1995 Coleman Roberts Griffith address: Profiles of excellence

Historically circumstances that represent an extreme of the human condition attract the attention of those who record contemporary events. Perhaps one of the strongest influences on retrospectives is the achievement of excellence. Excellence is admired and hated, sought and avoided, and in a true sense rarely achieved. Excellence requires performing at the outer limit of physical, emotional and mental capacities. And even then for some this level of effort expenditure may not be enough to produce excellence. While many rationalize excellence as purely endowed or distort the concept with self-serving labels, Shin'chi Suzuki's work on developing excellence with “common” people demonstrates the various elements necessary for the opportunity to achieve excellence. Suzuki's work will be reviewed along with the profiles of selected world achievers. The prerequisites for the pursuit of excellence will be formulated and suggested along with a discussion of how the demands of achieving excellence often exceed the will to excel.