AWARD SEASON – Most awards at work arrive as financial bonuses, once a year, once a quarter, maybe even once a month. These financial awards act as updated passports for better wardrobes, better hotels while traveling, better restaurants around town or healthier investments.
Occasionally, companies of all sizes hand out extra special awards with certificates or trophies to go along with extra vacation days and other treats.
This happened to me again recently when I won two large awards at Motorola, a peer-voted MVP/Icon award and another Motivators Awards, an annual recognition program, that honors top contributors who demonstrated excellence across performance, professionalism, and impact over the course of a year.
This got me thinking on what it actually takes to win top awards so I asked our friends at Google AI, “It’s been said that 80% of life is just showing up, what is the other 20% that helps people win awards?”
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This is the latest answer from AI:
“If 80% of life is just showing up, the other 20% is what separates the people who simply fill a seat from the ones who get called up to the stage.
To win awards—whether in business, the arts, or community leadership—that remaining 20% comes down to a few critical, high-impact behaviors. It’s about strategy, execution, and a little bit of theater.
1. Hard-Edged Differentiation (The “Only” Factor)
Showing up makes you a peer; differentiating makes you an outlier. Award winners rarely win by doing the exact same thing as everyone else, only 10% better. They win by doing something nobody else is doing.
The Rule: Don’t just try to be the best—strive to be the only. Find a niche, an unusual methodology, or a unique voice that makes you incomparable.
2. High-Fidelity Execution
If showing up gets you into the room, execution dictates how long you get to stay there. Award-winning work is obsessive about details that others skip because they are tedious. It’s the difference between a project that is “done” and one that is polished, stress-tested, and flawless.
3. Packaging and Storytelling
Excellent work does not speak for itself. Human beings judge work, and human beings run on narratives. The people who win awards understand how to frame their achievements.
The Narrative Arc: They don’t just present a finished product; they tell the story of the problem, the struggle, and the unconventional solution. They make the judges care about the journey.
4. Strategic Visibility (Playing the Right Game)
You can’t win an award if the decision-makers don’t know you exist, or if you’re entering a category that doesn’t fit your strengths. The final piece of the puzzle is positioning:
Submitting to the right categories where your specific edge shines.
Building authentic relationships with peers and mentors in your industry long before nomination season.
Ensuring your work is visible to the people who move the needles.
The Breakdown: Show up consistently (80%). Then, define your unique edge, execute flawlessly, tell a compelling story, and position yourself strategically (20%). That is the formula for the trophy.”
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It’s hard to argue with AI these days. AI has done all the heavy lifting to scan all the abundant answers to most every question and organize the homogenized results very conveniently.
Throughout my career my activities have allowed me to win multiple awards like those mentioned above along with being repeated Sales Contest Winner, repeated Sales Trainer Winner, a Rockstar for a month, and even a Service Legend.
I once won a Partnership Special Award Trophy with Xerox when I was just a temporary worker. The General Manager of that sales office once told me, “You have an uncanny ability to talk with everyone. Don’t ever lose that!”
Are You Working on your 20%?
Using AI’s Top Four Things to Do to Win Awards, I would say I continually check every box:
✓ 1. Hard-Edged Differentiation
✓ 2. High-Fidelity Execution
✓ 3. Packaging and Storytelling
✓4. Strategic Visibility
Unbeknownst to myself back then, but my abilities to check off all those award-winning boxes started in earnest when I was in college.
Since I was going through journalism school, I wanted to start asking the hardest questions right away with every professor I had. With that approach my listening skills improved which allowed me to ask better and better questions which helped me develop real personal relationships with most of them.
Although I don’t always paint inside every line, I can be fastidious about professionalism with anticipated contingency plans if something is not working. I will consistently outperform any job description that I have ever been given. Ultimately though, my story telling skills may have grown the most which helps me connect more quickly with everyone.
I get very excited telling a great story!
Besides these AI answers to winning more awards I would like to share two more suggestions:
✓ Take a Ballroom Dancing Class—I took one as a lark while in college but those lessons have helped me tremendously while guiding any individual or group.
People just want to have fun and express themselves. All they really need is subtle assistance on where to go next, then give them room to blossom. Coming in hot and heavy all the time while barking instructions will not win any awards because you will lose your audience’s enthusiasm immediately no matter what the activity.
Build rapport, gently identify anyone’s mistakes, find the humor with that approach, then keep complimenting their accumulated achievements. Keep sharing new ways to keep motivated. Before long, while using this dance instructor approach, everyone will have learned exciting new ways to be more productive while having the most fun!
✓ Pick a Song or Tune to Guide You—Hard to say how this all started or how I picked this song/tune to balance myself but it works for me.
Do you have such a song like this?
My song is “Magdalena” sung by Leo Sayer which was released in November 1976. Somehow, I have been using it ever since I first heard it!
Give it a listen:
This song/tune is inside me every day. I hum it, or start singing certain lyrics whenever I enter another room of strangers, whenever I organize a meeting to clarify solutions to problems, whenever I get off an airplane or train in a new city or country, whenever I am stuck in traffic, or whenever I have those annual medical appointments.
It gives me instant balance. It keeps me active, alert, and nimble. For a long time now It’s part of my operating system to help me be the most positive person in any room. Find yourself such a song/tune and use it every day!
Epilogue
This is totally different, but really It Isn’t. I started this story by suggesting two different things:
Something Was Completely New—Actually, my latest Motorola Award Trophies are truly the new element! All my previous award trophies were glass in nature. I could see through them, but these latest awards are both colorful and graphic!
Nothing Was New at All—Actually, I won these latest awards using the same approach that I have always used to win all my ribbons, certificates, or awards. Amazingly, Google AI quickly identified what I have been doing all along to keep my winning streak alive!
Please try these Google AI suggestions on what it takes to win awards yourself, and my suggestions too, to build your own award-winning streak. Shine your brightest as you build a bigger and bigger Award Trophies Collection!
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