children’s museum project. “This museum will serve as a beacon of hope for our city and for children to look forward to when we emerge from the pandemic.” Dr. Qubein stated. Dr. Qubein and his wife are the lead donors for the project, named the Nido and Mariana Qubein Children’s Museum in their honor. “What’s so special about you?” he asks. You must constantly ask the question and constantly be changing. “If you don’t do it fast enough, you become old,” Dr. Qubein said. “You start making excuses. You stop taking risks.”
Here are five ways to strive for excellence and choose to be extraordinary. Think Vertically.
“Don’t you dare think horizontally,” Dr. Qubein says. “If you want to strive for excellence, at a minimum, you’ve got to think vertically.” Horizontal thinking, the way average people think, is when people don’t think about why something is the way it is. While
Always Be Better Than YouWere Last Year. If, today, the thing you are selling is the latest, the finest, and the best, then
touring the HPU campus, a horizontal thinker will observe, “Wow that’s so cool that they play classical music on the promenade.” Vertical thinkers demonstrate curiosity about why things exist. A vertical thinker would say, “I wonder why they play classical music?” Vertical thinking forces you to think beyond the surface, to dig deeper, and it helps you improve. To take it a step further, diagonal thinking is when you connect the dots in such a way that you truly understand why something works or is successful. Diagonal thinkers “know so much in-depth stuff that it makes this perfect jigsaw puzzle,” Dr. Qubein said. “That makes it hard for someone to imitate what you do.” Don’t Seek Ideas; SeekWisdom. have is information, people will use you and discard you,” Dr. Qubein said. “If all you have is knowledge, people will only call upon you when they need you. But if you have wisdom, they will always respect you. And if they respect you, they’ll always do business with you.” At HPU, Dr. Qubein heavily promotes that every student has a success coach and a four-year development of Life Skills plan. “Knowledge does not equal understanding,” Dr. Qubein said. “The reason we all need to be coached, the reason we need heroes, role models, and mentors, is because we have to take knowledge — that is sometimes raw data — and turn it into understanding.” Whereas you gain knowledge and skills from a book, a speaker, or a bootcamp, using a system such as a mastermind helps you gain wisdom. “What you don’t get today, you get tomorrow,” Dr. Qubein explained. “It’s a continuum. It begins to penetrate your soul.” Ask Yourself Every Day, ‘What’s So Special About Me AndMy Company?’ Prompted by the fact that there are a million people in the world who can do your job, Dr. Qubein asks him - self every day how he can be more extraordinary, inspiring, and caring in each area of his life. Last year, in an effort to spur the revitalization of downtown High Point, North Carolina, he forged ahead with the construction of a nearly 60,000-square-foot The biggest mistake anyone can make in today’s environment is to focus on gaining more knowledge. “If all you
tomorrow, it may not be because things are continually chang- ing. Aiming to be the best in technology, Dr. Qubein spent $90 million on technology for the HPU campus. To stay ahead of other universities, he invests in new technology every year. “It’s a continuum,” Dr. Qubein explained. “I know I have to spend $5–$10 million every year, just to stay even. If you are just as good today as you were a year ago, you’re worse off. You must be better than you were a year ago, just to stay even. That’s the way the world really works.” That is also why, despite the threats posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, he pushed forward with a $170-million basketball arena and conference center. “This is unique,” Dr. Qubein said. “ I don’t know of another [university] that has a hotel and a conference center and a basketball arena all together in one building. The arena is set to open this year. Always better your best and you’ll never look back with regret.”
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