Excellence

Excellence: ěk'sə-ləns, a word that is only about 600 years old. Interestingly, this word is now being used quite a bit. As Centers of Excellence, Excellence Award, and then in lesser contexts like excellent food, excellent technique, and many more, it has slipped into the vocabulary of board rooms, the printed media and it has become a bit cheap as a result. What about words like superb, merit, distinction?

Love. A word in a similar disposition. I’ll leave it at that.

Soon I’ll be attending another Excellence Awards ceremony, where individuals will be praised for their achievements. Their lofty achievements will be recounted, it will be shown how noble they have been in their endeavors to achieve beyond their peers. But excellence is a close family member of the brother called exaggeration. Inflated statements may be made to substantiate the lofty claims.

How do we assess the quality of the work done? “Quality” is another slippery word. In 1988 I was given a copy of “Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance” by Robert Pirsig. My friend Jack Fletcher wrote (amongst other things) the following on the inside flap “Besides, no serious post graduate study in ‘science’ should proceed without first reading this!”. What was it that Jack wanted me to notice? Was it the turmoil of the search for understanding, seeking the deeper self and the dynamics of relationships, or perhaps the confounding behaviour of mechanical devices? Or was it about the metaphysical element ‘quality’? Pirsig’s main character argues back and forth during the 17 day journey about the dimensions of this word, looking at it holistically, analysing it, etc.

In the case of “excellence” one could claim that it is similar: can one find the place where the rational and the romantic perceptions come together to bring appropriate meaning to the word? I believe this is necessary if we want to lift the word back to where it belongs. So that it can describe the things that are out there on the edge of our experience, not within reach of everybody that puts in a bit effort. No, it must demand blood, sweat and tears; it must call for the sharpest of analytical ability being applied during its creation, and it must be seen as a guiding light for others trying to achieve in the same area. It must be beautiful.

If it is a book, it must be new, it must challenge the analyst, it must puzzle the zen student, it must make one nod in agreement, while you have a suspicion something is still lurking to be discovered and it must bring the romantic forward in all of us, blinding us with the sensation that we have happened upon real beauty, something deeply good. I believe the same goes for technology and science. In fact, for all human endeavor one can bring examples that will fit the template described above. The template may have dimensions I missed here, but I guess it is a start. Best for me to call in those that have been recognised for excellence to speak on it.

I leave you with this, from Shakespeare’s “The Two Gentlemen of Verona” Act IV Scene ii:

Who Is Silvia?
Who is Silvia? what is she,
That all our swains commend her?
Holy, fair, and wise is she;
The heaven such grace did lend her,
That she might admirèd be.

Is she kind as she is fair?
For beauty lives with kindness.
Love doth to her eyes repair,
To help him of his blindness,
And, being helped, inhabits there.

Then to Silvia let us sing,
That Silvia is excelling;
She excels each mortal thing
Upon the dull earth dwelling:
To her let us garlands bring.

I use images from my own library and other open sources, as well as commercial sites. All commercial images are paid for and may not be used without you also buying rights to them. Do the right thing, reward the efforts of the artists. Image in this piece from iStockphoto.