I know, what a title! I cannot help but think about the future of our commerce when we are not teaching children to strive for excellence.
Some of you may disagree. However, with No Child Left Behind and the dumbing down of America through corporate standardized testing, I am aware of how this will effect the future workforce. As a matter of fact, we are already beginning to see the effects.
Mind you, there are some shining star youth who are very fortunate to escape this mediocrity loophole but the window of opportunity is narrowing. Why am I calling it a chase for mediocrity? Because this chase for mediocrity is pervading our business practices, ethics, and potential.
We should be striving for excellence, not just test scores. Those of us who have lived in the real world understand that test scores are useless. However, all corporate America does is chase down numbers. Things like sales numbers, budget numbers, cost effectiveness numbers. Corporate culture has forgotten that there are real people behind these numbers. They have bought out full-time, loyal workers in favor of saving costs which forces them to take a severance package for the short term or drop to part-time employment. The jobs are fewer because many people have had to take at least two part time positions and still not make the money to maintain their quality of life before the layoff.
Then you have people, like me, who refuse to play the corporate game and strike it out on their own. While I would not mind being hired as a subcontractor, I don't want to be pinned to one corporate's culture. Many of us are building small businesses like our forefathers did many moons and seasons ago. We may not have a lot of money behind us, but we are, for the most part, happy. You really cannot put a price on happiness.
So what does this have to do with chasing mediocrity? What I fear is creating a culture of drones. People without imagination or creativity. This does not move America's commerce. What used to put us at the forefront was innovation. We are innovators. But if we are not teaching creativity or innovation, will we stay number one in the world? Bad news folks, we have already slipped. And you can see it in the education system.
When I first began working for an office supply store giant years ago, my boss and our department was always chasing down numbers. However, we were always striving for excellence at the same time. This may have had something to do with the awesome District Manager we had who also strove for excellence. When DM's had changed hands, the game changed. Under this particular leadership, we learned that we were better off flying under the radar. Don't be the top dog and don't be the bottom dog, get in the middle of the pack because there is safety in numbers.That is when I knew I was done with that version of retail forever.
This same mentality is robbing our school systems of truly embracing excellence. Granted, there are some superintendents that are all about excellence. However, the larger the school system, the more about numbers it becomes. Race to the Top/NCLB has become the worst kind of game ever, a game of numbers in school systems, it is the incorporation of school systems.
The point I am trying to make is this, that you, the small business owner, need to be involved. Tutor one afternoon a month, attend school board and town council meetings, become a mentor, or sponsor events that allows you to open up the eyes of the children in your community. I have friends that are already heavily involved and invested in the local culture. They introduce kids to entrepreneurship and they plan arts events open to the public.
The above quote says it all. Teach excellence in all things and strive for excellence in yourself!
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