Steer Clear: Mediocrity is Contagious

The photo below is one I took at a nearby grocery store. I was headed to the other side of town so it wasn’t a usual stop for me. Though I notice the extreme sale signs out front, I guess I hadn’t realized that this business had failed and was closing it’s doors. What was on the shelves was “what was left.”

A sad sign as you walked in said “5 Days Left” with a removable number five. Is there a more sad task than being in charge of flipping that number down? Four, then three, then two… I was sick to my stomach.

I almost turned right around, but there wasn’t many other options on my way so I figured I’d take a stab at them having what I needed in stock. They didn’t.

While I walked in, a team of cashiers and other employees huddled around one of the checkout booths, laughing, telling stories, waiting for a customer to checkout. It felt eerie, like a scene out of an armageddon movie.

While I walked the empty aisles I felt the strongest repulsion to a physical location that I think I’ve ever felt. This type of failure, in my opinion, needs to be like kryptonite to our culture. There’s nothing normal, or OK with this type of complacency. The chatter from the “team” up front still irks me today. A group associated with this type of failure needs to be none other than somber, embarrassed even, to be associated with such an effort.

Furthermore, many businesses just like this one survive (without thriving) with embarrassing levels of performance and attention to detail without suffering the truest consequences that this place about to experience: extinction.

Be ruthless how you spend your time, with whom you spend your time, and the projects that you’re attached to. Winning is contagious, but so is the cancer of mediocrity.

Steer clear.

 

Logan Gelbrich

@functionalcoach