Thanks to the Apple TV series "Ted Lasso", I've started following the English Premier League. I'm not quite sure how I chose "my team" (obviously, the fictional football team AFC Richmond was not a choice), but I've been following Everton FC, one of two professional teams from the city of Liverpool playing in the Premier League. The Toffees (they are also known as "The Blues") had a difficult year last season and just barely escaped relegation. Maybe that's why I started liking them - I suppose the fact that they are the favorite football team of Paul McCartney has something to do with it as well!
Everton FC was originally formed in 1878 and is one of the founding clubs for both the English Football League (1888) and the Premier League (1992). The Toffees are the fourth most successful club in English professional football (behind their arch-rivals Liverpool, Manchester United, and Arsenal), having won nine league titles, five FA Cups and a European Cup Winners' Cup. They've spent all but four seasons in the top division of the world's oldest professional football league - more than any other club, so it was quite a big deal that they barely escaped relegation last year.
The club's motto is "Nil Satis Nisi Optimum" which is Latin for "Nothing but the best is good enough." I know I probably overdo it when it comes to using sports metaphors for leadership, but I can't think of a better motto for any organization than this one. Winning is always great, but what should matter the most is that we always give it our best. The 18th century Russian monarch Catherine the Great reportedly once said, "One does not always do the best there is. One does the best one can." Nothing else really matters. If you are not giving something your best effort, maybe it’s time you ask yourself why not.
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