I’ve noticed that the word “excel­lence” is sur­fac­ing more often in the guid­ing prin­ci­ples or con­vic­tions of companies.

A few years ago, I started work­ing with the lead­er­ship of a UK based petro­leum addi­tives firm. One of their pri­mary ini­tia­tives is “orga­ni­za­tional excel­lence.” Last week, I spent time with the lead­er­ship of a huge restau­rant chain whose first prin­ci­ple of suc­cess is “oper­a­tional excellence.”

Tomor­row I will be with a mort­gage bank­ing firm, and “man­u­fac­tur­ing qual­ity” is one of their guid­ing prin­ci­ples. Now, “man­u­fac­tur­ing qual­ity” does not have the word excel­lence in it, but as I read what it means to them the word excel­lence jumped right out.

As lead­ers, we must closely exam­ine this trend.

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