Become An Enemy of Mediocrity

The signature of mediocrity is not unwillingness to change. The signature of mediocrity is chronic inconsistency.

Jim Collins

I’ve been thinking . . . about how annoying mediocrity is.

Aldous Huxley lamented, “The tendency of the masses is towards mediocrity.” In a world of conformity, average, ordinary, sameness and yes, dreaded mediocrity; innovative companies find being the best of mediocre nauseating. Instead, there is a sense of urgency inspiring them to reinvent excellence; to imagine and create what could be.

World class is unreachable if being just a little bit better excites you. Tom Peters said: “If you are spending all your time trying to incrementally improve what you do, you are not spending enough time reinventing it, going for quantum leaps or blowing it up.” Gradual improvement, doing things just a little different then you’ve done them in the past, rarely produces eye catching, foot-stomping, award winning results.

World class performance requires a visual & mental transformation . . . seeing your operation, your position or your life as you’ve never seen it before. Think about who you can become. What are all the possibilities for outrageous innovations? Dare yourself to envision the unknown. . . even the presently considered impossible.
World Class is all about creating one-of-a-kind, ‘WOW’, unforgettable experiences. How can you be so good at what you do that people can’t help but applaud your efforts? Quoting Tom Peters once again: “If you are not distinct you will be extinct. If when you do what you do very well and it is still just ordinary, you have work to do.” What separates you from the masses?

The way things have always been creates a powerful magnetic force to keep things the way they are . . . or as close as possible to the current comfort level. The possibility of discomfort can dramatically stymie any effort to take giant steps towards reinvention. Find a way to dump the baggage that forces you to a standstill. Continually recreate the status quo, don’t protect it.

As Cynthia Barton Rabe warns, “what we know limits what we can imagine.” Why? Because, as some wise Texan once declared; “If all you ever do is all you’ve ever done, then all you’ll ever get is all you’ve ever got.” If you keep doing things the way you’ve always done them or you do them the same way everyone else does, what is going to set you apart from anyone?

What’s your passion? Where would you like to have unmatched performance? How can you become uncommon? Where can you invest your energy to move from ordinary to extraordinary? From average to world class? It’s simply not good enough to be simply good enough.

World class isn’t about winning. . .
World class isn’t about the competition . . .
World Class isn’t about beating someone. . .
World Class is about setting a higher standard. World class is about transforming what you can do to be considered among the world’s best at what you do.

William Taylor was the co-founder and founding editor of Fast Company Magazine. In his newest book Practically Radical, Taylor suggests that in order to stay relevant in a changing world, “You have to be the most of something: The most elegant, the most colorful, the most focused.”

What would you tell people you are “the most at?” According to Taylor, “it is not good enough to be ‘pretty good’ at everything. You have to be the most of something.” If potential customers don’t clearly see what sets you apart, then the competitive advantage is literally non-existent.

If you don’t yearn for excellence, then you will soon settle for acceptable or good enough. The next step is mediocrity, and nobody wants to pay for mediocre! It all begins with becoming an enemy of mediocrity and a friend to tremendous, exceptional, outstanding. . .

“Mediocrity is a region bound on the north by compromise, on the south by indecision, on the east by past thinking, and on the west by lack of vision.”

John Mason