THERE is a philosophy of excellence to which we should all subscribe. It's called "divine dissatisfaction" - a state of being pleased with your progress, but never satisfied.

I came across the concept while reading a report of Massmart, the retail firm that owns Makro and Game stores.

Mark Lamberti, Massmart chairman, wrote in the 2008 annual report to shareholders that the philosophy was behind the company's success over the years.

He had learned it from David Susman, the founder of Woolworths, also a successful company.

Explaining how the philosophy applied at Massmart, Lamberti wrote: "Every business is particularly good at something. Great businesses are good at many things.

"The reasons are obvious. As people imbibe the processes, practices and focus that lead to success in one aspect of an organisation's endeavour, lower standards of performance are exposed elsewhere and the motivation to address these is increased. Over time the quest for excellence becomes a way of life."

So it is not surprising that the management of Woolworths and Massmart have excelled, increasing the market share and profits of these companies.

Susman has no copyrights to this guiding philosophy. Good ideas, Lamberti seemed to be suggesting, are worth emulating, even by competitors. In many respects, Woolworths and Massmart compete for market share.

Without necessarily calling it divine dissatisfaction, this philosophy should be applicable in other areas. In fact, those with foresight are implementing it.

Take Zambia's football authorities, for example. Through this philosophy they guided Chipolopolo, their national soccer team, to victory in the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.

Football observers were surprised when Zambian administrators sacked Italian coach Dario Bonetti despite having helped Chipolopolo qualify for the Afcon finals in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.

Dissatisfied by merely qualifying while the team could not play scintillating football, the Zambians booted Bonetti out. They felt there was room for Chipolopolo to do much better.

Bonetti was not the man to lead them to glory. In other words, they were "pleased with progress, but they were not satisfied".

The results of the high expectations placed on the team are there for all to see. Under French coach Herve Renard, the Zambian side beat two 2012 Afcon favourites - star-studded Ghana and Ivory Coast - to lift the continental trophy.

Contrast this approach with that of Bafana Bafana's Mbombela embarrassment - where they celebrated a pyrrhic draw that led them nowhere - then you begin to see what's lacking among our football authorities. They simply aim too low.

And for this they get rewarded handsomely. How else can we explain the fact that the coach, his assistants and football administrators who oversee Bafana still have their jobs? This is an indication that for the SA Football Association the quest for mediocrity has become a "normal way of life".

Even as the lower standards are exposed there seems to be pressure to dumb down even further.

Excellence is a foreign concept. The sense of pride and prestige that comes with winning was lost in 1996. Three things have taken over: mediocrity, mediocrity and mediocrity.

Now, let's consider the application of divine dissatisfaction in other aspects of human life.

What if we applied it when choosing our political leaders?

What would be the fate of those who have made it their duty to embarrass us with their clumsy rhetoric and decisions?

The fact that they, like the coaching staff of Bafana, still hold on to their positions clearly says something about us and what we consider to be our "normal way of life".

We have set leadership standards so low that uninspiring leadership and bad governance has become the "normal way of life". We do not set minimum qualification for aspirant leaders. We accept whoever volunteers to be our leaders. Even when this leadership malaise is exposed, we do nothing about it.

Those frustrated by lack of services - basic, not necessarily the best - resort to violence instead of demanding fundamental change in the way we relate to our public representatives.

With this leadership crisis in mind, I was shocked and relieved at the same time when I listened to Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi speak to the South African National Editors Forum about the state of health care in the country.

He gave a worrying diagnosis. We are increasingly dying younger. Primary health care is almost non-existent, putting pressure on hospitals.

Some hospitals are not adhering to the highest standards in medical care and hygiene.

And private doctors and healthcare companies prey on the sick like vultures.

Interestingly, for each problem the minister identified solutions that for successful implementation would require the cooperation of the whole of society.

Among others, the solutions include limiting the consumption of fermented liquids and reducing smoking.

He has embarked on a brilliant project to promote cleanliness in healthcare facilities. A dirty hospital or clinic obviously goes against its own raison d'être.

Motsoaledi's criteria for good hygiene are fascinating. If his health inspectors find just one out of many toilets dirty, the health facility concerned gets zero ranking for cleanliness.

The rationale is that one dirty toilet bowl can easily become a bacterial hub, spreading diseases to the entire healthcare facility. So, a hospital should be 100% clean at all times. Now, that's classic divine dissatisfaction at work.

He is applying the same criteria to the availability of drugs. Some drugs are indispensable for hospitals worth their names.

Disconcertingly, of the 800 health facilities surveyed so far, 70% scored zero on cleanliness.

If Motsoaledi can set high standards in this manner and follow them up passionately, why can't we have people like him throughout government? I mean from the president down to the councillor in Komatipoort.

• Mkhabela is editor of Sowetan