Excellence Every Day

As soon as I saw the title of this book, Excellence Every Day, I knew I wanted to read it because I wanted to know what it meant to others to live by this ideal. I found out from this book that many of us are fooling ourselves thinking we already live the mantra “excellence every day”. In reality, the author's research shows this is much more a myth than a reality because it is a personal voluntary choice, made on a daily basis, to practice excellence every day. Is every day an excellent day in your library? The author, Lior Arussy, would say that every person in the library on a daily basis could deliver excellence, because it is positive, thoughtful actions which lead to the delivery of excellence. Excellence Every Day is about going to work with the attitude, “I am going to do my best today!”. It is about expecting excellence from ourselves, each one of us on an individual basis. It is that individual effort, up and down the chain of command, from the director down to every clerk, and back up again, that will make excellence a reality for any library. This book is all about showing individuals how to bring out the best in themselves, and the stories the author shares give examples of how this happens.

Unfortunately, the opposite of excellence every day exists as well, and we are aware of this from unpleasant encounters we have all had at stores, banks, cafeterias, and yes, even in libraries. For example, remember the buffoon who made you so angry you had to ask for the director's assistance? I would venture this has happened to everyone at some point. In another case, your encounter at your library was quick and efficient. While that buffoon later makes for a funny story, the other experience will keep you returning to that excellent library. Arussy points out that “Humor that reinforces our weaknesses or inaptitude has a potentially damaging effect by helping to perpetuate the problem rather than inspiring us to achieve excellence” (pp. 14‐15). His example of this is the “culture of Dilbertism”. While not blaming Dilbert's creator, Scott Adams, he describes him as the messenger, like comedians, reporting reality as they see it. To perpetuate “Dilbertism” means to give up on the personal pursuit of excellence. This is what Arussy tells us is a subtle yet pervasive mindset he coins the “Excellence Myth”. When our idea of excellence holds us back from achieving it, Arussy shows the downside being that customer loyalty and competitive advantage can be quickly lost, as well as undermining individual performance. He suggests that we let go of “Dilbertism” now!

This book is entertaining and inspiring, offering many examples of awesome employees who took action and created excellence in their workplace. This book can serve as the new template for individual commitment as applied to doing any job. This book is written to not only reach the over busy executives and managers, but the employees, too. We all recognize what a surprise and delight experience is. This book is a blueprint of how to set an organization apart from all the others to take those delights all the way to the bank or to passing a ballot referendum for a public library, for example. Arussy describes his solution as the “Daily Choice”, a strategy that empowers every one of us to reach new heights of excellence continually, to delight customers and to deliver superior results. This strategy works from the bottom up and the top down. The Daily Choice is a strategy for everyone to employ to reach his/her performance potential. The people in the company make the organization what it is.

Another caution extended by the author in this quick read is the difference between the big “E's” – one being excellence, of course, and the other entitlement. To nurture an environment of excellence, it is imperative to eliminate wrong hires, those who ascribe to entitlement over excellence. Otherwise, the author suggests, you can send the message “mediocrity pays” when workers who do not ascribe to a personal responsibility for excellence are allowed to remain on staff (pp. 68‐69). He suggests a long list of common behaviors a paycheck encourages, but coaching for excellence requires much caring and skill to inspire another to go above and beyond on a daily basis. He cautions that a company, while growing rapidly, but which shifts from a people focus to a brand focus, risks making individual employees feel insignificant. Arussy suggests that to stay on top, a company, or a big library for that matter, must remember that customer loyalty depends on the cumulative efforts of every staff member. The willingness of every staff member to provide excellence every day, in every customer encounter, will be what makes growth sustainable and far reaching because the individuals of the company will be empowered to reach greatness. In our case, it is the circulation clerk needing to know about electronic resources, in addition to the reference librarian, so that the clerk has the training and skills in place to reach for excellence when dealing with various requestor needs. Frontline staff may need the most care and support to help them reach their capacity for excellence and greatness, to help them put their caring to work. What this may mean in a library is that the director serves as a resource to every staff member, not just to department heads, so that the entire team is equipped with the skills necessary, the personal empowerment, to provide excellent service on behalf of the rest of the team. “Those who lead people to do what they want to do and to do it well nurture excellence” (p. 81).

Where does one go next after reading this inspirational book? The next step is to take action and Arussy asks that you contribute your personal examples of inspiration and success at the book's website (see www.ExcellenceEveryDay.com). I checked the site and there are few reader examples to date, so take the challenge and add your own story of how you live excellence every day – do it today!