Perfect vs Excellence


Dear CoachVille R&D Team Member,

Just an fyi.

1. As you may know, I've crafted a couple of programs that use the term 'perfect' and a lot of folks don't like the term and try to insert/recommend use of the term 'excellence' instead.

2. These three programs are:
--A Perfect Life
--A Perfect Person
--Perfect 100 Program
Both are included in LifeVille and thus CoachVille.

3. I also refer to perfect as one of the primary values of CoachVille (and again, quite a few on the R&D team recommended, nicely, use of the term excellence instead.

4. Now, nothing is wrong with excellence, other than it's "been done."  And of course, it's light years behind perfect, but then there's my bias showing.

5. So, here's a little nugget I wrote for the 160 participants in the Perfect 100 Program, on that topic.

I hope you enjoy it.  I'm not looking for suggestions/tweaks, but if you find this useful, please let me know.

Best,

Thomas

Daily Nugget #44
Perfect vs. mere excellence
by Thomas J. Leonard. All rights reserved. Licensed use only.

Do you have ANY ideas how many emails I get a month from well-meaning coaches who urge me away from the Perfect thing and back to the Excellence thing?

Been there, done that, got the t-shirt (a very excellent one, too, it might add), and moved on to the much more fertile ground of perfect.

I've got nothing against excellence other than it's tired, been done, been overdone, is a cliche'. And that GM uses it as a tagline (GM: The Mark of Excellence). Enough said.

Now, Porsche is a company going for perfection. And it shows.

And, if you find yourself in a discussion/debate with Par Excellence person, you can always share with them the definitions of each term.

Excellence:
--The quality of excelling
--Possessing good qualities in high degree 
--Exceptionally good of its kind
--Superior in kind or degree

Perfect:
--Lacking nothing essential to the whole; complete of its nature or kind. 
--Being without defect or blemish.
--Thoroughly skilled or talented in a certain field or area; proficient. 
--Completely suited for a particular purpose or situation: She was the perfect actress for the part. 
--Completely corresponding to a description, standard, or type: a perfect circle; a perfect gentleman. 
--Accurately reproducing an original: a perfect copy of the painting. 
--Complete; thorough.
--Pure; undiluted; unmixed: perfect red. 
--Excellent and delightful in all respects: a perfect day. 


See the difference?  

Excellence is comparative (high degree, exceptionally good of its kind, superior in kind or degree).

Perfect just is perfect (no defect; complete, fitting, accurate, undiluted).

Big, big difference... In my view, perfect is much more interesting. Excellence is just a linear path of improvement. Yawn.

Perfection is often discontinuous in progression/occurrence.

Thomas