S Truett Cathy—the founding father of Chick-fil-A restaurants has always found great pleasure in speaking to graduating classes—he finds value in locating the straight A students…not to symbolize their efforts to study from sunrise to sunset, be loyally dedicated and or determined to be looked upon as being one of if not the best…but to softly remind them, “The world is run by C average students.”
Being a smart player, a well determined performer, a finely tuned and polished machine doesn’t guarantee you a solid first step because research constantly shows average students have a lock on grasping what it takes to get by. You don’t need to have a brilliant mind to have common sense. The only thing required in the department of accomplishment is hard work.
It’s ok to laugh the laugh, the tiny giggle that invisibly screams, “No wonder Mike in cubical twelve gets away with being a slack off.”
$300,000 for three or four college degrees and all you ever needed was a fist full of common sense.
What amazes me aren’t the number of people who’ve learned the fine art of being less at work but the increasing collection of experienced professionals blessed with skill and the desire to use it through leadership that have developed a daily ethic that features them spending early mornings, lunch hours and the drive home thinking about someone who completely stole their reasons to succeed because being less is the acceptable.
Please don’t think of this as being a call to action for ladder climbers to loosen their passions to reach the top. By identifying the elements that are taking you down, it helps you rebuild the playing field required to create a firmer foundation that’ll feel like a payoff for hard work and dedication and not punishment for caring too much.
Check collectors are part of the American process. It’s a balancing act that begins when two kids sitting at the same table reading the same book swiftly move through the words then slam their eyes onto the next page, then the next, then next. The student with the higher grade constantly falls behind. He allows the assumed faster reader to bolt through the paragraphs—the goal isn’t to digest the presentation of thought but rather to gain confidence in common sense and gather nothing more than what’s required to get by.
The smarter student develops a complex—believing he or she has a reading problem.
7th grade Riverside Jr. High…I chose to fail a reading test. At the age of twelve I had grown extremely tired of not getting attention. I couldn’t stand the idea of being the car that could maintain it self. I was jealous of the students who drew the teacher to them while the rest of us sat with our faces buried in books. By failing the test that convinced the educational system to place me in a reading center where my heart got what it wanted most…someone to talk to me.
I didn’t cheat to win. I chose to lose using crafted common sense to get what I wanted. The decision to do so totally destroyed every effort the other side of my personality required to draw out the plans of becoming the architect I wanted to be. The more I failed on tests, the less the upper levels of school management saw in me. I got the attention of special teachers but lost the hope of those who could’ve easily put me in the drafting classes that would’ve turned what I saw on the inside into a reality.
The world is run by C average students. I had fallen below the standard.
A 12th grade religion teacher grabbed me by the arm in 1979 and changed the layout of the process, “I don’t want you back in my class next year. I don’t like you and never will find a reason to understand why you completely bother me. The only way to get you out of my class is to some how convince you that having D’s and F’s aren’t going to put that diploma in your hands and you somewhere other than here.”
That’s where I learned you can’t fire high school students…you can only come up with words that hurt like hell yet they inspire you to wake up. Because of his harshness and lack of love for the student who wanted nothing more than tons of attention from teachers…my stupidity cleared the way for me to gain access to an A minus average by schools end.
I failed me and during the journey of rebuilding a loyalty to quality I’m constantly reminded the real world didn’t have my religion teacher.
Know that term: I failed _________.
While the nation puts focus on masterminding a plan to put us back on the top shelves of worth and value, your performance and lack thereof can and does inspire as well as influence people you know and will one day meet. The world may be run by C average students but somewhere along the line you’re going to get tired of being just ok. Being ok may get you HBO and a few video games but it also leads you to the final box that was designed by an ok machine thats been glued together by an ok worker then sold to an ok funeral director who shrugged his shoulders and said, “Ok let’s get this over with.”
Ever seen how much money they make when people are leaving? You’ll be ok.
Will being just ok ever change? S Truett Cathy went through his vision changing experiences during the Great Depression—70 plus years have spun by faster than Madonna reinvents her image. Guess it’s ok to be ok…just don’t fall below it cuz it’s happening more and more everyday. If giving 70% is acceptable today…your grand children will only be required to give 50.
Constantly face the facts: I failed __________.
A shot of reality in the arms required to lift your tail up out of that chair.
arroecollins@clearchannel.com
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