Be All You Can Be

By: Michael Boone
Date: 11/1/2005

"Be All You Can Be." The U.S. Army said it for years. I believe the message is that we don't have to be the best....instead we can set achievable goals, and then go for the goals - and beyond.

When I came into the staffing industry, I had a trainer/mentor who told me this story: He had a friend named Mouse Brown. Actually he didn't really get to know Mouse until he was Tom Brown, a popular, confident high school student. Tom was his roommate in college, best man at his wedding and they were friends throughout their lives. He told me Tom Brown epitomized: "be the best you can be." He said it probably happened during Tom's early years when folks said he was "mousy." Can't you just envision an insightful elementary teacher saying, "Tommy, you have many strengths - just identify and concentrate on them."

My mentor said he watched Tom taking that advice to heart while in college, when despite his size 13 tennis shoe and not much agility, he made the varsity tennis team by concentrating on a blistering serve. He took the same approach to basketball and football, and in academics, he made the Dean's List by concentrating on his strength - numbers. Tom Brown's determination to set personal, achievable goals no doubt accounted for his success as citizen, father, husband and executive in one of the largest corporations in our country. In fact, my mentor said that he used this as his theme at Tom Brown's eulogy.

No doubt Tom Brown had his words, "I will be the best I can be," projected on his personal teleprompter - always in front of him throughout his life - inspiring him onward and upward.

In a highly competitive environment such as the staffing industry, as you aspire to upward mobility, wouldn't it make sense to be the best you can be? We know the most effective motivation is self motivation - nobody can turn up the energy level or strengthen the resolve more than you. It's almost always an inside job.

Michael Boone is the President of Michael Boone Associates. He can be contacted at