Mediocrity is the New Norm
Today I see examples of incompetency everywhere. No one seems to be noticing. It’s as if no one cares anymore when people do things below the unspoken standards of the past.
One of the first things I noticed is what’s happening to our language. I hear people around me say:
“between you and I”
“it’s a matter between him and I”
“me and she”
“very unique”
“I should have went that way”
No one corrects them. No one winces or says anything when someone crucifies the language. An editor applied for a job at my company who couldn’t recognize the difference between their, they’re, or there on a simple grammar test. She graduated from college last year!
But it’s not just language. Try going to your local vendor and paying for something with cash. If there is no calculator available, the person behind the counter will look lost while you wait for your proper change. Offer to help them out and the cashier, while grateful, fails to see the situation as their lacking any skill. They’re willing to accept being incompetent in something so basic!
Those are some little signs of incompetence; then there are the bigger ones that are more impactful. For instance, in the workplace, it’s acceptable for executives and senior leaders to say that they are “conflict-averse.” As such they are reluctant to speak honestly to their direct reports for fear of starting a conflict. So, these coddled direct reports continue to operate at their same subpar levels and never get to realize their full potential. In a competitive global marketplace, having leaders operate in substandard ways seems to be quite acceptable. I know a brilliant Senior Engineer in charge of a multimillion-dollar project who told me he is reluctant to say anything to young and aspiring engineers whose ideas are misguided or just flat-out wrong, for fear of being accused of not being collaborative. HELP!!
Are the people in these examples guilty of doing anything wrong? No. It’s just safer to accept mediocrity. Saying nothing eliminates being tagged as a troublemaker or worse yet “a difficult person to work with.”
The Tom Bradys, Winston Churchills, and Eleanor Roosevelts of the past and present are whom we need to look to as model leaders. These people would never be distracted by today’s woke conformities. They won’t, and wouldn’t, give in and accept mediocrity as America’s “new norm!”