Comments

Great Seth. Excellence also comes from being sensitive to providing service that meets needs beyond the requested service. Let me give an example. Two days ago I was the victim of a smash and grab...knocked the glass out of my driver side window, stole everything they could. Called a glass company to have the window replaced (I was out of town on a gig of course). They made a special effort to get my window repaired quickly..nice, but the real excellence came from their technician. He performed his work to perfection including vacuuming all the glass from my car, no small task. But more importantly, he listened to my still excited retelling of the crime and the less than excellent service of the police. He was part repair person, part therapist. Then he mentioned that he used to work in a body shop, and asked if he could go through my car and help me find all the damage I needed to cite before I turned in a claim. Amazing. He did a hand drawn diagram, showing the location of every gouge, scratch, and dent. It was absolutely freezing out and since he was doing an on site repair, that time he spent was physically uncomfortable. Oh yes, the glass was nice, but I was left thinking, I have just dealt with a pro. He made more than a sale, he made a connection.

Posted by Mike Neiss at December 23, 2009 3:26 PM

Solo para agregar que la excelencia puede verse como la sonrisa al disfrutar algo que nos gusta y sabemos que no lo dejaríamos por nada.. bueno a no ser algo mas excelente...

Posted by Alex Flores at December 23, 2009 3:57 PM

Yes, indeed excellence as an external measure gets redefined from time to time. But "excellence" as an approach to life is often by birth or gets established in early years. An excellence driven individual will do everything with passion and desire to create Value and with childlike pride and excitement to create the best in class. Where skill matches passion, the excellence is witnessed and appreciated by outside world. Witness Artist dealing with other aspects of life that he cares for- you will see same passion and immersion to serve as when he puts brush to paper.

Excellence that gets driven by external factors like company performance meausres, financial incentives or fear of failure may not match one driven from "within".

Reflect!!!

Posted by Tushar Khosla at January 26, 2010 8:10 AM

Alex, thank you for posting a comment that our Spanish-speaking readers can appreciate. My interpretation of the English version I got from freetranslation.com is this:

I'd like to add only that excellence can be seen as the smile upon enjoying something that we like. We know that nothing else is left. Good to be not something but excellent ...

That last line defied me. I think it gives an idea of what Alex is trying to say to English speakers, however. How can something be good if it strives to be anything but excellent, perhaps.

Posted by cathy mosca at January 26, 2010 9:56 AM

Very good Seth. And very inspiring!
Definitely a book I will purchase.

Posted by Frithjof van der Werf at January 26, 2010 10:42 AM

Firstly, Seth: great question, well done - that'll stir up some debate.

To me, excellence isn't something that can be nailed down in numbers and targets, although these have their place. It's constantly changing. So, excellence is an attitude: a desire to learn, a willingness to be measured, a hunger to improve and a refusal to stand still. It's about dignity and respect for customers, colleagues and competitors alike. It's about service and pride.

Posted by Mark JF at January 26, 2010 10:45 AM

I love this. Great post from Godin (can he craft anything less than an excellent blog?). Reading thru Linchpin right now; I love it. It's so personal and relevant and to the point. Very inspiring. Thanks for the guest post.

Posted by Jeff Goins at January 26, 2010 11:14 AM

With deep respect for both Seth & Tom and their work as a blue collar worker I don't know why I need to read a book about excellence since I already know the definition from my dictionary and my mom also told my I was excellent. How many more books are needed to beat-up the work excellence?

I think both Seth & Tom speak of the employee who needs to redefine him/herself, instead they should focus more on the corporate heads who need fixing!

Posted by Peter Pallotta at January 26, 2010 12:01 PM

Wow! I don't know if I was reading or my brain was speaking to me.

Congratulations and thanks Seth!

Posted by Isaac Braña at January 26, 2010 2:00 PM

Every time I read Seth's material I get challenged... and wonder where he gets all his brilliance. Great stuff!

Posted by Angus Nelson at January 26, 2010 3:52 PM

Great post as we might expect from Seth - a gentleman and a scholar - thanks guvnor!

I love Mark's comment "excellence is an attitude" - so true.

I know excellence when I see it. I see excellence in my garbage collectors; I see excellence in the people who greet me in my Church on a Sunday; I saw excellence in my local railway station from the guy who sold me my ticket; I experience excellence (I guess) every time I flick the light switch in my house and the light comes on as if by magic.

What Seth, in his unique and brilliant way, makes me realise is that excellence surrounds me all the time and I take it for granted.

We don't need to look for the high profile, glamorous examples of excellence - we just need to look around us in order to discover excellence every day.

Posted by Trevor Gay at January 26, 2010 6:54 PM

Excellence - just like beauty is in the eye of the beholder :-)

Posted by Trevor Gay at January 26, 2010 8:02 PM

In his book, Purple Cow, Seth was explicit that a person (or company) doesn't get to decide if they (or their product/service) is a purple cow. It's only a purple cow if customers say it is.

Same with excellence, right? It's only excellent if our customers say it is. And it seems the only way to find out is to try new things. Throw spaghetti at the wall until something sticks. Then lather, rinse and repeat. It's that simple. And hard. Because, as Seth writes, excellence is fleeting. It takes an artist to reinvent the art of anything, including excellence.

Linchpin is a great book that reads nicely with The Pursuit of Wow!, the first business book I ever read.

Posted by Keith Jennings at January 26, 2010 10:31 PM

While Tom, Seth, & Co. have been inspiring organizations and individuals worldwide to excel, I'm seeing what some might consider a disturbing trend. This is the peddling of the "fast and cheap" as you see in this BusinessWeek article http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/dec2009/id2009121_864965.htm. You should also take a look at the Comments on the article.

Are you concerned that such "fast and cheap" stuff actually might take us back in time -- and therefore away from EXCELLENCE?

If not, do you think the current economic times justify it, as claimed by the authors/promoters?

Posted by Pradeep Henry at January 27, 2010 12:02 AM

Nice one, Seth. I'm not sure I agree with you about the water company, however. For me, excellence in many aspects of life is confidently not having to think/worry about something; I don't need a water company waving its bits at me in an attempt to show that it's somehow more than a commodity provider - that's exactly what it is, and exactly how I'd like it to be. Now just get on with it - do the job. No artistic theatre required, thank you.

The exception of course is how it deals with things when they go wrong. Then they can really demonstrate excellence in all sorts of ways. Literally they can "dig deep". But the thing is, I really hope it's never going to be necessary.

Kampai

Posted by RobCH at January 27, 2010 4:28 AM

It's an appealing idea, to be uniquely qualified and indispensable.
Others feel the same way about being shown exactly what to do and then just being left to get on with it.
I guess the point is the world uses both but tends to only use up one.

I'm going to read it, all Seth's previous books have been good thought (and action) provoking experiences for me...

Posted by Steve Worthington at January 27, 2010 10:52 AM

This is a great post. Thank you. Reading it I thought of that excellent Cool Friends interview that erik did with Garrison Keillor. When talking about how we are losing the essence of physical work he said, "My father was a carpenter. He worked with his hands. He was gifted with his hands. This was a life for him that had great dignity and meaning. This should be fostered. I hope that people don't follow my lead. I am a man who, in many ways, leads the life of a ten-year-old child. It's a very immature life. You have adults around you who are steering the ship."

In the same respect, I hope people don't all follow Tom's and Seth's leads of being an artist, a kind of Prima Donna. (There is no disrespect intended here at all. I have grown up in the theater and have known and loved world-renowned Prima Donnas my entire life.) We also need "boring" people in art and business. In fact, the people around both Tom and Seth probably all enable them to do what they do by doing the same "boring" things day in and day out. The life of an excellent artist require the same thing daily and there are a whole host of "boring" characters that are needed in art and business that don't need to be artists. An art dealer need not be an artist, neither does an accountant. This does not mean that they shouldn't be social. But if you consider the business of science—DaVinci aside—or computer science—Jaron Larnier aside—many of these guys are holed up doing the same thing every single day nearly 24 hours a day. Discipline can be boring, although rewarding.

The output of scientists and computer programmers is fantastic, but the task is often pure drudgery, although many would have it no other way. I remember practicing daily as an inspiring opera singer since adolescence, many days dreading the practice room and doing those scales. But at the time I would have done nothing else. From a standpoint of passion and discipline I see the importance of the artist example. But the same would be true for cancer researchers and I would not consider them artists. We don't all need to be artists. There is an acceptable flair implied here. We just need to be disciplined open passionate people who want to make a difference by fulfilling our individual and shared purpose. Others will make the distinction.

Posted by Judith Ellis at January 29, 2010 11:25 AM

One other thing, please. I wonder if our desire to be artists and creative types has, in fact, inhibited the necessity of doing what is actually required to be artistic or creative. I wonder if we are falling behind the world in innovation and manufacturing because we all want to be artists and most certainly not doing what is required, such as math and science. I wonder if our desire to be other than who we are and what is necessary has actually stymied growth and development. How many "artists" went to Wall Street, creating and bundling new complex instruments when, in fact, they should have been teaching elementary math? We do not all need to be artists.

Posted by Judith Ellis at January 29, 2010 1:50 PM

Seth - I have not read any of your books, although I have read a few of your posts on your blog and saw an interview here where you and Tom were on the same panel. I look forward to reading your upcoming book. I shall begin there.

Posted by Judith Ellis at January 29, 2010 1:53 PM

Seth, great post!
just few considerations: I have been consulting and training Italian Companies for 10 years now and I have been requested many times to "teach excellence", "inspire excellence" , include "excellence" in the corporate mission and vision statements of my clients...... You know what the real problem is? Most of them don't really MEAN IT! They just want to deliver some .... kind of positive thinking among workers .... knowing in advance that this "positive thinking" will eventually fade away. But the really sad thing is that companies seems not to care....
Excellence is too difficult to explain.. it's like beauty... you only know it when you see, but you can't explain it....

"E' veramente un peccato, perchè nella parola eccellenza c'è rinchiuso un significato di appagamento del servizio o del prodotto richiesto che non ha simili in nessun altra definizione...."

That was for the Italian speaking readers..!

Excellence is a form of art! I like that !

Posted by Enrico Banchi at January 30, 2010 3:13 AM

Grazie tante, Enrico. Il suo commento e parlato davvero come un vero italiano. Ma forse e piu poetico di realistico. L'eccellenza ha bisogno di spiegare; non e semplicemente come la bellezza o come l'amore. Desideriamo delle spiegazioni anche con queste parle. Ho chiesto l'altra notte al mio amico, "mi dice perché lei mi ama?" :-)

(Enrico's comment is spoken as a true Italian. But perhaps it is more poetic than realistic. We need to talk about excellence. It's not as beauty or love. We want an explanation even for these words. Just the other day I questioned my love, "Tell me," I said. "Why do you love me?" :-)

Posted by Judith Ellis at January 30, 2010 7:11 AM

"One other thing, please. I wonder if our desire to be artists and creative types has, in fact, inhibited the necessity of doing what is actually required to be artistic or creative."

What I see is an emphasis on creativity without a focus on
knowledge - This is my problem with almost everything Tom pushes - he never discusses the work involved in gaining an actual skill. This work is almost always boring and involves druggery. For confirmation of this, look at Malcolm Gladwells latest work. Tom emphasizes 'soft' - but, as I've said before, the IPOD would be a fantasy if the physics that allowed gigabytes of storage to be cheap and small had not been discovered. Also, as I've said before, without microprocessors, there would be no Apple, Facebook or Steve Jobs.
This is never stressed by the likes of Tom Peters, Dan Pink or Seth Godin. Boring Rules! We need to learn how to deal with boring tasks that cannot be made interesting. This is
what Malcolm Gladwell discusses in his latest work.

Now, what wrong with this Tom Video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_w4AfflmeM
After viewing the video, I ask
how is literally coloring outside the lines creative?
A handfull of worms covered in water paint can do these kinds of things. The kid discussed in this video was in drawing class to develop his motor skills - he was not there to become Picasso! - so he could learn to control his hand movements which would mean he would be more likely to make something usefull.
Also, notice what Tom says(thinks) about factory workers.

Posted by zorro at January 30, 2010 9:41 PM

Zorro, good point, though "drudgery" perhaps?

And Judith, you can't leave us dangling: what was the response???

Posted by RobCH at January 31, 2010 11:08 AM

Zorro - You make an good point with regards to the motor skills of young people. I quite often talk to parents on their blogs when they are so quick to criticize teachers when it comes to their "little Johnny," not understanding a teacher's professional job in a classroom with regards to the entire student body. Teachers have set agendas in order to teach a broad spectrum of things to some 25 kids in the classroom. Your point is well taken.

Tom also made a good point. His focus seemed to be unleashing creativity, getting beyond the stifling straight jackets of cubicle thinking. I think we have to also consider the audience. Tom was addressing professional men and women, seeking to get to move them beyond the humdrum of their daily work existence to embrace new avenues of thought by saying "color outside of the lines," break the rules. This was an inspirational session.

To make another quick reference to Tom's school example, the difference is in the method. Consider how Montessori schools teach as opposed to many others. My nephew who went to Montessori school colored outside of the lines often. Today, he has no problem with motor skills. Even if Tom prefers say Montessori schools to others this would be okay. It would be his preference. Why would you take his word for gospel about education anyway?

Tom is in the business of giving his years of knowledge and experience in business. He uses various examples to do this. But it's simply his opinion. With regards to the audience, he was not speaking on speaking to a panel of intellectual educators whose task was to find solutions for how to best teach the motor skills of elementary students. His point was made to adults to inspire them to think outside of the box, although it was clear that he has passion for education.

Tom's mother was an educator and I remember reading a story about her classroom and her "bumbling assistant" that moved me incredibly. Zorro, she taught in an much like you taught in which included various kids from different backgrounds, including race and social standing. I'm sure Tom learned many invaluable lessons watching his mother teach which undoubtedly comes through in his sessions with professionals. The lessons my mother taught me are seen in what I do each and every day. Others remind me of this.

Note to Rob: In the future I shall leave you exactly where I want you. Good of you to ask, though. :-)

Posted by Judith Ellis at January 31, 2010 12:47 PM

Wonderful,Seth.Very thought provoking. Surely, the last word on excellence is yet to be said.May it never be said!

But, excellence does provoke serious thoughts in us - just as it did in you and Tom for 20-25 years.

So,one thing for sure is, excellence, like life, is a journey, not an end;

It is not a goal post,you reach and say, I have arrived. Enjoy the journey, as far as it takes you.

Are we sure, every customer wants excellence? Let some things be boring, so we can enjoy excellence where (and when) we really can enjoy it.

We do have boring priorities like creating jobs. When a cheap, low quality thing comes from China, many Americans, Europeans and others are 'wow'ed by such Cheap, low quality thing also!

Excellence then, shoudn't be costlier than the chinese make. This is an important point for excellence to survive.

Surely, the last word on excellence will never be said. It's tough. May Tom and Godin live for another 25 years in search of excellence.

Posted by v.vijayamohan at February 1, 2010 2:26 PM

"Tom is in the business of giving his years of knowledge and experience in business. He uses various examples to do this. But it's simply his opinion."'

I realize it is just his opinion - and that is my point!
Who cares? Why is his opinion better than anyone else's?
Have his ideas measurably benefited anyone? (Other than the army of Tom Peters clones doing their very best Tom Peters imitation for a living)
As for experience, exactly what is his experience?
Other than a stint in the military, when was he in charge of more than a handful of
people? What product has he created? What complex system has he ever implemented?
He talks about a bias for action, but exactly - concretely - what are his actions? What has he ever done (at least for the past 30 years) aside from write and perform?

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"Tom also made a good point. His focus seemed to be unleashing creativity, getting beyond the stifling straight jackets of cubicle thinking. I think we have to also consider the audience. Tom was addressing professional men and women, seeking to get to move them beyond the humdrum of their daily work existence to embrace new avenues of thought by saying "color outside of the lines," break the rules. This was an inspirational session."

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Exactly what is anyone inspired to do after a session like this?
I bet it leads to a good water cooler discussion or two, but that is about it.
We need 'outside the box thinking?'. These days, that is advice you can find on a fortune cookie.

Posted by zorro at February 1, 2010 3:18 PM

Now as someone like Seth who bought and avidly read Thriving on Chaos (and many other books of a similar type), I am amazed at how few British executives or managers have read anything other than a handful of broadsheet newspapers and may be just may be some of the Spencer Johnson stuff (Who moved my cheese etc).

I think we Brits have this sort of holier than though mentality that may have something to do with our Colonial past that in reading self-help books or stories of US authors that somehow we are demonstrating a sign of weakness. THEY DON'T GET IT.

How the heck are they going to learn from others if they don't read about it or better still get out of their cosy offices and start spending some time looking at the emerging economies as to how to do things better. brand viagra on sale in canada

I have remained employed in the service sector - even as a lawyer I keep telling people that that is what we are (I think the analogy with my former life as a recruitment consultant never goes down well - how very dare he); but the truth is that once the legal services marker gets opened up fully we are going to be fair game for the multi-national retailers and service operators who will quickly work out a model of excellence that doesn't involve paying to employ a lot of expensive lawyers. Happy days; and then there is the digital media revolution. Don't get me started on that one because we will be here for hours.

I think if we could just see the bigger picture and act on 1% of what we should be doing then that would be a start but I suspect like a number of sectors in Britain by the time people have woken up to the doomsday scenario it will be too late.

Posted by Julian Summerhayes at February 1, 2010 5:00 PM

"Take, for example, my water company. Are they excellent? Every time I turn on the tap, water comes out. The bills aren't outrageous. I never need to call them. Are they excellent? Or boring?"

Is airline safety boring? Why don't we ever talk about it? Because planes rarely crash. The most difficult things that airlines do which is fly people from place to place safely is never appreciated. But are very impressed when the airline staff sings rap songs to deliver the routine seatbelt, exit door message.
We are a bunch of idiots.

Posted by zorro at February 2, 2010 10:18 PM

I am reading Seth's latest book right now. I am 1/4 through it. I am thinking "If everyone followed their passion, colored outside of the lines, marched to the beat of their own drummer, we would have chaos... utter chaos."

But... what am I worried about? The 'saving grace' is that we will always have drones. Those for whom Miller Time marks the end of a dreary day. As Jesus said in Jesus Christ Superstar "There will be poor always, pathetically struggling, look at the good things you've got."

We don't have to worry about everyone reading Seth's or Tom's books and having a mass epiphany. Ain't gonna happen. So we will always have someone to check the airplanes, deliver the mail, work in the factories and when someone gets sick and tired of the grind and decides to move on, there will be 15 or 15 hundred more waiting to grab their spot.

(n.b. To see what the world would be like without the Linchpins or those that care about excellence, visit Bulgaria or beyond before they rid themselves of their two generations of Soviet 'order'. It is fading fast, hopefully never to return, so visit soon so you have it etched into your mind.)

Posted by RandySpangler at February 2, 2010 11:47 PM

"Is airline safety boring? Why don't we ever talk about it? Because planes rarely crash. The most difficult things that airlines do which is fly people from place to place safely is never appreciated. But are very impressed when the airline staff sings rap songs to deliver the routine seatbelt, exit door message.
We are a bunch of idiots."

Zorro - I'm laughing so hard right now! It's something about the juxtaposition of the two. But in all fairness, if the airline staff makes the flight more enjoyable there is something to say for that too. Also, as a non-engineer, I wouldn't like to consider how I'm in the air while in the air, but I still appreciate the engineering that allows such. I think what we are largely addressing here in this thread is that we need to elevate engineering and technology. We need to make it cool again. We will do this by getting younger generations to appreciate science and math. They’re churning them out in India and China. So, we need a cultural shift that says it's okay to be boring. But the reality is that science and engineering are anything but boring. It's all about how they’re introduced and what we expect. Hopefully, there will be a reawakening. When the wind has blown one way for a while, it will soon blow another. But winds do gather steam by the environment. We have to create an environment of discovery and innovation.

Posted by Judith Ellis at February 3, 2010 8:33 AM

Business blogs seem to endlessly drone on about great airline service. Great airline service is great. But in many ways, it is the easiest part of what goes on in air transportation.
The safety record of the airlines is the result of big boring organizations (private and government) who keep their eye on the ball. They are not a brand. They are beurocrats.
I think this can serve as a metaphor as to what is going wrong with our economy. I've said this before, but I think it is very profound. Computers were invented during WWII as a bi-product of a machine that broke Nazi codes. (big government project) The silicon chip is a product of cold war science as is the internet. Steve Jobs sat on the shoulders of the success of big government, period.
We are missing this. Tom obviously does not understand this.
Tom does not 'get it'. If he does, he is doing a great job of keeping this to himself. Obviously, China 'gets it'.

Posted by zorro at February 3, 2010 9:21 AM

Randy - who is the drone? the guy who puts his 8 hours in at the factory and then goes home to be with his family or the guy who woks 80 hours a week on something WOW, something that pushes the value of his companies stock up -
but has no time for his family?
The factory worker is not a drone - he lives to serve his family.
The guy who spends his life growing the economy, which is a complete abstraction, and spends no time with his family could also be thought of as a drone, just a part of a machine - and would have been thought of that way only a generation ago.

Posted by zorro at February 3, 2010 9:30 AM

'two generations of Soviet 'order'. It is fading fast, hopefully never to return, so visit soon so you have it etched into your mind.)'

Quit the Soviet order BS.
Think Chinese order.

Posted by zorro at February 3, 2010 11:14 AM

Zorro - You're killing me, man! LOL!

Posted by Judith Ellis at February 3, 2010 11:15 AM

"To see what the world would be like without the Linchpins or those that care about excellence, "

Randy - drones checking airplanes?
I hope these 'drones' care about excellence at least as
much as the people who make sure the shower curtain is
in the correct place in my hotel bath room.

And if an airplane mechanic isn't a 'Linchpin' then no one is.
In fact, why aren't the guys who install linchpins linchpins?

Posted by zorro at February 3, 2010 2:01 PM

Excellence is time-bound. What used to be excellent is now boring. YOU, your company must evolve - ahead of everyone else. This will cause you to fail, but that I argue is the price of Excellence.

Posted by Dennis D. Balajadia at February 8, 2010 7:40 PM

Its all about chasing shadows.

By that I mean latching on to this or that latest, most innovative idea that some self styled money making guru has put out in the hope it’ll go viral and make them a lot of money off the backs of all the headless chickens who will follow them blindly down a blind alley. It’s a shame but a truism nonetheless that people will follow where someone they see as an expert leads. Even if they lead them to certain disaster, which is what most of the gurus tend to do to their flocks.
The trick is to recognize a shadow when you see it!

www.onlineuniversalwork.com

Posted by jamesd at February 9, 2010 6:15 AM

I think what's warping the discussion here is the fact that the concepts "creative" and "artist" are viewed (at least in the U.S.) as "optional" and "not pertinent to Real Life" [whatever that is].

I feel that everyone is potentially creative and everyone is potentially an artist -- in his/her chosen field of work. For example, I work with a group of paper-pushing bureaucrats in government. Many of them are drones who clock in 40 hrs/week and go home to yell at their kids and kick the dog. The people who excel at the job are those who have a passion for what they do, are willing to take creative approaches to getting the job done, and take pride in doing it well (they want to be the best fire safety engineer they can be), and I consider them "artists" in the sense that Seth is using the term.

As for whether it's "better" for someone to do a drone job that enables them to spend time with their family, vs. a job they're passionate about that keeps them at work 80 hrs/wk, I say it's not necessarily an either/or. My father came out of the Depression mentality: Never quit a "good job," no matter how awful it is, because you need it to support your family. But his unhappiness with his job spilled over into his family life, and he died relatively young of a stress-related illness.

If you're doing work you care about, and feel like you're doing something positive for humanity, then you're not only happier, but you're setting a great example for your children. (It took me 20+ years in the work force before I realized that work didn't have to be a boring slog -- and I credit Tom Peters for being one of my mentors.)

Posted by Paula at February 10, 2010 12:47 PM

While this issue can be very vexed for most people, my thought is that there has to be a middle or common ground that we all can find. I do value that you've added pertinent and sound commentary here though. Thank you!

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