Excellence is not overperforming, but performing the most while keeping your place

Virtue in ancient Greek was “areté” a force to aim for excellence. Justice (“diké”) was the natural order of things. One could not survive without the other.
It made no sense to be excellent, as in Modernity, by specializing and, because of that, quiting your place in cosmos: by being a super-performer and abandoning your family or civil duties.
Excellence is not climbing to the highest social place, but performing the most you can from your position in live.
In liquid times, like Modernity, people who perform, consequently do climb. But this is an accident, not the essence of excellence.