Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

“Be the Best” is a misguided goal because it is based on other people.

A few years ago, I worked for a government agency who proclaimed loudly and often that it was the Best fill-in-the-blank agency in the Federal government. I tried in vain to convince people that was a misguided goal.

If all the other agencies in the government were lousy at fill-in-the-blank, we only had to be mediocre to be the best. Who wanted to be mediocre? Fast forward to today and we learn that government agencies are behind and falling further behind in the area of Information Technology. If you are the best IT agency in the Federal government, well, you aren’t too good.

The problem with being the best is that I compare yourself to other persons. My goal is based not on myself, but on other persons. How good the other persons are is out of my control.

Solution: (I am supposed to offer solutions in blog posts, right?) Make my goal to be excellent at fill-in-the-blank. My success will depend on me, not other people. I will concentrate on my performance instead of looking at everyone else.