“You can be good, but you can’t be great.”

This seems to be the motto of large organization and government entities. A single person attempting to do something greater than the sum of the rest of the parts is shunned, ground out and cast aside.

Even if they persist, they end up burning out from fighting upstream against a system that values mediocrity.

I’m currently reading, “The Greatest Teacher in America,” but you may already know the story if you’ve seen the movie, Stand and Deliver. Despite all his efforts, Jaime Escalante eventually left (forced out if you read between the lines) of the school where under-performing students were skyrocketing in their performance in Mathematics. He eventually moved back to Bolivia.

I had a friend tell me her co-workers grilled her for working so hard in the office.

Politics and bureaucracy are the gold standard for how things work in many places.

In a world of radical transparency, the tide is shifting.

The great things being done are now shown to the world, forcing the rest to wake up and realize they are going to be left behind.

The great people rising in organizations are inspiring others, building followers and changing cultures.

There’s still a great distance to go, but it’s possible to finally move in a new direction.