Escape From Excellence

Let’s talk about the crucial idea of the Falling Point. This is where the rubber meets the road, or really more like where the poop hits the fan. This explains just how and when the Excellence Trap gets us.

When we surpass the built-in limit of any of the Virtues of Excellence, which inevitably occurs, we reach the Falling Point. When this happens, our lifelong upward arc gradually takes a new direction, and at first we don’t even notice. This is the great irony of being excellent; eventually it bites us, and we don’t know why. But, like a subatomic particle or distant star, we can’t see it directly; we can only “see” it by its effects.

These effects include all the costs and challenges that we observe confronting those hardworking, well- intentioned, capable, successful, and excellent people we mentioned earlier: struggling to achieve the extra 5%, sustain peak performance and innovation, while confronting merely incremental change, marginal outcomes, limited advantage, and inconsistent inspiration, focus, and alignment with values and goals.

The Falling Point is sort of like the point of diminishing returns, except that it is really more like the point of incurring and accruing hidden and unnecessary costs. Big difference.

The moment we reach the Falling Point, on any one of the Virtues, the Corruptions of Excellence set in and the Costs of Excellence come racing behind. This explains why good people aren’t enjoying a life of mastery. And this is precisely what forces the choice between 1. falling back into mediocrity or 2. ascending to mastery, if you’re even fortunate enough to make the choice; most driven people just stick it out in excellence, not knowing what hit them, until the costs become too high. In the meantime, they ride the roller coaster, play the odds, and try to beat the clock, all the while wasting time with the Five Failed Strategies of Excellence.

But take heart, every master was there once. Then they escaped from excellence.

 Remeber this: We don’t cross the Falling Point because we have failed in any way. Quite the opposite. We only cross it if we are excellent! And that is how excellence traps us, every time.

Let’s stipulate that you, and most of the people you surround yourself with, can rightly be called excellent. As a basic definition, we’ll say that an excellent person is someone did or has had most of the following things:

• Good schools, good grades
• Good jobs
• Top companies
• Strong track record
• Powerful resume
• Significant responsibility
• Hard work
• Wise choices
• Terrific skills
• Commitment to success
• Good opportunities

Here’s the question: if this is so, then why is it that most of these same excellent people still struggle daily with a multitude of limits and a series of vexing challenges? These include sustaining productivity, consistently innovating, maximizing relationships, articulating a differentiating vision, leveraging competitive advantage, keeping it fun, and experiencing exponential increases in business outcomes and personal rewards. Add your own. Why do we settle for incremental change and marginal gains?

Is it just the way things are? Is it just the human condition? I say no! I say something is very wrong with this picture. We know that excellence isn’t enough, and we know that excellence, by its very nature, has built-in limits and unavoidable dynamics that actually contribute to the problem. That’s what makes it a trap. It’s like a Greek tragedy where the audience knows where this is leading, and it isn’t good. Well, the perspective of Mastery is like the audience. We see the trap that excellent people are in, but unlike a Greek audience, we can do something about it.

Here’s a bonus question: Is the entire industry devoted to maximizing success (including leadership development, management training, corporate shrinks, etc.) making a qualitative difference? Obviously not. The limits, challenges, and problems still exist, and the industry designed to help remains in place. Why aren’t the problems solved and the helpers out of business? We believe that it is because until now no one has understood how, why, and even that excellence is a trap, and no one has created a specific path out of the excellence trap and to mastery, specifically for leaders. We have, and we share all of our insights and knowledge about it on this blog. Look for our upcoming e-book, and if you want to access the tools that will help you, your team, and your enterprise make the change from excellence to mastery, you can visit us here.