We are daily bombarded with what looks like perfection. We see airbrushed hotties on magazines and billboards. We watch computer generated studs on the movies. There has become this under riding current that places perfection as the norm in today's society.

We make jokes about how silly it is, yet many of us still (no matter how secretly) hold ourselves to a perfection-based standard in some area or another of our lives. There is certainly nothing wrong with something being perfect. It's the journey to that particular place of perfection that concerns me...especially in the arena of leadership.

Sure you may argue that things need to be done well to give good customer service and achieve things that haven't yet been achieved, and you would be absolutely correct. I'm not arguing the need for things being done well. I AM arguing the way we get there as individuals, leaders, teams, and organization.

As humans, we are fallible by nature. It is a part of our nature to make mistakes. That is where our learning takes place. If we were perfect, there would be no innovation. No creativity. No improvement. We would be satisfied in being perfect. So, we can never really attain perfection. Sound like a circular argument with no hope? Stay with me, I'm working on it.

The real game changer in all this is the grand entrance of excellence. Excellence is the gracious uncle of perfection. We are allowed to fall on our face, as long as we have given it our best. Excellence doesn't let us lie in a pool of our own blood, but picks us up and dusts us off as we continue working to improve how we do things excellently. Excellence is the champion of another chance and an optimistic world view.

The thing is, if we expect perfection from ourselves then we will begin to expect that from other people. If we are leading some folks who understand the value of excellence, then things will eventually come to a head in some form or another. They'll eventually get frustrated at never being good enough and just disengage.

Excellence is perfection chock full of graciousness. It's the arm around the shoulder and kick in the back of the pants that we all need. Give yourself, and your team (for sure), a much needed break. Put down the banner of perfection because it's all just a facade anyway. To achieve perfection we would have to abandon our humanity. What good would that do for us as a leader of other humans? We wouldn't be able to relate to them and would just seem like some despotic school marm. Let your humanity shine through your excellence and much more will be accomplished.

How have you seen a spirit of excellence move things forward in your organization or personal/professional life?