Excellence – A Currency For Influence and Impact

No one wants to spend their hard-earned cash for a shoddy job or for a low-quality product in the normal scheme of things. Of course, this is no excuse to live beyond our means in the name of ‘high quality’ as this only leads to debt which is not a good place to.  

However, everyone wants things done right and ideally done in the best way possible. The mention of certain brand names evokes their unique products and/or services for which we are prepared to pay a premium. Why is this the case? Well, it’s because these institutions, corporations or companies put in enormous efforts and go to great lengths to provide an excellent service, manufacture excellent products or create an excellent environment and / or experience. Therefore excellence is a form of currency with which we can achieve impact, have significance and project influence. 

What is Excellence?

A simple Google search for the word “excellence” yielded among others, the following definitions/explanations  

“Excellence is being good at a good thing. It means that you strive to be the best you can be and to do the best you can do. Seek to do good things well to make a positive difference in your own life and in the lives of those about you” 

“the quality of being extremely good” (Oxford Dictionary) 

On the business front, “Business Excellence is defined simply as An integrated collection of proven practices for how a business should operate to become the best it can possibly be – i.e. world-class”.

A quick interrogation of the above (perhaps simplistic) definitions immediately reveals some keywords and phrases including: 

• Best 
• Strive to Be and to Do 
• World-class 
• Extremely good 
• Quality  

In his exposition of the word ‘excellence’, Dr Mensa Otabil stipulates three (3) distinctive characteristics, which are: 

• “Highest or superior quality”  
• “Quality that always stands out”  
• “Always improving”  

Excellence always speaks for itself and does not need much hype beyond stating the obvious fact, to “sell itself”. In fact, most high quality (excellent) products are typically self-advertising by word of mouth i.e. person to person testimonial. It is therefore not surprising that almost all websites that provide a service or sell particular goods e.g. travel holidays, airlines, household items will request customers to provide reviews of their experiences during a particular purchase. These are requested to either confirm and maintain excellence of service and if not use the constructive feedback (even if negative) to enhance and improve their services and product offerings. 

One of the key verses in the bible that describes the characteristics of excellence was written by the wise King Solomon in Proverbs 22:29

“Do you see a man skilful (excellent) in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men” (ESV) 

• The very first phrase, “Do you see…” confirms the assertion above that excellence always speaks for itself.  
• It also puts us (a man) at the centre of making excellence a reality. In other words, the onus is on us to display excellence in all it’s facets. 
• The second phrase captures the fact that excellence relates to what we do.  This confirms one of the keywords identified from some of the definitions above that is “Strive to Be and Strive to Do”.  
• Thirdly, excellence (or diligence) brings us (or a product/service) out of obscurity and  
• Lastly brings elevation to higher/highest levels which is where we achieve influence and ultimately impact  

Dr Mensa Otabil again identifies four characteristics  

• Observable  
• Relates to what we do  
• Brings us out of the unknown  
• Raises us to the highest levels  

Excellence therefore provides a form of soft power to demonstrate impact and project influence. In other words it is it’s own fragrance. Therefore, if you’re constantly demanding to be recognised for excellence, it may well not be excellent. 

So Daniel James said and I quote “The Power Of Excellence Is Overwhelming. It Is Always In Demand, And Nobody Cares About Its Colour” 

It was said of Jesus that He will not shout in the streets. 

It is important to note that Excellence does not happen overnight and requires continuous, dedicated practice, failing forward, refining and improving all the time. In other words, attaining excellence requires incremental improvements, sometimes by tiny amounts as is the case in sports activities such as track sprinting and cycling. Once attained, it must be sustained which requires consistency of effort and dedication which is a test of our character. This is because it is easier to cut a small corner without anyone noticing than pay the price to maintain the highest quality. Countless examples of such shortcut tendencies exist across almost all industries, including sadly, even the church, but it will almost always come back to bite us. 

The ‘Boy’ Jesus  

A good biblical illustration of this principle can be found in the life of of Jesus as a young boy in the book of Luke.

In Luke chapter 2 verse 40; we read: “And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favour of God was upon him”. 

As a child, Jesus who is very diligent is filled with wisdom and endowed with God’s favour. That will be enough to fill some people with pride and arrogance, but not Jesus. Fast forward to verses 42 to 47 and as a 12 year old Jewish boy, he is sitting with the teachers of the law, engaging His mental faculties, learning and asking intelligent questions to everyone’s amazement. When His mother tries to rebuke Him, He describes this action as being about His Father’s business.

Then fast forward again to verse 52 and again we read as follows: “And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favour with God and man”. Four key points about incremental improvements or development become apparent: 

1. Went from being filled with wisdom to increasing in wisdom  
2. He went from growing to increased stature 
3. From having God’s favour to increasing in God’s favour  
4. He went from favour with God to favour with man 

Excellence and increase was evident and could not be hidden. 

You Can Be Excellent

The people who have gone before us who achieved great things did not attain excellence overnight. They took the first steps towards it, worked at it until they became very good and ultimately they crossed from good to great because they refused to be complacent. That’s how they stood out and impacted their generation for good. That’s not beyond you and I and you can therefore attain excellence and stand out. Therefore, start today, it’s never too late, God will help us. 

Even, there some fell into the trappings of success and did not sustain their levels of excellence because they lost focus.

Therefore keep improving, keep striving to do better and as a minimum sustain your momentum and ultimately, keep being EXCELLENT.