I have never believed that improvement should begin only when something goes wrong.
Excellence is a Moving Target. Throughout my leadership journey, I have continuously reviewed, refined and fine-tuned the way I work — my strategies, guidelines, processes, partnerships, communication and even my own leadership style. Not because they were failing. Not because someone else was doing them better. And not because I had lost confidence in what we had built. I changed them because the world and the narratives around us keep evolving — and because experience should change the way we lead. What worked extremely well five years ago may still work today. But I do not only ask myself, “Does it still work?” I ask: “Can I make it work even better?” For me, fine-tuning is not necessarily correction. There is an important difference between correcting failure and refining excellence. In fact, I believe continuous improvement becomes even more important when you are successful. Success can become a dangerous comfort zone if it convinces us that the formula that brought us here will automatically take us where we need to go next. The higher our standards become, the more carefully we should examine them. And when competing with others is no longer what drives us, there is still one competitor who will always remain: ourselves. My greatest competitor is the standard I set for myself yesterday. In my latest leadership article, “When Excellence Is Not the Finish Line,” I share why I believe leaders should never wait for failure to force improvement. Because excellence itself demands evolution.
Why I Continue to Fine-Tune, Even When Things Are Working and Excellence Has Been Achieved
Throughout my leadership journey, I have learned something that I believe is fundamental to sustainable success:
Improving something does not necessarily mean there was something wrong with it before.
Sometimes, improvement simply means that the context and narratives around you are evolving.
It also means that you have more experience today than you had yesterday.
Over the years, I have continuously reviewed, refined, and fine-tuned the way I work—my strategies, guidelines, processes, partnerships, communication, and even my own leadership style.
Not because they were failing.
Not because someone else was doing them better.
And certainly not because I had lost confidence in what we had built.
I changed them because the narratives around us keep evolving.
And/or I changed them simply because I had learned more.
Experience Should Change the Way You Work
Even if the narratives stayed the same, experience has little value if it does not influence the way you think and operate.
Every country I work in, every partnership I build, every challenge I encounter, every success I celebrate, and even every mistake I observe gives me new information.
And new information should lead to better decisions.
What worked extremely well five years ago may still work today. But the question I ask myself is not only:
Does it still work?
I also ask:
Can I make it work even better?
That distinction is important.
Many people wait for something to go wrong before they change it.
I prefer to improve things while they are still going right.
Fine-Tuning Is Not Correction
There is an important difference between correcting failure and refining excellence.
When I update a guideline, strengthen a process, introduce another layer of quality control, or change the way something is implemented, it does not automatically mean that the previous approach was wrong.
It may simply mean that my experience has evolved.
I know more today.
I have observed more.
I have encountered situations I had not encountered before.
I understand my stakeholders better.
I understand both my supporters and my competitors better.
And therefore, naturally, I should make better decisions.
For me, this is what experience is supposed to do.
If I lead exactly the same way after twenty years of experience as I did after five years, then what happened to the other fifteen years of learning?
Success Can Become a Dangerous Comfort Zone
Interestingly, I believe continuous improvement becomes even more important when you are successful.
When something is failing, everyone understands the need for change.
But when you are successful, there is a temptation to say:
Why change anything? We have already achieved excellence.
This is where complacency can quietly begin.
Success and excellence can convince you that the formula you have today will remain the formula you need tomorrow.
I do not believe that.
The higher your standards become, the more carefully you should examine them.
The stronger your reputation becomes, the more responsibility you have to protect it.
And the more trust your stakeholders place in you, the more seriously you should take the responsibility of continuously improving what you offer them.
Continuous Improvement Should Build Trust, Not Reduce It
Sometimes people worry that changing or strengthening guidelines may make stakeholders question the previous approach.
I see it differently.
I believe it should increase their confidence.
I want the people and institutions I work with to know that I will never become complacent simply because something is successful or seems perfect.
I will continue searching and asking questions.
I will continue observing.
I will continue learning.
And when experience teaches me that something can be done better, I will improve it.
To me, that is part of being trustworthy.
Trust is not built by pretending or assuming that your systems no longer need improvement or that your impact has reached its final level of excellence.
Trust is built by demonstrating that you care enough about quality to keep examining, protecting, and improving it.
When You Are Number One, You Still Need Someone to Compete With
Competition can be useful. It can push organizations and leaders forward.
But I have never believed that leadership should become an endless exercise in watching what everybody else is doing.
There comes a point when your most meaningful benchmark has to become your own previous performance.
Can I create greater impact than I created before?
Can I be more creative?
Can I make this partnership stronger?
Can I make this process more effective?
Can I improve my guidelines to further protect our excellent impact as our visibility increases?
Can I raise the quality another level?
Can I learn something from this experience that changes how I approach the next one?
This is the competition that interests me most.
My greatest competitor is not necessarily the person or organization beside me.
It is the standard I set for myself yesterday.
Excellence Is a Moving Target
Perhaps this is why I do not see excellence as a destination.
The moment you believe you have finally arrived, you may stop observing, questioning, learning, and improving—and eventually, you may lose relevance.
I would rather think of excellence as something that keeps moving as I move.
My standards today should be higher than my standards ten years ago because I have ten additional years of experience behind them.
And hopefully, my standards ten years from now will be higher than they are today—and my future self will thank me for that.
That does not diminish what I achieved before.
It honors it.
Because every stage becomes the foundation for the next.
So I will continue to review.
I will continue to fine-tune.
I will continue to raise my standards—even when things are working beautifully.
Not because yesterday was wrong.
Because tomorrow can be better.
And ultimately, I believe this is one of the most important disciplines of leadership:
Do not wait for failure to force you to improve.
Improve because excellence itself demands evolution.
When you reach a level where competing with others is no longer what drives you, there is still one competitor who will always be there:
Yourself.
And that is the competition that never ends.
Dr. Rasha Kelej
CEO of Merck Foundation.