Not World Class

My son Ben is a varsity fencer at Brock University.

Last weekend he was the top performer on his team for the first time in his event (men’s sabre). He’s doing pretty well for having less than 3 years experience.

As I learn the sport I asked him how big the gap is between him and the people winning the tournaments. It’s big. He acknowledges it’s very unlikely he’ll get anywhere close to those athletes, who mostly started fencing as kids.

Then I asked how well the university champions do at open national events like the Canadian championships. Another big gap. Fencers peak in their late 20s or early 30s and it’s a highly technical sport.

And even Canada’s most elite performers are almost never serious contenders for world or Olympic medals.

The thing is, none of this discourages Ben. He has no expectation of being world class; he’s having fun, improving, and enjoying his team mates. And that’s what he wants from the sport.

I’m willing to bet that the people (or animals, environment, etc.) that your organization serves don’t really care if you’re world class at what you do either.

You don’t need to be that good to make the difference they need.

I’m not suggesting you strive for mediocrity or get complacent and sloppy. Every healthy organization holds themselves to the standards of performance that will accomplish their objectives and seeks continuous improvement.

But maybe you could find more joy in the work, more useful performance metrics, and healthier organizational culture if you stop comparing yourself to those who have dramatically more experience, resources, and systems than you do.

Maybe you and your organization are meant to be solid varsity performers making steady progress and finding deep satisfaction as you do. Maybe that’s what those you serve need.

So, let’s keep learning from the best practices of the top leaders and organizations, but not demean or fail to celebrate the things we are able to do. Most of us are never going to be world class (in anything). We can admire and learn from those who are at that level but we need to keep perspective. There is success and impact for the rest of us too.

Contact me if I can be helpful to you and/or your organization.

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