Skip to content
30th Anniversary Logo for DSA30th Anniversary Logo for DSA
  • About
  • Services
  • Resources
  • Contact Us
30th Anniversary Logo for DSA30th Anniversary Logo for DSA

In Pursuit of Excellence

Over the years a lot has been written about excellence. In fact, if you type excellence into Amazon they’ll identify over 120,000 items of which 20,000+ are books. Tom Peters became a household name when he co-wrote the book: “In Search of Excellence.”

Frankly, more than 30 years later, we’re still searching for excellence. In the business of advertising and communications, a couple of my personal heroes stand out:

Leo Burnett is often noted saying: “When you reach for the stars you might not quite get one, but you won’t come up with a handful of mud either.”

Or David Ogilvy who said: “Don’t bunt. Aim out of the ballpark. Aim for the company of immortals.”

I really like that. They’re not suggesting that every time you’re going to succeed but that our goal should be to reach out for excellence. But perhaps I like what Michael J. Fox said about it:

“I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence I can reach for; perfection is God’s business.”

That quote really frames what our perspective should be — there’s a difference between excellence and perfection. We should strive for what we can achieve — excellence — rather than being frustrated by never reaching perfection and settling for mediocre.

So where do you fit?

Are you satisfied to just get by or are you striving for excellence? I must admit that there are some times when I’ve been so beaten down or overwhelmed with life that I just get by. I’m too exhausted to reach for excellence. But …

… at the end of the day I only end up hurting myself.

I miss out on the opportunity to get better. In his book, Beyond the Summit, mountain climber Todd Skinner writes:

Goals with the most rewards are often the most difficult to achieve. We pick challenging mountains not because they are hard, but because we have the most to gain there. We are trying to become people with the ability to accomplish remarkable things, and for maximum gain we must seek ultimate mountains.

That’s what our pursuit of excellence does. It prepares us for the increasing challenges that we are going to be facing daily. You only need to look back at how our lives and organizations have had to change in the last few years.

I hope you’ll join me on this pursuit of excellence. With so many lives that hang in the balance, it’s our only hope.

Post Tags: #Managing Yourself

Related articles

Subscribe to Donor Focus
  • CEO Expectations of a Director of Development

    Did you know the national average for a director of development’s tenure with a nonprofit is only 18 months? Why…

    Read more

  • The Value of “Trust”

    In any fundraising effort, the crux of every invitation to donate is based on trust. Trust that the organization’s leadership…

    Read more

  • Slowing the Revolving Door in the Development Office

    “The person I just met with was asking for funds for a ministry that he said is the most important…

    Read more

  • All Blog Posts
    Return to all blog posts

Topics

  • Ask Wiley
  • Coaching
  • Digital
  • Direct Response Fundraising
  • Donor Focused Communication
  • Fundraising
  • Live the Give
  • Partners
  • Rules of Fundraising

Year

  • 2025 (7)
  • 2024 (25)
  • 2023 (28)
  • 2022 (30)
  • 2021 (36)
  • 2020 (33)
  • 2019 (42)
  • 2018 (49)
  • 2017 (44)
  • 2016 (23)
  • 2015 (30)
  • 2014 (6)
  • 2013 (1)

A Fundraising Agency Helping You Be a Part of What Is Right with the World.

1717 Park Street, Suite 300 Naperville, IL, 60563
630.562.1321 | info@douglasshaw.com

Company

  • About
  • Careers
  • Contact Us

Services

  • Custom Strategies
  • Data and Analytics
  • Creative Solutions
  • Multichannel Fundraising
  • Digital Innovation
  • Raise Money
  • Find Donors
  • Grow Impact

Resources

  • Blog Posts
  • Books
  • Webinars
  • The Donor Experience Scorecard
  • Fundraising Tips

Visit Douglas Shaw & Associates on Facebook
Visit Douglas Shaw & Associates on X (formerly Twitter)
Visit Douglas Shaw & Associates on LinkedIn
Visit Douglas Shaw & Associates on Instagram

© 2025 Douglas Shaw & Associates  Privacy Policy 

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in .

  • About
  • Services
  • Resources
  • Contact Us
30th Anniversary Logo for DSA
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Here is more information about our Privacy Policy.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.