Excellence vs. Perfection

I have been thinking a lot about this topic over the past few days.  I am not sure entirely what to say, just that it is important to say it. So here goes...

There is a profound difference between Excellence and Perfection. They are not the same things at all.

Excellence is an outcome.  We never achieve excellence, we contribute to it.  It is like healthy children or healthy food - we need to constantly strive to work towards healthy children or food.  Profitability, likewise is an outcome that we continue to work towards.

Philip Crosby in his book "Quality is Free", says that we do not have to be perfect to have zero defects.  What we have to do is meet the requirements.  Excellence can be defined as meeting or exceeding the requirements of your clients, customers, stakeholders or fans.  That is different than perfect.

Perfection is a target, a destination. Perfection is a how much. Perfect (the root of perfection) has two meanings.  One meaning of perfect is something without blemish.  As in "this rose is perfect".  This is the commonly accepted definition of perfect, but it leads us down a blind path of trying to achieve the impossible.  A study of Chaos theory or dynamic systems tells us that there is nothing in nature, including a rose that is without blemish.  Trying to achieve perfection can drive you nuts!

The second definition of perfect is that something has everything it needs to be what it needs to be.  When a baby is born with five toes on each foot and five fingers on each hand, we say it is perfect.  If we take this definition of perfect, we an see that many of our systems, organizations and businesses have everything they need to be what they need to be.  That does not mean they are without flaw or requiring development and improvement.  It does, however, give us space to be human, to listen, to be leaders and to respond to changing environments.

How do you know if you are Excellent?  You need to compare your actual results against the targets of the Performance Metrics in your Excellence Agenda. Then you need to validate your results with the people you serve.  Seth Godin suggests that if you have absolutely raving fans - then you know you have achieved some form of Excellence.

Excellence is a journey that we take.  Perfection, as in without blemish, takes us away from what is important.  Perfection, as in ensuring that we have everything we need to be what we are supposed to be - is a target we can all aim for.