The Excuse Economy Is Costing You Your Best People

“Average looks out. Elite looks in.” ~ James Clear

An excuse is not a lie…exactly. It is a story we tell ourselves to explain a result we don’t like — making no effort to change what caused it. It’s like a convincing screenplay you wrote where you’re the hero, bad luck is the villain, and you get to make final edits on how it all ends.

In some jobs that movie can run for years before the reviews come in. In a few — teaching, managing, medicine — it can’t: blame “this generation,” blame “corporate,” blame “the patient who didn’t say” — the words change, but someone else always pays for it, and it’s never just a performance review.

But no job is “low-stakes” once a real person is on the other end of your work — your customer, for instance, a struggling teammate, or new hire.

Your best people are watching who gets away with what. Every excuse you make or let slide tells them that effort doesn’t count and accountability doesn’t matter.

Your best people already know how to look in. Don’t give them a reason to start looking out.

Growth starts with you.

Accountability matters.

~Jeff

P.S. If this sounds familiar, it’s exactly what we’re tackling July 9th in my next free webinar: Developing Self-Motivated Employees in an Age of Excuses. Register now.