Listen instead on your Monday Morning Drive:

Browsing LinkedIn recently, I noticed a photo showing a cable line running down the middle of a room — nothing I haven’t seen before, but this one stopped me mid-scroll. It was the straightest line I’d ever seen, perfectly aligned as if measured with a laser.

The precision moved me. The setup crew had put real thought into this seemingly inconsequential detail.

That brings me to today’s question: What does “finished” look like for you and your business?

The Soul Behind the Work

Every output from your business has a personality, and someone will always notice it.

The proposals you send communicate your values. The appearance of your show ready event reveals your standards. The paperwork for your technicians, the invoices for your customers, even your internal processes and org chart — all these details speak volumes about your company.

During the very first class I led (in the 1980s — how times have changed since!), I taught AV techs how to properly tape down cable. I didn’t focus on setting up projectors or focusing lights, but on running cables at right angles to walls.

Why? Because parallel or perpendicular lines help people identify obstacles they need to step over. Even a 1/8-inch thick cable becomes a tripping hazard when poorly placed.

This small detail reflects your company’s greater philosophy about safety and attention to detail.

Better vs. Complicated

When examining your processes, ask yourself: Are you trying to make them better, or just more thorough? Is it possible to improve processes without making them more complicated?

Consider these questions:

• Is your proposal interesting or complete?
• Does your ordering system require redundant entries that could be simplified with proper kitting?
• Do your systems focus on catching mistakes or allowing correct work to flow smoothly?
• Is your solution simple or simplistic?

These distinctions matter.

I recently walked backstage at a major show. Everything out front looked exceptional, but backstage was disorganized. Ironically, this is exactly where we need precision most, both for safety and maintaining the “magic.”

When a customer peeks backstage and sees chaos, the illusion of perfection falls apart.

Precision vs. Exactness

Do we need to be precise, or do we need to be exact? A straight cable line’s precision isn’t the same as its exactitude.

Precision can be perceived, while exactness must be measured. If I perceive precision, it is precise. If I only care about exactitude, I need to be in a role where perfect measurements matter.

Thank goodness we don’t have to be perfect at our jobs — we’d all fail! No one would sleep. We’d never finish a task to our satisfaction.

Look vs. Soul

Examine your outputs: your proposals, website, marketing materials, etc. Consider the impression people get when viewing them. Have you established a look? Is that look intentional?

Most importantly, does that look have a soul?

Soul manifests throughout a company’s operations:

• In the lobby of their building
• In how they prepare equipment for show sites
• In how they treat their execution team
• In their customer interactions

There’s a vast difference between having a look and having a soul. One is superficial. The other runs deep, permeating every touchpoint.

Never Finished Learning

Pottery, a beloved hobby of mine, is a craft I’ll never finish honing. I can apply as much or as little precision as a design requires, yet I’ll always have room to improve.

Similarly, you’ll never finish learning how to execute shows perfectly. You’ll never write the last best proposal. The work of improving your business’s soul continues perpetually.

This ongoing journey may mean working on yourself. It requires moving beyond the internal limitations that hinder creativity.

The journey might lead you to value being interesting over being complete. It could mean you end up focusing on improvement rather than complication. Often, it means embracing precision over unattainable perfection.

Your Business, Your Fingerprint

I can walk through your loading dock, front door, and backstage area. I can examine your truck pack or review your proposal. Each area reveals truths about your business, many of which might not make you happy.

Can you create more touchpoints that please and excite the people around you? Can you establish connections that make clients want to do business with you? Can you avoid being pigeonholed into an archetype?

If you choose not to define your business’s soul, you’ve still made a choice: you’ve decided that a superficial look suffices without deeper substance. Is that really why you entered this industry?

When I strived for perfection in my favorite hobby, my pottery instructor told me, “If you want perfect, go to Pottery Barn and buy a machine-made piece. Your handmade pottery won’t be perfect, but it’ll have a soul, which means it’ll carry your fingerprint.”

Put your fingerprint on your work. It’ll make your output truly valuable.