The End of Average

Today I happened to catch an interview with Thomas Friedman and he said something that made my ears perk up, “Average is Over.”

His argument, in the interview and in his column is that with our new “hyper-connected” (flat was before Facebook and Twitter) society, the average worker is too easily replaced. It’s too easy these days to find someone or some thing that will do it cheaper, faster, and/or better. In order to stay afloat in this new world, we need to overachieve.

Even if we put globalization aside (which we probably shouldn’t), the fact is that the chances of hiding behind mediocre work are rapidly slimming. It is simply too easy in a digital world to research and document a person’s work record. Hoping to land a dream job? A dream resume is not the prerequisite, you need to be able to prove that you can do exceptional work.

Say we buy Friedman’s argument and average is over. Now what? How do we stand out in a world where everybody is striving to stand out? There are two options: Be perfect or be different. If we are battling machines and six sigma percentages – the odds are better that we can deliver something different.

I often wonder what would happen if the business world was structured like the pro sports world. How many of us would be earning long-term deals, and how many would be journeymen going from team to team just hoping to stay for one more year? Think about which one you are, and which one you want to be.