When the Limits of Excellence are reached, the Virtues of Excellence are transformed into these corruptions. Please remember, they aren’t crimes or “sins;” they aren’t corruptions in that sense. We call them corruptions because, by definition, they take something good (the Five Virtues of Excellence) and dilute it and transform it into something unhealthy and harmful. So when we cross the Falling Point and the corruptions set in, we are guilty of nothing more than pushing ourselves to be excellent. And that’s something to be proud of. The problem is that this is precisely how excellence traps us and holds us back. Here they are:
Entropy
Entropy occurs when the physical and mental limits of Effort are surpassed. It signals a breakdown of the system. This system can refer to a person, a team, or an entire enterprise. So an excellent person, giving his or her all, eventually hit a wall when there’s no more effort to give. Hello Entropy.

Technocracy
Proficiency is merely a cost-of-entry, and it’s the same for everyone. So, when we rely upon proficiency beyond its limit, asking it to somehow differentiate us or drive truly great achievement, we’ve asked it to do what it can’t do. Excellent proficiency may look amazing to a novice, but masters know it’s never the end all. When we make it our focus, it can lead to a cult of capability, or Technocracy. We see this in the athlete who has no grace, the musician who has no taste, the prose stylist who has no ideas. They are like circus performers, and are soon forgotten.

Fixation
Fixation happens when the limits of healthy Commitment are surpassed. Eventually, our priorities, strategies, and organizations become misaligned. We’ve all seen fixated people who like to think they are committed. They mean well, but they have lost the plot. Perhaps they should be committed?

Rigidity
When Expertise is asked to have a vision, which it lacks by definition, Rigidity sets in. Then what we think we know supplants what we actually see, and progress becomes marginal and incremental. We’ve all known people who are great at project or operations management, but lack “the vision thing.” When something doesn’t go the way they’d like, unless they have other resources, skills, and frameworks to draw upon, they often dig in their heels, becoming rigid. They confuse this with expertise, with an assist from commitment. Wrong. It’s ego, plain and simple. The virtue of excellence got corrupted into rigidity, and the cost to themselves, their team, and the enterprise is following right behind.

Cunning
Cunning occurs when the limits of Acumen are reached and strategy is reduced to self-serving tactics. Acumen has an attitude of openness and considers navigation to part of the strategic adventure of business and life. Cunning sets in when that attitude is lost, when facts, information, and the map grow fuzzy. Because nobody has perfect information at all times, cunning is always a temptation.

We’ve all heard people say, “Nobody is irreplaceable,” and for most of us this has become a basic belief, a useful safeguard against arrogance and complacency. But it takes on a rather sinister tone during periods of economic downturn.

But it’s not true. Masters are irreplaceable.

Mediocrity must be replaced.

Excellence can be replaced (even if the search is arduous).

But Mastery can never be replaced, only succeeded. Only an idiot or a mediocrity fires a master.

I was watching the John Adams series on HBO recently, and also reading Founding Brothers, the Pulitzer winning book by Joseph J. Ellis, in anticipation of both Patriot’s Day and the marathon here in Boston. In both film and book, on the same night, I came across the account of Jefferson’s statement to Franklin upon taking up his position as the American representative in France, a position Franklin was vacating. Franklin opined that Jefferson would make an excellent replacement for him. Jefferson corrected Franklin and said, “You cannot be replaced, Dr. Franklin, only succeeded.” Here we see Jefferson acknowledge Franklin’s mastery, both as a diplomat and as a fixture in Paris. Not replaced, only succeeded. That’s it in a nutshell.

Here are the implications: A leader in Mastery leaves an irreplaceable legacy, and is also considered off limits if and when staff cuts come along. Masters leave on their own terms, in their own time, and only when they believe their gifts can be best put to use elsewhere. In this way, in Mastery, change is always an opportunity.

 Are you replaceable? Or can you only be succeeded?

Let’s start with a useful tool that supports a big idea: you can download a handy summary chart that outlines and expands the information in this blog postby clicking here. Look for the document entitled Costs of Failure, Mediocrity and Excellence.

We always say that mastery, and specifically Leadership Mastery, is different than excellence in kind, not in degree. So today we’ll talk about how excellence differs from failure and mediocrity in degree, not in kind. In other words, excellence is on the same continuum with failure and mediocrity, it’s quantitatively different from them, but not qualitatively different (like mastery is). And so excellence is always threatened with devolving back to mediocrity or even failure. Being excellent means riding a roller coaster.

If you’re excellent, congratulations. Unfortunately, you are now in the Excellence Trap. Excellence is the largest hidden cost in business. I discuss that in detail elsewhere, but here I’ll just show you what excellence looks like at 30,000 feet compared to failure and mediocrity. Here are a few examples… (more…)

Excellence differs from failure and mediocrity most obviously because many people openly and passionately aspire to it. They want the satisfaction excellence brings and the rewards it promises. Excellent people simply have richer lives, get more done, and have more fun. Aspiring to excellence is valued, encouraged and rewarded. No one really says, “I aspire to mediocrity.” Or, “I’m comfortable with failure.” So, even though excellence eventually turns on us and leads us into to the Excellence Trap, it is nevertheless fitting to speak of those habits and practices which can lead us to excellence as virtues.

There is no shortage of advice and opinions about what drives excellence. After studying much of what’s out there, across time and across cultures, and after working with a myriad of clients, we’ve identified five core virtues which truly account for excellence, without reducing or narrowing what excellence actually is or what it requires. 

The Virtues of Excellence are these: effort, proficiency, expertise, commitment, and acumen. If you demonstrate those five consistently then you will achieve excellence. And you will be also well on your way to the Excellence Trap! Let’s discuss these five virtues one by one.

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Imagine two successful leaders. Let’s call one leader S, and the other C. At this time, S is trapped in excellence, while C is in mastery. If excellence and mastery are like apples and oranges, these two will have very little in common. But not so fast; they’re both fruits, both grow on trees, and both start out life similarly. So it is with our two leaders. They share much in common, up to a point. But after that point, S became ensnared in the Excellence Trap, while C evolved to Leadership Mastery.

After the break, an article length case study follows that outlines in detail what the Excellence Trap and Leadership Mastery can look like in the real life of two CEO’s. Both pursued excellence. One became ensnared in the excellence trap, while the other achieved Leadership Mastery.

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This post shares a personal anecdote to make a point about Leadership Mastery, specifically the results of leading from vision in mastery, vs. managing in excellence. We recently moved to a new house that we are remodeling and renovating. The entire project gave me an opportunity to overcome my personal bad side (controlling, micro-managing, worrying), and gave me a chance to practice what I preach. An example of Leaderdship Mastery in action?

Background: We live at home, and we also work at home. In addition, we exercise at home, and my audio recording studio is at home. We’ll do pod and video casting from home. So it’s not just a house, it’s headquarters. Upon moving in, we immediately needed: a new kitchen, a new mudroom, a new roof and roofline, two new offices and a meeting room. We also needed a master plan for improved deck, patio, planting, bathrooms, and for a fourth floor media room. Also, the offices and studio would need acoustic treatments for soundproofing. My wife Michele and I collaborate on everything, and we really enjoy design. But the stakes are high and the budget is never high enough! Plus, we’ve already got a lot on our plates. Would this put undue strain on us? It’s a very enlightening micro-case study.

Managing from Excellence would have had us set big goals regarding scope, timing, and costs, do extensive due diligence, assemble and vet a crack team, closely manage the details, require hard work, seek efficiencies, confirm quality, confront unexpected crises, acknowledge emotional needs, and manage all of this against strategic goals based on our desired outcomes (multiple usage, business growth). Had we taken this approach, perhaps the team (architects, vendors, contractors, and sub-contractors) would have respected and admired us in the end, and maybe they would have feared us. We’d meet our contractual obligations, always act professionally, and maybe tip a few people. Either way, the job would be done on time, on budget and well. And it would have nearly killed me, and everyone who had to deal with me! The Excellence Trap would have extracted its inevitable hidden costs.

Instead we chose Leadership Mastery, leading to an experience in which the ”only-do-it-if-you-have-to-because-it’s hell” of remodeling turned out to be a piece of cake, a delight, with better results at a lower price, and at a lower personal and business cost. How did we do it? By leading from vision; by inviting, enthusing, and inspiring everyone we worked with to participate in that vision; by encouraging them to bring their vision to the project; and then by getting out of the way! More specifically, we made the Five Shifts of Leadership Mastery.

Here’s the story, as briefly as I can tell it: (more…)

Are we in a recession? Or a merely slowdown? Will it be deep, or shallow? Protracted or brief?

I don’t know, x 4.

But I do know that any leader should be thinking about how to sustain performance, and even how to defy the odds by achieveing greatness, while our employees are distracted either by fear of layoff’s, or wondering how to stay focused after surviving a layoff. The popular strategy for most people, leaders and associates alike, is denial, but as we’ve discussed elsewhere in this blog, denial is one of the Five Failed Strategies of Excellence and doesn’t work.

Usually, people confronting the challenges of a recession fear either losing their jobs, or keeping their jobs! The opportunity for leadership is to help people to understand that they will flourish either way, and to give them both the tools to do it and the confidence to know it. Working toward a culture of mastery can accomplish this.

Try this: Give your people an experience of escaping the excellence trap and tasting mastery. If it can transform fearand distraction into alignment, innovation, passion, productivity, and confidence (and it can), it will be one of the greatest gifts you can give your people, and one of wisest investments you can make in your business. You can start here. If every person is coming from their greatest strenghts and core identity, and by definition with great passion and productivity, bringing this to their work, several positive result follow:

- people will put fear aside and focus on the job at hand

- innovation will increase as ideas flow from sustained full engagement

- produtivity will increase as focus and passion increase, so more can be accomplished with fewer people

- survivors will continue without a hiccup

- laid off staff will stand out in the marketplace as self-possessed winners

- the business will gain (and spread) a reputation as a great employer in good times and bad

Ultimately, the usual troika of fear-denial, time management, and resentment will be replaced by a turbo-charged workforce. Typical management blather about how “this makes us stronger” will be replaced by inspiring leadership and an inspired, focused, and aligned workforce reality that has tasted mastery.

We see it all the time. Hardworking, achievement-oriented, capable, and experienced people experiencing the pain in the Excellence Trap. This means enduring the Five Costs of Excellence that add up to the largest hidden cost in business (and in life): Depletion, Compromise, Incrementalism, Misalignment and Egoism. No one likes this very much, so humankind has developed five popular strategies for dealing with it. The problem is, they all fail to deliver us from excellence. In fact, they only make it worse. We call them the Five Failed Strategies of Excellence and will discuss them in detail below.  The good news is this: if you are experiencing the limits of these strategies, you’re ready to escape from excellence and experience Leadership Mastery.

The Five Failed Strategies are these: Denial, Toughness, Acceptance, Escapism, and Balance. Let’s discuss each of them…

Denial says “tune out.” It ignores the reality of the limits, corruptions, and costs experienced in the excellence trap and merely treads water. This is the strategy of the weak.

Toughness says “tough it out.” It merely confronts the problem rather than solves it. Unlike denial, it accepts the reality of the challenge, it just ignores its impact. This is the strategy of the strong but foolish.

Acceptance sees “no way out.” It accepts defeat and diverts attention to focus on future fantasies, exit strategies, and lowered expectations. This is the strategy of the dreamer.

Escapism wants to “drop out.” It leaves the game rather than working to change it. This is the strategy of the quitter.

Balance is a “cop out.” It is the mother of all failed strategies, but very popular these days. If you are “seeking balance,” stop now! You have been sold a bill of goods. Balance juggles everything and accomplishes nothing. It seeks to manage the situation rather than change the game. This is the strategy of the duped.

We can spend a lifetime working with these failed strategies, but the only way to get past the costs of excellence is to escape from excellence, by making the qualitative shift to Leadership Mastery.

What is it about business and words that start with the letter P? We all remember the 4P’s of marketing (I’ll spare you another recitation), and I seem to remember four new marketing P’s coming along several years back. Last week, in a flash of P-inspired insight, I discovered the Five P’s of Leadership. Check it out…

The formula looks like this: Passion + Peace = Purpose >> Prosperity + Profit. This means when a leader has moved past both drive and rest, to have both passion and peace, they will clarify and deepen their purpose, which in turn leads to greater prosperity and profits. This is based on the key insight that the often-overlooked both-and relationship between passion and peace is the key driver of results. If you understand and apply that, you will be closing in on leadership Mastery, and you will enjoy a competitive advantage vs. those who never figure this out.

Challenge: First, too many of us are driven by a passion that never gives us any real peace (probably because this passion comes from our old friends, fear and ego). Consider this: how many seriously driven people do you know who seem to be actually compensating for something, or trying to prove a point? Do they seem healthy and well? Are they effective? I suspect not. But second, often when we experience what we call “peace” (but is actually really merely “rest”), we soon get bored and need to get back in the arena and do something! This is because we’re meant to be creating and doing; it turns out that we’re bundles of energy after all. But nonetheless, so many folks dream of retirement, work for the weekend, crave some serious R&R, or just need to trance out for a few minutes.

Solution: Passion and Peace aren’t an either-or; they are a both-and! In excellence, drive and rest fight with each other, but in mastery, they become Passion and Peace. In mastery, doing what you love to do and do best, getting to come from your passion, is itself peace. So we can be in motion or at rest, but in mastery we are always passionate and always at peace, at the same time! So while managing recovery  and pacing how we expend energy are crucial (in this regard, I like what The Energy Project is doing), this is limited to managing merely our capacity when we’re still in the Excellence Trap. Leadership Mastery gets past all that and combines Peace and Passion to successfully focus on our identity and Purpose. This focused drive is qualitatively different from what we experience in the Excellence Trap. It leads directly to the fourth and fifth P: Prosperity (personal flousishing) and Profit (return on investment and return on inspiration).

Summary: Drive and rest fight with each other when we are trapped in excellence. In Leadership Mastery, drive changes into passion, and rest changes into peace. They now feed each other, and this results in exponential increases in all desired personal and business outcomes.

In my late youth, when it seemed that I prefered reading heavy European books instead of frolicking outside in the sunshine, I once read where Soren Kierkegaard (big deal Danish philosopher) railed against the faults of what he called “the busy man of affairs,” by whom he meant movers and shakers in business and politics. He seemed to think they were all vacant and shallow phonies who stroked their own egos while achieving nothing of value (in his view, the Copenhagen of his day was one big fat bourgeois nightmare). Well, OK, that can be true sometimes, especially when mediocrity dresses up as excellence. But it never rang entirely true to me. Kierkegaard was a giant in many ways, but he wasn’t the most well-adjusted fellow, and even his fans often have to shake their heads sometimes at his emotional foibles (he died of exhaustion and a broken heart after he lost a battle, that he started, in which he attacked, well, basically everybody in town, in print).

Many years later, I learned that Hindu’s believe that all work is good, and necessary. Great news! Take that Kierkegaard! It turns out that burgermeisters and industrialists are people too. The problem is that while it may be all well and good to do the work of a merchant (business person), you have little chance in traditional Indian society to reinvent yourself or escape the mere excellence of your caste of birth. You have to be born a brahmin.

So I wondered (as I do): can there be a business brahmin? Can one be fully integrated and at their best, as a business leader? Short answer: Yes. But you have to escape from the mediocrity and excellence that Kierkegaard so despised, and make the transition to mastery. Then, as Joseph Campbell pointed out, there is nothing in this world more powerful and unstoppable than a fully realized brahmin. Then business isn’t busyness. It has become innovation, creativity, and vision made real for the substantive benefit of all involved. Leadership Mastery is like that.