These are the slides I used at the SXSW2018 presentation. The illustrator is my good friend John Conroy. The audio file of my presentation is here. https://soundcloud.com/officialsxsw/the-mediocrity-trap-sxsw-2018

1. #mediocritytrap

2. Many things strike me as
mediocre…
#mediocritytrap

3. Canned email
responses

4. Storage Facilities

5. Killing Time
#mediocritytrap

6. Living Life to be Entertained

8. Let’s talk about definitions…

9. …the general tendency of things
throughout the world is to render
mediocrity the ascendant power
among mankind. John Stuart Mill

10. • If BETTER is within your reach and you choose to settle for
less, you are settling for mediocrity. Scott Williams
• To be mediocre is to be completely lacking in distinction or
imagination. Adrian Furnham
• Mediocrity consists of central group practices performed
around the average whose repetition result in their
embeddedness in a group. ~Joseph Hermanowicz
• Survival of the fittest isn’t a progression toward greatness. It
just means the survival of the sufficiently non-terrible.
~Oliver Burkeman

11. Drivers of
Mediocrity
• Consistency
• Decision Making
• Strategery
Defeating
Mediocrity
• As a Grunt
• As a so-called Leader

12. Consistency is the Virtue of
Mediocrity

13. Cult of Decision Making

14. Decision Making is Overrated!
• Real Men Make Decisions Quickly and Firmly
• Others Who Don’t are Weak
• Real Men Never Change Their Minds
• And Others Who Do are Weak
#mediocritytrap

15. Over-Deciding is a Thing
When you treat everything like an exception,
then nothing is an exception
#mediocritytrap

16. Under-Deciding is also a Thing
Any decision is better than no decision.
Your colleagues can compensate for your Stupidity.
#mediocritytrap

17. Strategery
#mediocritytrap

18. Most Organizations don’t make
Strategy…they make Platitudes
“We follow the money and uncover big deals”

19. Real Strategies Choose to Stop
doing some Things and Start
doing Others!
Sentimentality is a Dead End

20. Learn more at
notredamevillage.org

21. Mediocrity is an
Individual
Choice…
• Show up as Yourself
• Give and Accept Critical Feedback
• Give Positive Feedback
• Understand the Logic of Others
• Do Hard Things in Small Ways
• Ask Stupid Questions
• Accept Discomfort
#mediocritytrap

22. Ask Stupid Questions
Admitting what you don’t know is essential to improvement.
Find a thinking buddy who is your cognitive opposite.

23. Get Comfortable with being
Uncomfortable!

24. …but Managers
institutionalize
Mediocrity
• Seek Disagreement
• Avoid Best Practice
• Invite Controversy
• Avoid Safety
• Evaluate Priorities not Costs
• Let People do what they’re Good at
• Reject Status Quo Calendar
• Reject Smooth Operations
#mediocritytrap

25. Reject the Status Quo’s Calendar
Calendar and Schedules are most important weapons of the
powers that be.
Be wary of the Status Quo’s ruler.

26. Adopt the 10% Rule of Change
If it’s already good, make it better

27. Regression to the
Mean is a Thing
#mediocritytrap

28. Formulas are not Solutions
#mediocritytrap

29. #mediocritytrap