MISTAKE #20: You suffer from irrational exuberance

Ask 100 people if they think they rank below, at, or above the median on any given attribute.  Perhaps 60% to 70% will say the above.  Ask the same question about their child and the numbers would probably spike to over 90%.

Yet we all understand that the very definition of a median means half of the sample should fall below it and half should be above it.  When a large enough dataset has a normal distribution (i.e. a bell-shaped curve), the median aligns with the average. 

So a large number of people in the above example must have false perceptions or maybe the distribution looks nothing like a bell shape.

Now, Look at how your company celebrates success. 

We know that 95% of new products fail, yet what percentage of these companies refuse to view their initiative as anything less than excellent until the day it is officially killed?  What share of vendors walks out of line reviews giving each other high fives, thinking the meeting went great and sending out a recap that suggests they’re ‘really optimistic’ about getting favorable distribution decisions?  Compare this to the single-digit percentage of companies that typically actually get a ‘yes’ from a line review.

These mistakes happen because people tend to have the willful or accidental ignorance of not understanding their performance relative to their competitive set.  Or they’re using the wrong measures to determine if the mission has been accomplished.

Upon doing a post-mortem evaluation, most companies can identify a series of mistakes that accumulated to become a lethal cocktail causing the death of their product.   

Sadly, a number of the ingredients in this cocktail were probably labeled as ‘excellent’ at one time.  People working on the product probably were awarded raises or promotions for work that never delivered results.

IS EXCELLENCE SUBJECTIVE OR USER-DEFINED?

Most organizations readily proclaim work to be excellent and are quick to publicly celebrate anything labeled as such.  The behavior is driven by the desire to feel good about ourselves, to keep employees motivated and validated, and to sustain an optimism driven by a perception of superiority. 

These organizations mirror the “everyone gets a trophy for participating” youth sports culture in America (a trend I’ve got a theory was actually the result of efforts from a secret organization of trophy manufacturers).  They send confusing messages that gradually lower performance standards over time.

After all, what company doesn’t flavor excellence into its mission, vision, or values in some manner?  Yet how many companies really, truly operate with excellence?

Odds are you will answer that rhetorical question either thinking of very few (because you have a very strict definition of excellence) or you can name a long list (because your definition is a little more generous).  There are probably few people with a list of medium length.  This further reflects the way we can individually create our own threshold to excellence to shape our broader views.

PERCEIVED EXCELLENCE IS THE ENEMY OF REAL EXCELLENCE

While I’m just about the farthest thing from being a motivational speaker, I do understand the importance of practicing the art of encouraging employees toward a greater goal. 

However, my personal experience has taught me that great employees don’t want trophies for participation.  They want to feel a sense of growth and improvement as much as they want to receive praises or recognition.  To them, feedback still is a gift.

And books are not written on how business empires built organizations of happy employees delivering mediocre work.  Rather, great organizations are built on the very reluctance to call anything great.

While striving for excellence in your organization, don’t feel compelled to overuse the excellence label.  At the same time, make sure your organization is structured to ensure you’ve got an accurate understanding of how employees are performing…both based on what is delivered, but also on how it is delivered.  Two things to watch out for as you consider labeling excellence:

Watch out for employees that deliver great results, but do so only after investing 80-hour work weeks when the work should have only taken 40 hours.  Guide employees on how much effort a particular task or project should take.  Potentially challenge them to find a way to get more done in less time without compromising quality.

Realize that creative, often less experienced employees may find a unique approach to their work that may not deliver the results you desired.  Their approach has potential but is incomplete.  Remember that many great innovations have come from combining the wisdom of an industry expert with the “there is no box” thinking of a newbie.

TAKE OFF THE ROSE-COLORED GLASSES

After reading this, take time to reassess your perception of excellence.  Instead of looking for all the evidence of excellence and all the reasons why your product will be in the 5% that succeed, be the 10th Man.

Look at your work, look at the work of your organization, look at your product’s launch plan and ask yourself:

What evidence suggests that this might not be as excellent as we’d like to believe? 

Could this be more excellent in ways that we’re not pursuing because we’ve labeled our current state a success?

Could an investigative reporter (or late-night talk show host) poke any holes in claiming “mission accomplished” to our mission, vision, or value of excellence?

If you do the above assessment and can’t come up with any areas needing improvement, please contact me right away.  I’d love to either be the first to write a book about your company, make an equity investment or apply for a job.