A Quarter Century of Excellence

It’s hard to believe, but 2007 marked the 25^th anniversary of In Search of Excellence by Tom Peters and Robert Waterman (1982). Their work is as significant today as when it was released, because of the question it asks (i.e., “What are the qualities of the exceptional organization?”), the answer to that question, and the research tradition it initiated. (See Jim Collins’ Good to Great for the latest installment in differentiating company haves from have nots.)

If it’s been some time since you reviewed Peters and Waterman’s analysis of 62 top- performing organizations (e.g., IBM, 3M, Proctor and Gamble), here is a quick refresher:

1. Excellent organizations react quickly to market changes.

2. Excellent organizations make decisions based on customer needs.

3. Excellent organizations encourage employee risk-taking.

4. Excellent organizations encourage strong superior-subordinate relationships.

5. Excellent organizations value employee productivity and performance.

6. Excellent organizations stick to what they do best.

7. Excellent organizations spell out, in detail, who is responsible for each task.

8. Excellent organizations prioritize a common value system in achieving stated goals.

As a corporate consultant, I encourage that company owners and mangers review these themes annually for a number of reasons: First, they clarify if a company is progressing or regressing over time. Like humans, companies exhibit distinct stages of growth over their life cycle (Miller & Friesen, 1984). Periodically, it is important to ask, “Which of these themes has our company prioritized to date?” Second, the themes function as standards for assessing current company performance (e.g., “How do our customers rate our service at this time?”). And third, the themes provide a template for developing future company objectives (e.g., “In what ways do we encourage employee risk-taking for the purpose of improving product quality?”).

If you haven’t considered Peters and Waterman’s themes in a while, do so. They provide a time-tested framework for determining if your company is on the path to greatness in good, and not so good, economic times.