Before Excellence

The virtue of excellence is frequently misunderstood. It's true that the alternative -- mediocrity or apathy (take your pick) -- is untenable. Yet the trouble with "excellence" is that it can easily be reduced to an empty platitude for shallow individuals to readily invoke.

Clearly, we pay too much lip service to the notion of excellence. But a bigger problem is that there's a tendency to forget that any commitment to excellence presupposes more than just basic competence. Values matter, too; indeed, they make all the difference. Without such basic things as honesty, integrity, and the fundamental commitment simply to do good, how can anyone even begin to understand, much less aspire for, excellence?

It's pithy but true: there is a difference between doing things right and doing the right things. A lot of people make the mistake of confusing excellence with the former. In reality, excellence can only begin meaningfully with the latter.

[Image credit: Excellence in Excellence (top) by Hugh MacLeod. The Tom Peters-inspired graphic (bottom) is just me thinkin' visually.]