I have a nostalgia for ”the Fifties,” because I was there. It is easy to remember the music, the “Happy Days” and forget polio, duck-and-cover and the draft. However, there was a word in common use then, that has disappeared from use today.
I heard it in conversations. It was promoted in speeches, sermons and lectures by teachers, religious leaders, civic officials, business leaders and even politicians. There was even a best selling book by John W. Gardner with that title.
It was considered a worthy goal.
What is the missing word?
Excellence.
Excellence was replaced in the sixties by a combination of two words made infamous by the Vietnam War – “body count.”
We hear body counts incessantly. No news reports is complete without references to numerous polls, box office numbers trump quality, attendance is the standard measure of just about everything, customer service is a dinosaur, “Black Friday” competition by retailers is smothering Thanksgiving.
Recently I was enjoying a local event when my pleasure was jared by the head of the event walking the isles counting. Afterword, I overheard him and his lieutenants, not talking about the excellence of the program, but making sure that late comers and those standing outside were included in the final count to be reported up the next day. Why, couldn’t they simply have reported: “the auditorium was full!”
Attendance at one-time events is usually the result of promotion and name recognition, not content. How many times have you been disappointed? It is true that growing attendance at a continuing event may reflect excellent content because of word-of-mouth; but, how many times have you been to a sparsely attended ongoing event of incredible excellence?
Unfortunately, we have been brainwashed by: “The Measurement Fallacy.”
“People tend to think that what they can measures is what they want, just because they can measure it. Because it can be counted, it must be important.”
Do you know who said?
“One death is a tragedy. A million deaths is a statistic.
Surprise! it was Joseph Stalin.
When was the last time you heard the word excellence or thought about it?
Is excellence the way out of our current doldrums? Did lack of excellence get us here?
Why, is excellence a missing word today?
Are you a “body counter?”
How do you develop excellence? John W. Gardner said in his book referenced above:
“Excellence is doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.”
And:
“If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude.”
– Colin Powell
Do things well and numbers will not matter.
Carpe diem,
Carl
