dispatches from the new world of work

Joy to the World: Excellence Revived! (Tom, Mark II?)

I got so damn sick of "excellence," so worn out by "excellence" ... for years after "the book" became a hit. Distanced myself from it. Ran from it. (Though I willingly collected the royalties.) Now I've come full circle. Sure, I think In Search of ... was a pretty good book. But I also think a lot of its success stemmed from the word "excellence" per se.

Excellence!
How cool!
What an aspiration!
What else is there?

In particular, no one before ISOE (perhaps) had used the word "excellence" and the word "business" in the same sentence!

Business, pre-1982? Efficiency. Adults only. Serious. Money. Humorless. By the numbers. Booooorrrring.

No! No! No! No!

Simple exam: synonyms and antonyms for "excellence."

Excellence/Synonyms: Purity. Transcendence. Virtue. Elegance. Majesty.
Excellence/Antonyms: Mediocrity.

So, old-I is-am back! In love ... AGAIN ... with Excellence. And I have a new seminar-presentation title:

EXCELLENCE. ALWAYS.

Launched it in, yes, Siberia!

Which leads me to ...

Tom Peters posted this on 04/24/06.

Comments

Purity transcendence elegance virtue majesty - ... wonder how we transcend away from terror to the global village of health, wealth and happiness.

Posted by Sean at April 24, 2006 9:19 AM

Tom, so happy you've returned to "Excellence" with a full heart. It was the book that started it all for me way back when... got me on the road to thinking differently about business. And I've been on the road with you ever since. It will be interesting to watch what you do with the next step in the evolution of this concept.

Thanks for sharing...

Posted by Michele Miller at April 24, 2006 10:37 AM

Management gurus NEVER lose their excellence :-)

Posted by Trevor at April 24, 2006 11:09 AM

Well, yes, many of us did jump on your bandwagon and beat the word to death, didn't we? But, the power and potential behind the word has always been there. Like "empowerment" - it's what we make of it.

Too bad, the Donald doesn't invite you to run his Apprentice show. The teams might actually - gee, what a concept - learn something good!

Posted by Mary Schmidt at April 24, 2006 11:30 AM

Trevor - sorry, my friend, but that's nonsense. Management gurus (and ordinary citizens) have a day-to-day responsibility to do their best. And if they don't, they become ex management guru's. It's not a status you attain and get awarded for life: it's something that has to be earned. Every day. Every task.

Posted by MarkJF at April 24, 2006 12:46 PM

Tying in excellence with you other post on your visit to Russia, is a great insight that is so easy to forget: the basics of management that so many throw out on their road to...not excellence.

Posted by Gary Bourgeault (managersrealm.com) at April 25, 2006 12:43 AM

Also - Thank you for being honest about it Tom. One of the things I love about this blog ( and I think it is worth acknowledging from time to time) is the honesty both from Tom and others about their thoughts and feelings on these topics.

Posted by PaulH at April 25, 2006 5:19 AM

Good criticism Mark - I did that in a rush - it should have said - GOOD management gurus (TP) never lose their execellence!

Posted by Trevor at April 25, 2006 6:01 AM