The Excellence Dividend

This week’s book summary is The Excellence Dividend by Tom Peters.

Peters doesn’t disappoint with this “sequel” to his In Search of Excellence book that was considered groundbreaking. Where In Search of Excellence focused on the eight principles of management that created 43 of America’s best companies in the 1980’s, The Excellence Dividend focuses on the practice or discipline of excellence itself.

My takeaway from this book is Peters’ mindset that he summarizes with the statement; “Excellence is the next five minutes.” Basically, anyone can do average. We must differentiate ourselves by being excellent!

Peters says we can exude excellence by considering simple things like:

• “EXCELLENCE is your next conversation.
  • Or not.
• EXCELLENCE is your next meeting.
  • Or not.
• EXCELLENCE is shutting up and listening-really listening.
  • Or not.
• EXCELLENCE is your next customer contact.
  • Or not.
• EXCELLENCE is saying “Thank you” for something “small.”
  • Or not.
• EXCELLENCE is the next time you shoulder responsibility and apologize.
  • Or not.
• EXCELLENCE is waaay over-reacting to a screw-up.
  • Or not.
• EXCELLENCE is the flowers you brought to work today.
  • Or not.
• EXCELLENCE is lending a hand to an “outsider” who’s fallen behind schedule.
  • Or not.
• EXCELLENCE is bothering to learn the way folks in finance [or IS or HR] think.
  • Or not.
• EXCELLENCE is waaay “over”-preparing for a 3-minute presentation.
  • Or not.
• EXCELLENCE is turning “insignificant” tasks into models of … EXCELLENCE.”

So . . . go be excellent in everything you do!

Note that I have previously reviewed the following books in 2018:

1. Tim O’Reilly’s Whats the Future and Why Its Up to Us
2. Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art
3. Timothy Ferriss’ Tribe of Mentors
4. Richard P. Feynman’s Surely You’re Joking Mr. Feynman!
5. Bernadette Jiwa’s Hunch
6. Scott Galloway’s The Four
7. William Mougayar’s The Business Blockchain
8. Fredrik Haren’s The Idea Book
9. David Burkus’ Friend of a Friend
10. Stay on Top of Your Work podcast episode #15
11. Blue Ocean Shift by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne
12. Ideas and Stuff Podcast episode #50

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