Experience Excellence

Someone told me how competitive they are—with others. This caused me to reflect. I’m competitive, but mostly with myself. I actually believe in the “continuous improvement” mantra of the Total Quality Management movement, but again, focused on me. Incidentally, I view competition with self as not selfish, but rather an attempt to practice good stewardship with one’s unique set of gifts. According to a Hindu proverb “There is nothing noble in being superior to some other man. The true nobility is being superior to your previous self.”

Reflection immediately after an event or activity—presenting a professional paper, negotiating an agreement, solving a problem, or managing a project—works for me. Reflection leads to a little improvement here and a little there and, over time, to big improvements. Or, as nicely stated by consultant H. Jackson Brown: “The road to success is not doing one thing 100 percent better, but doing 100 things one percent better.”

Another way to compete with—to better—ourselves is to experience excellence exhibited by others. While seeing the superb performance of others may naturally cause some envy, it is much more likely to inspire us, to stimulate us to do whatever we do even better. Observing how high others have set the bar in their chosen endeavors can cause us to push our bar up another notch. Unfortunately, the opposite is also true. Spending too much time with individuals exhibiting mediocrity and complacency, can tempt us to view our bar as being set high enough or, worse yet, too high and, therefore, convince us to lower it a notch or two.

What is excellence? My dictionary (Webster’s New World) defines it as “thefact or condition of excelling; superiority; surpassing goodness.” John Gardner, former secretary of health, education and welfare, strongly urged us to value excellence in all good things when he said: “The society which scorns excellence in plumbing as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy; neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water.”

Consultant Alan Weiss forcefully makes the case for excellence. He says “We’re being forced into a crazed egalitarian society where no one is supposed to shine, or stand out, or excel. Except for vapid celebrities and drug-assisted sports stars, we don’t want our ‘peers’ to be better than we are, even if they try harder or have more talent…Society is brought forward by excellence, not mediocrity” (Balancing Act, e-newsletter, March 2009).

Inspiration to excel comes from many sources. Twice in the past three years, my wife and I have been privileged to experience the Bethune-Cookman University Concert Chorale. They exemplify excellence beginning with their disciplined, proud, and energetic entrance into the concert hall. Accompanied by instrumentalists and interpretative dancers and under the direction of petite and gentle-appearing Dr. Rebecca Steele, this exuberant and talented group of students electrifies the audience with a variety of musical offerings. How do they excel? Answer: Practice every week day at 4:00 pm during the school year. Each time I heard—no—experienced the chorale, I committed to working even harder in communicating with audiences.

My dentist performed restorative work on my teeth. Based on years ofexperience with him and others, I know that he is expensive, but very good. In this case, I marveled at his skill; how he labored to match color, reproduce pattern, sculpture shape, and perfect my bite. I was inspired to become even more skillful in what I do.

My wife and I attended a play at a small Chicago theater. We were close enough to clearly hear the actors and see their expressions. Although the stage sets were simple, the superb lead performers drew us into the drama repeatedly evoking various emotional responses. The outside world temporarily disappeared. I was inspired to perform even better in my professional endeavors.

We can supplement first-hand experiences with people exhibiting excellence by reading or otherwise learning about individuals who have achieved excellence. For example, Arthur Morgan, as described in his biography Road to Creativity—Arthur Morgan—Engineer, Educator, Administrator (C. J. Leuba, Christopher Publishing House, 1971) inspired me years ago. He authored new drainage laws for Minnesota, founded his own engineering firm, created the Miami Conservancy District, rescued Antioch College, and organized the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Let’s proactively expand our activities so that we more frequently experience the excellence scattered all around us. Sometimes it will be costly; other times we will not have to dig deep as excellence is often nearby and available at little or no cost. Confucius said: “Excellence does not remain alone; it is sure to attract neighbors.” Let’s seek excellence, including looking for it in our “neighborhood.” As a result, someday we will exhibit excellence for others to experience.

This article is a modified version of an essay that originally appeared in Indiana Professional Engineer (September-October 2004).

Stuart G. Walesh is an engineering, management, and leadership consultant, and can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].