“Excellent firms don’t believe in excellence – only in constant improvement and constant change.” – Tom Peters
Excellent: very good of its kind; eminently good
Relevant: having direct bearing on the matter in hand; pertinent
This is a short and simple blog post.
What makes for a successful company or organization? How about this?
Excellence + Relevance
This may be the whole ball game. The organization does what it does very, very well – and, people feel like its product or service gives them exactly what they need (“bearing on the matter at hand”).
So, here are some options:
- Excellence + Not Relevant = no long-term success (disappearing customers)
- Relevance + Not Excellent = no long-term success (disappointed, departing customers)
- Excellence + Relevance = long-term success (devoted customers)
- Stay Excellent + Stay Relevant (vs. no longer excellent; no longer relevant) = longer-term success, dyed-in-the-wool devoted customers)
So, how is your organization doing?
Contributed by:
Randy Mayeux
Professional Speaker & Writer
Co-founder, First Friday Book Synopsis
The 16% 
If excellence + relevence = long term success, how does this relate to the Peters quote listed above? “Excellent firms don’t believe in excellence only in change”?
Good question, Marcella!
This quote basically states that “excellence” can only be achieved by being willing to change to the needs of your customers/clients. The most successful companies don’t have an obsolete value of excellence; they actually adapt to the needs of those to which they provide service.
Take Barnes & Noble, for example. When the company first started, “excellence” for them would have probably meant selling a variety of hard-copy books. But with the introduction of electronics books, they focused their attention on The Nook, which helped skyrocket sales. Barnes & Noble stayed in tune to what its client base was interested in (the internet and e-books), which helped them stay relevant in the technological age.