The Case for Excellence in a Culture of Mediocrity

It is the easiest thing in the world to do. Settle. Even better, be part of a culture that celebrates the equality of mediocrity. After all, everyone gets to feel great about themselves when there is little difference between winning and losing. Meanwhile, the benefits—individually and collectively—of being within a culture with a commitment to excellence get lost in the process. Is it true that very few people will excel at anything, much less everything? It is. It becomes a matter of what gets priority. What is more important? Striving for and committing to excellence or placing the emphasis on achieving the maximum equality of outcomes? Not a shocker; count me in the first group.

Competition Means Someone Has to Lose

Inherent in accomplishing greatness is competing against others, in one form or another, seeking to accomplish the same outcome. In many instances in life, there are times where there is a single winner. In fact, someone might actually, gasp, place last. That is okay by me. It is all part of competing.

You can lose without being a loser. You can learn there will be plenty of times you do your dead level best, but it comes up short. You can learn some people succeed with less effort than others. Some folks seem to not prevail, no matter how hard they try and as decent as they are as a person. Some others even cheat to get ahead (some get caught; some don’t). Some people had the good fortune to pick their parents carefully and start out on third base (many suffering the illusion they hit a triple). It is called life.

The Lessons Competition Teaches

Along the way, you learn a few other things. It is reality that the harder you work, the luckier you get. You achieve a grasp and understanding that the same kids who told you they could do better, “if I only tried harder,” are the adults who feel entitled to the same rewards as those working twice as hard. Complaining about the fairness of things will always be an easier choice than sucking it up and working harder. Turns out telling the truth is not just a value but a good idea—whose word is good is actually important. Please and thank you represent more than good manners. They are a part of a way of thinking. The list of concepts that become implanted by virtue of experience grows through the years.

Defeat Is Part of Victory

The response to not everyone winning should not be acceptance, much less endorsement, of the refusal to accept an important truth. In life, very few of us will achieve greatness in anything in the eyes of others, much less ourselves. Very few of us will taste first place very often. This is all okay. Playing by the rules, doing your best, and accepting the outcome is what competition should be. Accepting defeat is all part of what makes victory feel so darn good.

Nobody, certainly not me, is advocating treating eight-year-old kids the same way as NFL football players. If you are the CEO, new hires and your VP of Sales get different treatment. You know, the growing process. All the while, in a healthy society, we measure ourselves against actual outcomes (not empty platitudes) within a culture that embraces competition in a system that rewards honesty, hard work, and performance. Without gratuitous hurtfulness, all of us learn to live with the results each day and move along committed to a standard of excellence. This is not a plea for a survival of the fittest culture. However, it is a statement that committing to and striving for a standard of excellence is a very good idea.

America at an Inflection Point

The United States appears to me to be at a critical inflection point. Striving for and rewarding excellence are standards that are being twisted into unfairness (defined to be racism, colonialism, etc.) and greed (defined to be the heart of capitalism and in conflict with the holy grail of “equality”) by those determined to put an end to every iota of what has been the traditional culture since our inception. The current Progressive movement, in my view.

This person holds that the United States has been and remains the greatest country in the history of the earth. Without arguing as to whether that is right or not—a rabbit hole that Progressives love to define, create, and chase), we ought to agree on one thing. Those of us who share this (patriotic) way of thinking cannot shrink from defending and advocating that honest competition produces superior results than rigging the system to a level of shared mediocrity.

Excellence or Equality of Outcome?

When it is all said and done, this is the essential fabric of the debate surrounding virtually everything. Is it standing up for competition producing excellence with winners and losers, or is it working for a society that as evenly as possible distributes anything and everything? This is a struggle where we must prevail.