'In Search of Excellence' - even the title - is a reminder that business isn't dry, dreary, boring, or by the numbers. Life at work can be cool - and work that's cool isn't confined to Tiger Woods, Yo-Yo Ma, or Tom Hanks. It's available to all of us and any of us.

Lavish credit on anyone and everyone who helped you the least bit.

Celebrate what you want to see more of.

If your company has a clean-desk policy, the company is nuts and you're nuts to stay there.

In today's economy there are no experts, no 'best and brightest' with all the answers. It's up to each one of us. The only way to screw up is to not try anything.

The winners stun us not by their cleverness, but by the fact that every tiny aspect of the business is just a touch better than the norm.

All business success rests on something labeled a sale, which at least momentarily weds company and customer.