Seth, great post!
just few considerations: I have been consulting and training Italian Companies for 10 years now and I have been requested many times to "teach excellence", "inspire excellence" , include "excellence" in the corporate mission and vision statements of my clients...... You know what the real problem is? Most of them don't really MEAN IT! They just want to deliver some .... kind of positive thinking among workers .... knowing in advance that this "positive thinking" will eventually fade away. But the really sad thing is that companies seems not to care....
Excellence is too difficult to explain.. it's like beauty... you only know it when you see, but you can't explain it....

"E' veramente un peccato, perchè nella parola eccellenza c'è rinchiuso un significato di appagamento del servizio o del prodotto richiesto che non ha simili in nessun altra definizione...."

That was for the Italian speaking readers..!

Excellence is a form of art! I like that !

Seguite questo link per leggere il post originale di Seth....

http://www.tompeters.com/dispatches/011390.php