.lastthursdayclub.com.au – the monthly event for big thinking professionals . She’s on the board of Entrepreneurs Organisation, avoids coffee but still talks fast, and lives in Sydney with her entrepreneur fiance.

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