It is time to address the nature of excellence within the public relations profession. The following ten proposals can guide the profession in its search for the meaning of excellence: (1) to determine the meaning of excellence, and whether public relations practitioners desire to transcend or exceed the norms of conduct; (2) to study excellence as it relates to the management of change; (3) to study excellence in terms of leadership; (4) to seek new methods of finding and rewarding leadership; (5) to search for new types of excellence, including ethical excellence based on democratic principles; (6) to let excellence be a guiding concept for the development of a public relations philosophy based on local human facts; (7) to study secrecy and advocacy as potentially contributory problems of excellent conduct in public relations; (8) to study excellence in terms of the relationships between codes of ethics and actual behavior; (9) to study the relationship between public relations practitioners and the practice of public relations, in terms of the public's responsibility for excellence, and their accountability in communication; and (10) to include the public in the debate and rewards for public relations excellence. A final "modest" proposal is perhaps the most significant proposal for this profession: that all public relations practitioners become ethicists; that they be the voices of conscience and truth wherever they work, whatever messages they deliver; that they become advocates for ethical excellence for employers and clients and for themselves and the profession. (Twenty-three references are attached.) (MM)