John Spence, a renowned business consultant, warns that mediocrity is the silent killer of success. It’s easy to understand why—mediocrity doesn’t announce itself with fanfare. Instead, it creeps in gradually, disguised as “good enough” or “satisfactory.” Before long, what was once considered subpar becomes the new normal. As a leader in an O&P practice, you are often trying to keep a lot of plates spinning and the acceptance of mediocrity is a dangerous pitfall lurking just beneath the surface. Leaders are not immune to this trap. In fact, they may be particularly susceptible due to:
- Pressure to maintain the status quo
- Fear of rocking the boat or upsetting team members
- Cognitive biases that blind us to gradual declines in performance
- The comfort of familiar, if inefficient, processes
As you may know, I had John Spence work with a group of about 45 O&P business leaders, and his wisdom is now firmly embedded in my philosophy. But that is never good enough for me. The fact that something is makes me wonder why it is. That brings me to another belief I have: Critical thinking is hard—that it can actually be painful. And without really being aware of it, we tend to avoid dispassionate, logical thinking.
Support authors and subscribe to content
This is premium stuff. Subscribe to read the entire article.
