The Meaning of Excellence

It's snowing pretty heavily out here today, which is sapping away my will to write.  Quite honestly, I'd rather knit and drink endless cups of coffee all day...  *sigh*  Well, anyway, here's the good part: today I'm using a passage  that was sent in by my brother who is currently in Hawaii.  The Master Chief is out there finishing his college degree in criminal justice and gearing up for his wedding next May.  Busy as he is, he still found time to send us this little inspirational piece.  I don't know where he found it, but I hope you enjoy it!

Aristotle's Concept of Excellence
Aristotle was born in Greece nearly 400 years before Christ.  In those extraordinarily simple times, Aristotle's concepts were thousands of years ahead of his time.  He made this statement about excellence:

"We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit."

Kinoale
This is an ancient Hawaiian concept which existed before Europeans discovered the Hawaiian Islands.  This concept was eventually put into words  by the late George Kanahele:

Kinoale means that no matter what you did in life...

You did the right thing,

In the right way,

At the right time,

In the right place,

To the right person,

For the right reason,

With the right feeling...the first time.

Arthur Deming was a management leader asked by the U.S. Government to help Japan rebuild after World War II.  He suggested that he teach America first.  He was shunned and sent to Japan anyway, and they developed Sony and Honda and so many other quality products that the U.S. now buys from Japan.  Deming believed that quality management and leadership consisted of:

Maximize customer joy, and

Minimize variation, then you have

Predictability, which causes people to

Trust, which breeds

Loyalty.