Recently, as I was attempting to clean out my files, I happened upon an article that I had written in 1990. Upon reading the words, it struck me that the problem I had described over fifteen years ago was still stalking Corporate America.

The following quotes out of my first book, The Book of Excellence, published in 1990, had proven to be prophetic:

“Excellence is not optional”

“The nineties will see the death of the order taker. Are you an order taker?”

Following is the unedited article as it appeared ten years ago:

The #1 Plague of American Business

There is a dreadful, deadly disease that is stalking the majority of American businesses - mediocrity. Today’s fad in the American business community is “Total Quality Management,” a solution that was embraced by the Japanese years ago. Businesses implement this “TQM” concept and find that it takes several years to see the benefits. This occurs because people need time to ‘buy in’ to the program of quality, or this is the excuse that we use.

I argue that we don’t have the time for our employees to ‘buy in’ or to accept the philosophy of excellence. Our foreign competitors, namely the Japanese, are laughing all the way to the bank. We talk about quality, form committees to beat the who, what, when, why questions to death, while the Japanese “Just Do It!”

An attitude of excellence is either good or bad, there is no middle ground. I hear, all too often, comments like: “Why change, we have always done it this way?”; “Why should I improve, no one appreciates it?”; “I will do just enough to get by!”; “I don’t know why they are trying so hard, probably to earn brownie points with the boss!”

The reality is that the majority of workers in America, both blue and white collar, are mediocre. This results in a real problem - the minority, which is striving for excellence, is condemned by the mediocrity of the masses. This peer group, or “Turkey Power,” creates a true dilemma for management - attack the mediocrity and remedy the real problem or take the path of least resistance - ask the “Eagles” to leave. “Eagles,” or the few who aspire to be excellent in their chosen profession, tend to intimidate the mediocre majority by their performance.

Following are two powerful examples of how mediocrity rules in the American workplace…

#1 - An employee of a large aerospace manufacturer receives the highest possible rating during her annual merit performance review. This employee, despite receiving the highest rating in her department, did not receive a pay increase for her efforts! Instead, a probationary employee with the lowest ranking in the department received the pay increase.

Upon asking her supervisor why she did not receive an increase in pay, the top performing employee was told, “It was not your turn!” Within a few months, this excellent employee left this large corporation to search for a position where “Merit Performance” was truly a part of the corporate culture.

#2 - A Vice President of sales for a large office equipment retailer was asked to resign due to the fact that the Board of Directors had “lost confidence” in his abilities, despite the fact that sales had grown in excess of 57% during his tenure! Why, you ask, was he asked to resign? He had made the politically incorrect mistake of reprimanding the Chairman’s son for matters of which any other employee would have been terminated.

The “Eagle” had threatened the “Good Old Boy”culture of mediocrity and was forced out. A powerful postcript to this saga: Business decreased 30% within a year of this leader’s departure!

Ask yourself the following questions to determine if your company is ruled by the “Mediocrity Mentality:”

• Do you hire people who have a track record of performance excellence? If their performance elsewhere has been mediocre, you will not change their work habits.

• Do you have a compensation plan that truly rewards excellence?

• Are you keeping employees strictly because of their tenure and not performance or productivity? Also, are employees promoted on tenure vs. productivity?

• Would the corporate culture or philosophy of your company be rated one of excellence or mediocrity?

• If an outsider walked into your company, would they view an exciting, enthusiastic and aggressive operation?

• Are you meeting, or exceeding, sales and profit goals?

• What three things are you doing differently this year to increase productivity and performance?

I am aware that this is a sobering article and I wish the problem of mediocrity was not so prevalent. But, the fact is that mediocrity is rampant and we must take corrective action or our leadership in the domestic and global marketplaces is in great jeopardy. I also recognize that many American firms, mainly small to medium sized companies, have endorsed and implemented the excellence concept and are to be commended. I challenge more organizations to adopt this philosophy of excellence so we can once again enjoy the true fruits of a strong American work ethic!

As an update, the office equipment retailer referenced in this article is no longer in business. The plague of mediocrity had such a grip on the culture that the ‘Eagles’ left to work for more progressive companies, leaving the diseased company to rot from the inside out. This is a very sad ending to a company that was founded in 1923! Mediocrity truly is an epidemic that, left unchecked, will destroy the afflicted organization. Following are a few thoughts for your consideration and reflection…

“Promote performance, not politics.”

“Hire excellence, promote excellence, demand excellence.”

“The quality of one’s life is a direct reflection of their individual commitment to excellence.”

“The worst employee to have on your team is the one who is not good enough to keep but not bad enough to fire!”

“Most people would rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism.”