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The 19Es of Excellence
Today's joyous commemoration of the birth of Dr Martin Luther King Jr and tomorrow's unique show of peaceful American renewal and celebration of limitless American possibility got me thinking about Excellence—no surprise. Out of which came these "19 Es of Excellence." You will also find it as a PDF.
If Not Excellence, What?
If Not Excellence Now, When?
The "19 Es" of Excellence:
Enthusiasm. (Be an irresistible force of nature!)
Energy. (Be fire! Light fires!)
Exuberance. (Vibrate—cause earthquakes!)
Execution. (Do it! Now! Get it done! Barriers are baloney! Excuses are for wimps! Accountability is gospel! Adhere to the Bill Parcells doctrine: "Blame no one! Expect nothing! Do something!")
Empowerment. (Respect and appreciation rule! Always ask, "What do you think?" Then listen! Then let go and liberate! Then celebrate!)
Edginess. (Perpetually dancing at the frontier, and a little or a lot beyond.)
Enraged. (Determined to challenge & change the status quo!)
Engaged. (Addicted to MBWA/Managing By Wandering Around. In touch. Always.)
Electronic. (Partners with the world 60/60/24/7 via electronic community building and entanglement of every sort. Crowdsourcing rules!)
Encompassing. (Relentlessly pursue diverse opinions—the more diversity the merrier! Diversity per se "works"!)
Emotion. (The alpha. The omega. The essence of leadership. The essence of sales. The essence of marketing. The essence. Period. Acknowledge it.)
Empathy. (Connect, connect, connect with others' reality and aspirations! "Walk in the other person's shoes"—until the soles have holes!)
Experience. (Life is theater! Make every activity-contact memorable! Standard: "Insanely Great"/Steve Jobs; "Radically Thrilling"/BMW.)
Eliminate. (Keep it simple!)
Errorprone. (Ready! Fire! Aim! Try a lot of stuff and make a lot of booboos and then try some more stuff and make some more booboos—all of it at the speed of light!)
Evenhanded. (Straight as an arrow! Fair to a fault! Honest as Abe!)
Expectations. (Michelangelo: "The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it." Amen!)
Eudaimonia. (Pursue the highest of human moral purpose—the core of Aristotle's philosophy. Be of service. Always.)
Excellence. (The only standard! Never an exception! Start now! No excuses! If not Excellence, what? If not Excellence now, when?)
ARCHIVES
Before blogging became all the rage, Tom was posting book reviews and Observations (essentially early blog posts) to this site. You can find the archives below.
What Tom's Reading Archives
OBSERVATIONS ARCHIVES
right now
What we're talking about
on the front page.
Comments
Here's the link on YouTube to MLKJr's last speech, leading you to others, if you like what you hear:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0FiCxZKuv8
And here's the Wikipedia entry for eudaimonia, defined as happiness, but so much more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudaimonia
Cathy
Posted by cathy mosca at January 19, 2009 11:47 AM
You left one off:
Enjoyment! Work is fun! Life is fun! Enjoy it, even (especially) when it's tough.
Posted by Mark JF at January 19, 2009 12:02 PM
Example?
Posted by Rob at January 19, 2009 12:12 PM
Inspiring list for an inspiring day. I am ENCOURAGED. Words mean something.
Posted by tim at January 19, 2009 12:49 PM
Ebullient!
Posted by gerson barbosa at January 19, 2009 1:15 PM
Enough already...
Posted by Mark JF at January 19, 2009 2:20 PM
Expectation. (Thank you, Tom Peters, for such beauty. Excellence and enthusiasm, immeasurably, unmistakably you.)
Posted by Judith Ellis at January 19, 2009 2:46 PM
"Example?" Me and You?
Posted by Judith Ellis at January 19, 2009 2:47 PM
Mark, yup. Enjoyment. #20. But now I'll have to come up with #21, because I don't like such lists to have #s like 10 or 20 or 25.
Posted by tom peters at January 19, 2009 3:23 PM
Thanks, Cathy, for both links.
Posted by Judith Ellis at January 19, 2009 3:46 PM
Judith, re Cathy, ditto. (And a good day to say thanks to Cathy for her thoughtful day-to-day management of our little community.)
Posted by tom peters at January 19, 2009 3:49 PM
Trevor...this is where you're supposed to add England! ))
...
Posted by Jeff Pasquale at January 19, 2009 5:01 PM
Cheers Jeff - of course!! - why didn't I think of that - Happy New Year my friend, hope you are keeping well :-)
Posted by Trevor Gay at January 19, 2009 5:04 PM
Entry - The only one?
Posted by Judith Ellis at January 19, 2009 5:09 PM
"Adequate" is the new exellence due to the radical dowturn!
AAA. Results - maybe even some profit!
Aardvarks. They are funny!
Accomplish. Something - anything!
Ace. All your exams & trials & tribulations!
Act. Out your fantasies - that is all we have left!
Alphabetical!
Posted by Contraire at January 19, 2009 6:45 PM
Adequate isn't quite
Enough
Adequate isn't nearly
Excellence
Adequate isn't properly
Engaged
Adequate isn't
AAA
Adequate is alright, allowable, about, approximate and
unAcceptable
Posted by Mark JF at January 20, 2009 3:02 AM
And now for the real world of business .. and everything opposite of the 'excellence' Tom rightly calls for.
I get really angry about the scandalous way some managers ‘dispose of’ employees from the payroll as if they are just disposable 'products' without feelings. Management integrity must go all the way down the line – particularly when people have to leave the payroll, not from their own choice. It’s a no brainer as our friends in the US would say. 'Offloading' people (what a terrible expression that is) should be done with dignity and respect for the person. The recession is hitting lots of people all over the world. A friend of mine recently experienced ‘the boot’ and these are his own words to me yesterday:
“Had a 10 minute phone call week before Christmas saying ‘thanks and bye.’ Still in fact not had anything in writing/P45 etc so I am not sure what is happening – other than looking for a job.”
That’s over a month with no word from the company!
I have said in various places in the last week or two that all managers should work within an ethical framework. This is yet another example of why I say that. There is just no excuse for such downright appalling bad manners and dreadful management practices. Whatever the circumstances are, no employee should be treated this way.
I started out this rant with the word ‘scandalous’ but on reflection that is far too kind a word for such ignorant behaviour. Professionalism in management does not end when a decision is made to ‘offload’ a person – it becomes even more important than ever before!
Why the hell do managers allow themselves to be tarnished with such bad practice? (because make no mistake you are tarnished by association)
Posted by Trevor Gay at January 20, 2009 4:50 AM
I realise my earlier contribution may have been a bit too cryptic. The intention was not to seek an example of excellence but to add Example to the list. In the sense that Excellence sets the bar, is exemplary, something to admire, emulate and beat, and as such is a powerful tool in the quest for improvement.
Posted by Rob at January 20, 2009 5:14 AM
Earnest - about Execution.
Posted by gerson barbosa at January 20, 2009 5:59 AM
Rob - Example. I took it to mean that as leaders we should set an example. And if we're followers, we should still set an example. "You must be the change..."
Posted by Mark JF at January 20, 2009 6:15 AM
"Adequate" exchange reminds me of my only ad campaign (that matters), for jobs.com in the dot-com heydays. The-my keynote was, more or less, "Don't call me 'competent.'"
I can hear the screams, but the idea was that in the days of accelerating outsourcing and new-tech (this was early, about 1994), one had to be more than "competent," or "Badge #37 in the purchasing department," as I put it, one had to have a mark of clear distinction, or, as we called it, Brand You.
Contraire: loved the Comment!
Posted by tom peters at January 20, 2009 7:13 AM
Tom, thank you for the appreciation. Sorry, that doesn't start with an E. These people who added E-words to your list are clever, but I hope their suggestions don't lead to our posting a replacement!
Posted by cathy mosca at January 20, 2009 7:48 AM
"Don't call me 'competent!'"
YOU GOTTA LOVE IT!
Posted by Judith Ellis at January 20, 2009 9:44 AM
Being 'adequate' is perfect for our times - just ask Ben Graham....
Ben Graham is a sweet kick of a football. He will next be on show in Tampa playing for the Arizona Cardinals against the Pitsburgh Steelers at the Super Bowl. Ben might get to show the world how well he kicks a 'drop punt' (a talent honed playing Australian Rules Football for Geelong) and if his team is up to the job he might come away with a Super Bowl Winner's Ring.
Just 7 weeks ago Ben Graham was unemployed and practicising his kicking in a park in New Jersey. Until early this season he had punted for the New York Jets. He was sacked re-engaged and sacked again. For one week he was picked up by New Orleans but let go again. Then the Arizona Cardlinals approached him - they knew they were headed for the play offs and they wanted Ben because he could adequately meet the needs of their team. In the play offs Arizona would probably have to play one game in the snow and Ben had experience playing in snow and icy conditions. As the play offs turned out Arizona did not have to play in snow or ice. Nonetheless Ben Graham has proven he is an adequate punter for them and so together they are off to the Super Bowl.
Are you adequate in meeting your team's needs?
Posted by Richard Lipscombe at January 20, 2009 8:02 PM
Mark JF. Exactly.
Posted by Rob at January 21, 2009 1:39 AM
Great list.
Posted by Kadri Kiilas at January 23, 2009 7:41 AM
My own favorite "E's"...
Effective (doing what we intended to do)
Efficient (doing it at a low cost - $'s and hours)
Excellent (what Tom says)
Elegant (transcending Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Excellence to deliver something universally special...)
Posted by Troy at January 26, 2009 2:37 PM
Nicholas Nassim Taleb would ask: Is this "E´s" filosofy and all exelence stuff Good for very few and leaves a very large cemetery of people who applyed it and got nowhere, or it does good everybody?
Posted by Fausto at February 1, 2009 10:23 AM