My congratulations to U.S. Mint Director Henrietta Holsman Fore and her team at the Mint for coming up with another educational, interesting and newsworthy event: the release today of the newly redesigned Buffalo Nickel. Here’s what it looks like:

It’s a rare government agency that demonstrates the WOW! factor that gurus like Tom Peters discuss, but that’s why it’s all the more impressive. Instead of sitting on their monopoly, producing boring and dull coins and paper bills, the U.S. Mint is innovating and producing exciting currency that engages us as consumers.

The buffalo nickel is the third in a series of four new nickels that commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark Expedition, both of which occurred during the administration of Thomas Jefferson, the nation’s third president.
This trend started with the ten year release of state quarters, and, yes, my family collects them all in a collection folder purchased from the U.S. Mint itself. We’re up-to-date with the exception of Wyoming, but that’ll show up in our change, I’m sure.
My kids are quite engaged in this search and love looking through our coins for states that have cool pictures (California has photographer/naturalist John Muir and Yosemite’s half dome, for example, and Florida has the space shuttle).
By rethinking the issuance of coins, the Mint has demonstrated the pursuit of excellence, what business guru Jim Collins calls “the quest for GREAT”.
And in that spirit, what are you doing to make your customers say WOW!, to achieve GREAT, not just good or good enough?