What Happened to Personal Excellence? And How We Bring it Back
- Brainz Magazine
- Dec 10
- 4 min read
Written by Brittney Hall, Entrepreneur and CEO
Brittney Hall is the CEO and Founder of The Revenue Agency, a growth strategist known for turning big ideas into offers that sell. She blends sharp marketing and sales strategy to help entrepreneurs maximize revenue and scale with clarity.
Personal excellence used to be the baseline standard in work and life. Yet, over the years, expectations have lowered, and mediocrity has become more common. In this article, Brittney Hall explores why personal excellence is essential for both individuals and organizations and how it can be reignited through leadership, community, and a renewed sense of ownership.
Personal excellence used to be something people took pride in. Showing up prepared and answering the phone, caring about the customer, and taking initiative without being asked.
It wasn’t extraordinary. It was the baseline.
But over the last decade, and especially since the pandemic, something has shifted. Standards have slipped. Work ethic has eroded. Personal accountability has become optional. And the ripple effects show up everywhere, from customer service to leadership to the overall energy inside our communities.
Recently, I called a local business for something simple. No one answered. I tried again, still nothing. Eventually, I drove across town and found five employees standing around in the department I had been trying to reach. It wasn’t a staffing issue. It wasn’t a capacity issue. It was a standards issue.
This is becoming more common than any of us would like to admit. And while the easy narrative is, “People just don’t want to work anymore,” that explanation doesn’t go far enough. Because even the people who do want to work often aren’t being set up or asked to perform at their best.
The real issue is deeper, "We’ve lowered the bar for what it means to show up well."
And as leaders, executives, entrepreneurs, and community builders, it’s time we talk about how to raise it again.
Excellence isn’t about perfection. It’s about ownership
Personal excellence has never meant being flawless. It’s not about unrealistic expectations or pushing people toward burnout. It’s about something much simpler and much more human:
Taking pride in how you show up.
As a young person, I scrubbed floors in the coffee shop where I worked on my downtime, not because it was assigned to me, but because I wanted to be someone the owner trusted. I knew that opportunities flowed to the people who took initiative, added value, and treated their role with respect, no matter the title.
Those habits shaped my career. They shaped my leadership. And today, they shape my work inside The Revenue Agency.
But somewhere along the way, our cultural relationship with work ethic shifted. We stopped expecting excellence, and therefore, people stopped offering it. When no one models high standards, holds the line, or teaches the next generation what ownership looks like, mediocrity takes root.
The result? Teams underperform. Leaders get frustrated. Customers feel it. And the organization pays for it.
Excellence thrives in community, not isolation
One of the biggest misconceptions is that excellence is purely an individual trait, something people either have or don’t have.
That’s far from true. Personal excellence grows in environments where it’s encouraged, expected, and modeled. It thrives in cultures where accountability is normal, feedback is healthy, and leadership is more than a title. It’s an example.
When people are surrounded by others who stretch them, inspire them, and challenge them, they rise. When they’re surrounded by apathy, they shrink.
This is one of the major reasons businesses are struggling. We’ve forgotten how much human beings are shaped by the circles they’re a part of.
Excellence is contagious. So is mediocrity, which leads to the question. If we want to elevate the way people work, think, and lead, where do they learn how?
Rebuilding standards starts with creating places that call people higher
In my work with entrepreneurs, leaders, and brands, I’ve seen a universal truth. People want to be their best. They just don’t always know what the next step is.
And they rarely have a community around them that pushes them in the right direction.
That’s why we’re launching Against The Grain, a community built for people who refuse to be average. People who want to lead with integrity, raise their standards, strengthen their identity, and do work they’re proud of.
Because the antidote to a society slipping in excellence is not more rules or more pressure. It’s more leaders. More encouragement. More accountability. More places where growth is the norm, not the exception.
Sometimes, all someone needs to unlock their next level of excellence is someone who believes in them, a community that challenges them, and a clear next step.
If we want excellence back, we must live it
At the end of the day, rebuilding standards isn’t about criticizing the next generation or longing for the past. It’s about choosing to be the example.
As employers, we must model what excellence looks like. As leaders, we must invest in our people. As individuals, we must hold ourselves to the same standards we expect from others.
The world doesn’t need more warm bodies filling roles. We need people who are fully alive in their purpose, confident, equipped, and empowered to bring their best.
Excellence isn’t outdated. It’s desperately needed. And it starts with us, together.
Read more from Brittney Hall
Brittney Hall, Entrepreneur and CEO
Brittney Hall is a serial entrepreneur and the CEO of The Revenue Agency. She got her start building and scaling businesses in the health and wellness space, where her love for leading teams and creating dynamic, people-first cultures took root. She’s scaled multiple companies to 7 figures, building the systems and operations that fuel sustainable growth. Brittney now runs her company alongside her husband and best friend, and together, they’re raising two incredible kids.
