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The Curse of Mediocrity

While chatting with a young professional recently I experienced how tough mediocrity is to deal with when it rears its ugly head unexpectedly. The young professional and I had both been involved on a project that had stalled out for a couple months. From the beginning of the project I felt the project leadership was sending the team down a path of mediocrity. To combat this I offered to help brainstorm solutions to make the project memorable to which the project leadership reluctantly agreed to.  I subsequently invested significant time brainstorming with the team and we came up with great ideas to take the project to the next level.

After talking about the stalled project’s status and reflecting on the course taken this far we both AGREED the root cause of the stall was due to a lack of vision and clear leadership for the project.

Our conversation then took an unexpected turn.  I asked how we could kick-start the project and ensure the larger joint vision we brainstormed earlier could be implemented. The response?

…..well… our vision and ideas would make a huge, profound impact on the project… but… it would hurt the current project leader’s feelings because we would deviate too far from their initial plan… and, at this point, we should just follow the initial plan because it would be EASIER without hurting anyone’s feelings… besides, the project would still be considered successful using the initial plan…

Instantly, I was horrified. Instantly, I was offended. Instantly, my past work and contributions to the project were felt cheapened. Settling for a mediocre success scares the hell out of me.

Your personal compass for true success must be guided by more than perceived success. Achieving a true success is a hard, sometimes uncomfortable journey. One true success creates more personal satisfaction than racking up ten mediocre successes.

The curse of mediocrity, in my opinion, is the self fulfilling loop of mediocrity that happens when mediocre success becomes the standard your peers look to when holding you accountable.

Mediocrity living and thriving in projects we undertake will eventually takeover and determine the outcome. Mediocre expectations must get flushed out and dealt with at the start of a project.

I want my peers, mentors, and friends to speak up when I try to pass a mediocre success as good enough. Don’t you?

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Categories: Leadership, Relationships.

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By dshipton
— September 15, 2009 at 8:30 am
  • Patpend
    Nice post Dan, but follow the money. Big business thrives on mediocrity. Big business does not want the customer to know there are better, faster, cheaper solutions. I think if you dig a little deeper, you'll find an 800lb gorilla writing a check to ensure new ideas do not get heard. Hopefully, most young professionals are savvy enough to see through the charade.
  • Love the post Dan, but I think what Patpend is trying to say above is bogus. An 800lb gorilla writing checks to make sure that new ideas do not get heard? I'm sure that's happened, but we shouldn't be accepting it! Big business may have thrived on mediocrity in the past, but successful companies in the future will have to be extremely flexible and innovative to retain customer loyalty (not in all industries mind you, but many). And I would also argue that "big business" WAS innovative when they first went to market and only succumbed to mediocrity as time went on and they allowed themselves to become complacent with their cash cows. These big companies will fall hard when the small guy comes up with something better. Consumers have very little brand loyalty these days and will quickly switch to the next best thing if it is innovative enough and switching costs are low. I think the future is and always has been innovation, improvement, and efficiency - none of which is possible with mediocrity. Agree? Forgive me if this comment is flighty - I typed it in MBA class while trying to take notes about IT strategy.
  • jjc2
    I have seen this at every turn of my career. I don't want to pigeon hole my response, but I have noticed this happens a lot when the person in charge doesn't seem 100% comfortable with their responsibilities and they have a family. In fact I am thinking of one particular person from about 4 years ago that was very frustrating to work under. Obviously family would and should come first, but unfortunately their divided attention coupled with being in over their head can effect the quality of work a project receives. Not everyone, but then again if something is going smoothly you generally don't notice as much as when it's going poorly.

    I find they are too afraid of making the wrong decision that they make no decision if they can help it. They will have endless meetings, waiting for someone to step up and take charge in a way that doesn't overpower them. As an eager, focused employee it feels like a huge waste of your time and energy, and you cannot believe these people keep their jobs. But I'm starting to think as we age and get families we may transition into those that we judge now. As our ambitions move towards families and stability, instead of promotions and having to prove ourselves, we may become like them.

    All we can do is hope that we can maintain our commitment to ourselves and our jobs. I personally enjoy the fact that I really give 100% to what I do. I hope that doesn't change, but life is one crazy ride. We'll just have to see where it takes us.
  • jglozano
    Very nice post, I totally agree with you. I rather have a half product than a half-ass product. :)

    The problem with these, any other projects, is that people forget to check-in emotions at the door. Whether it's the feeling of not getting hurt or wanting to stand out by being the "star", they have no place in a project or work environment. Funny enough, the emotion, or personality, of "let's get it done" also gets in the way since you're now clashing at the interaction level. :)

    What I've found out from my experience is that either you need to surround yourself with people that have the same believes and vision for the project or spend a lot of time outside of project work on helping people cope with their pre-assumptions and expectations of the project and their role within it.
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