Don't have enough money? The necessary training? The right opportunities? In other words, do you lack the resources you need to be extraordinary?

Then consider Fred. What resources did he have? A blue uniform and a bag. That's it! He walked up and down streets with that bag full of mail, and his heart and head full of imagination. That imagination enabled him to create value for his customers, and he didn't spend an extra dollar to do it. He just thought a little bit harder and more creatively than most other postal carriers.

Fred mastered what may be the most important job skill of the 21st century: the ability to create value for customers without spending more money to do it. You too can replace money with imagination. The object is to out-think your competition rather than out-spend them. In fact, the faster you try to solve a problem with money, the less likely you are to find the best solution.

This raises an interesting question: Just what competition did Fred face? For many of us in the world of business, the competition is either inside or outside our organizations, and sometimes both.

But Fred showed us that we all face another, less tangible competitor. That competitor is the job we could have done. In a manner of speaking, we compete against our potential every day. And most of us fall short of what we are capable of doing or being.

As employers, our job is to raise the bar on performance for the entire organization by providing our employees with:

• The best training and tools
• A challenge to be creative
• Low cost ways to add value for others

And even more importantly, we must never settle for mediocrity.