Excellence: What is it? How to recognize it? How to Measure It?

As I began to write this post it turned out to be much more demanding than I thought. As I persisted I found myself meditating on excellence in terms of truth, beauty, and goodness. These three ideas go back 2500 years to Plato and thread their way throughout western contemplation.

What I learned is that these three, along with the idea of unity, were called the Transcendentals because they transcend the limitations of place and time, and are rooted in being. They do not depend upon culture, religion, personal ideology and preference. Granted the specifics of truth, beauty, and goodness vary in their details from culture to culture but beneath every culture, or perhaps over and above or through cultures there is that which is common to all.

I am aware that in current philosophical thought there are those, the Postmodern writers, who would disagree arguing that beauty is deeply culture specific and one culture’s beauty cannot be compared to another without understanding those specifics and when the deep specifics are understood the comparison collapses because of the differences. No comparison is even possible.

But then there are the Transcendentals that, as they are described, transcend the specifics out of which emerges a unity that is universal and can be felt and appreciated as such.

So, having said this, I will now continue with what I consider to be a necessary and practical look into what is excellence, how to recognize it, and how to measure it.

What Is Excellence?

There are the two trajectories that always draw my focus in these writings: the internal; and external. They are fundamental and though they can and do unite they are very different.

From https://dictionary.reference.com/ “to excel” is defined as:

--- to surpass others in some respect;

--- to be superior to;

--- to outdo.

Synonyms for these definitions are to eclipse, exceed, surmount, be superior, be more successful, be unrivaled, matchless and, of course, to transcend. What becomes obvious immediately is that there must be someone which, in order to be considered excellent, must go beyond. The measure of excellence resides in surpassing someone and that makes excellence a social experience.

When the focus is externally based your excellence becomes significantly if not wholly dependent on someone else setting the bar? You may be ambitious and burning with passion but when an external motivator is driving your efforts someone or something is the force behind your efforts.

In parallel, rather than someone else it could be something else, an idea, a structure, a problem that you are compelled to overcome. Your effort to excel is driven by that which is outside of you and carried forward as you chase that goal.

On the other end of the scale the trajectory is internal, i.e. ambition and effort generated from within.

It is said that at sixteen Einstein carried out his now famous thought experiment. He asked what it would be like to ride on a beam of light. Granted he was trying to solve a physics problem---whether or not the existence of “the ether” was real--- so there was the presence of the other in the form of the problem. But where did his question arise from? It was his and solely his and it led him to develop his monumental work on relativity.

The operative question is--- from where did his question arise? From Einstein. From his imagination. From his genius. That was his internal motive that led him forward into excellence.

How Do You Recognize Excellence?

Assessment through the two channels of experience---internal and external---is required if a complete and trustworthy evaluation of something or someone as excellent is to be made: complete because neither channel exists in utter separation from the other---if exclusively internal there can be no assurance that your assessment is not off the mark leaving you mistaken if not deluded; and if exclusively external you will certainly miss the depth that is available when the internal is also included.

Another way of saying this is that if your assessment is lopsided, favoring one over the other, the external evaluation may be precise but it will be without life having truncated the whole leaving behind what are largely the mechanics; or if you over-value the internal you could be in danger of solipsism, i.e. having no counter to what you have imagined.

For example, any person or thing that reaches a state of excellence does not, and I would say cannot, arrive in that state via a straight line. If it did the result would be too abstract and, as I said above, truncated to the point of meaninglessness so not excellent at all.

Excellence will have in its history a path illuminating trial and error, hit and miss, following leads by hook and curve until the end is reached. Even a moment of brilliant insight experienced as a unified whole, a gestalt, still must be worked out brought from concept to reality. The latter is a path containing the richness of nuance and exploration because any true excellence draws from and leads us into an experience, perhaps even a dimension, that is much larger than we can imagine. So it comes to us in bits and pieces.

Excellence requires depth of vision to ”see” how the various strands of execution of any project weave together increasing not only the unity of the project but the harmony of the strands within the project.

This vision is not only capable of conceptualizing the nuances of the interconnectedness of the components but experiencing them as connected as well. In short we see and feel it both.

How Do You Measure Excellence?

Many if not most people stay away from measuring excellence. Sure you can measure excellence in the context of hard numbers, but as I said above that’s only half the game---the external---and comparatively that’s easy to do. Some standard is set and when that standard is met or exceeded the result is characterized as excellent or expressing excellence.

It may also be paradoxical to think of measuring excellence. Take Van Gogh’s painting “Starry Night” or Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony or Einstein’s e=mc2 or a winning performance by quarterback Tom Brady of the New England Patriots? Does it even make sense to consider measuring excellence? By what criteria? According to what standard can these works be compared with others? Which others? Matisse? Bach? Heisenberg’s Uncertainty principle? Aaron Rogers of the Green Bay Packers?

From https://dictionary.reference.com/ “to measure” is defined as the act or process of ascertaining the extent, dimensions, or quantity of something. This kind of measure is quantitative, hard edged, precisely delineated. The difficulty arises when the measure is focused on the internal, the qualitative, and this is when truth, beauty, and goodness become relevant in recognizing and measuring excellence.

Rather than thinking of measuring excellence it seems better that we feel a sense of alignment with that which we consider excellent and appreciate its impact on us and how we live.

When listening to Beethoven’s Ninth and tears well up I have transcended the notes, the structure the rhythms and have entered into the experience brought to life by his skill and passion. When I cheer over an excellently thrown pass that results in a touchdown I have come into alignment with the intent of the game and appreciate the internal meaning and value of the event---the truth, beauty and goodness:

Truth (the intellectual dimension) is manifested as the rightness or exact coherence between intention and execution of the event;

Beauty (the aesthetic dimension) is the quality present in an event that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind from its meaningful design or pattern;

Goodness (the moral dimension) is the impact felt when witnessing mastery, i.e. conformance to a set of rules and obligations executed brilliantly.

Any moment of excellence will contain each of these dimensions as they interplay and weave together supporting and strengthening each other fusing into a unity of excellence regardless of the area of expression.

So Now….?

When have you experienced excellence in your life--- yours or someone else’s? How did you know it was excellence? And going forward, what will you do to recognize and acknowledge excellence as you see it and feel it in your life?

(Photo Credit: Nikolai Cortex/Flicker.com)

Jim Sniechowski, PhD and his wife Judith Sherven, PhD https://JudithandJim.com have developed a penetrating perspective on people’s resistance to success, which they call The Fear of Being Fabulous. Recognizing the power of unconscious programming to always outweigh conscious desires, they assert that no one is ever failing. They are always succeeding. The question is, at what?

Currently working as consultants on retainer to LinkedIn providing executive coaching, leadership training and consulting as well as working with private clients around the world, they continually prove that when unconscious beliefs are brought to the surface, the barriers to greater success and leadership presence begin to fade away. They call it Overcoming the Fear of Being Fabulous. https://OvercomingtheFearofBeingFabulous.com