The Genuine Article

“It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.” 

–     Herman Melville, as quoted in an ad campaign for the new Cadillac ATS-V Coupe

It’s a compliment when we hear someone say that another person is “the real deal.”  It’s a compliment when we say that someone has “fresh ideas,” or “an unencumbered perspective.”

It’s also a choice; to be genuine, to be original.  It is also a choice (substandard and beneath a difference maker) to imitate or copy.

Being the “real deal,” the “genuine article” or “the idea person” should be a more popular choice not just because it’s the best way to bring about improvement in the team and its outcomes, but because the bar never changes if we just stand and look at it.  When it comes right down to it, if, as an employee, we’re trying to be “Bob’s replacement,” or the “next Mary,” we’re going to fail.  We ain’t Bob, and we ain’t Mary.  If, as employers, we’re trying to hire the next Bob or Mary, we’re going to be frustrated for two reasons.  First, we ain’t getting Bob or Mary back, and second, we’re missing an opportunity to upgrade.

Yep.  I said upgrade.  Not only is no one truly irreplaceable, but virtually no one is un-upgradable.  And, as leaders, our #1 job is to have a plan for what we’d seek if Bob or Mary won Powerball and rode off in to the sunset.  (Editor’s Note:  If I win Powerball Wednesday night, it’s been really good writing for y’all, and I’ll miss you…)

That’s right everyone can be upgraded upon.  A couple obvious examples follow here:  Very few (if any) Green Bay Packer fans thought Aaron Rodgers would be the Hall-of-Famer he’s becoming, primarily because he wasn’t Brett Favre.  Favre was one of a kind, and so is A-Rodg.

Eric Clapton the end of the era of great guitarists?  Tell that to Joe Bonamassa, Steve Vai, Eric Johnson, John Mayer or Joe Satriani.  Eric “Slow Hand” Clapton is legendary, but close your eyes and listen to one of these “new” guys — and you realize that the bar is being raised.

People on the Left are hoping to find the next Bill Clinton, just as those on the Right are in the lab, hoping to clone / re-create Ronald Reagan.

Tomorrow at work, be your own person.  Raise our kids to be their own person.  Hire people for what they’re great at and then help them be even greater at those things, rather than teach them to do what we’ve always done.

I’ve had great mentors, but it’s insulting to them when someone says, “Steve is the next WB, RD, DC, BC or HJ,” not just because they were the real deal themselves, but because as mentors, they encouraged, coached and drove me to be genuine and true to my own wiring.

We owe it to the people we work with to do the same.