Mediocracy Abhors Excellence

Musings on a Monday Morning from Mike Mullin…

The weekly Newsletter of Without A Vision Consultancy LLC

June 10, 2019 – Mediocrity Abhors Excellence

Want this in your inbox? Subscribe to the newsletter.

Newsletter Sign Up

• This coming week will feature the greatest amount of daylight of the entire year — except for my readers in New Zealand!
  • Sorry, these are Northern Hemisphere-centric Musings…
• If you enjoy weather — and who doesn’t? — last Thursday might have established itself as the benchmark for the rest of summer.
• “An inch at a time,” said the old woman weeding her garden.
  • Not many better metaphors for life.
• The Japanese Lilacs are poised to release their sweet fragrances at any moment; the heavenly white blossoms will happily linger for a couple weeks in cool weather.
  • As will also the fragrance of the Lindens, or if you prefer, Basswoods.
• Come to think of it, why would anyone – directly or indirectly – knowingly dump harmful or toxic waste into a river, lake, stream – or anywhere?
• Do you think the manufacturer risks legal action for making more than one, Best Dad Ever cap?
  • How about the retailer?
• When we were first married we bought a dining room table and chairs.  We couldn’t afford a dining room set but we bought one anyway.
  • I’ve written about this before:  All the chairs are broken, though the kids did buy us a new set of chairs four Christmases ago.
    • Now, we’ve finally repaired, sanded, and refinished the table… wow, it looks nice!
      • Conservative estimate:  315,000 meals served to our kids and guests at this table over the last 40 years.
• The (happy/ grateful) life of a Dad — Most of the following is true and occurred last Thursday afternoon within the span of approximately one hour:
  • Laurie and I drove to Lake Lake Carlos for the highly-anticipated premiere of the Lutheran summer camp opera.  This annual cusp-of-summer highlight always features creative, talented, youthful exuberance while never failing to produce tears, goosebumps, and the blubbery softening of emotions.
    • We arrive at the venue and within minutes our Toronto son phones (he never phones during the week or the middle of the day) while he’s hiking around Manhattan prior to a celebratory dinner engagement — just killing time, but his Raptors won (congrats!)…
      • Our son from Washington City sends photographs of our youngest granddaughter enjoying library time; at nine months-old she’s apparently reading at a grade #3 level and is the star of the class (of course!)…
        • Our #3 son from Minneapolis wonders if I’m available for nine holes of golf, immediately (I don’t play golf, one of the kids stole my clubs and my shoulders don’t work)…
          • Our local son-in-law, married to our oldest daughter, wants to know if we will plant seeds that produce giant 1,000-pound pumpkins and also some giant sunflowers (of course, bring them over!  These aren’t normally grown in small urban yards, but sure)…
            • The 15-months-old Pi Day grandson face phones from Chicago on 6/14 (get it?  3.14) for his almost-daily visit, but we have to punch him (gut guilt!) we can’t face phone right now, we’re at the opera…
              • Our next son’s cat died (can we bury him in the yard?  sure), and he was our son’s best, best friend, truly; Pancake was his name and all forty orange pounds of him had been rescued 8 years ago from the Duluth pound; he died a healthier, happier, svelte 15 pounds…
                • Our other Minneapolis son is trouble-shooting my LinkedIn account; the trouble is with the user, he reports, and not with the program…
                  • We’re with another one of our daughters – who is to be married in a year at this same venue that features the Lutheran opera — waiting with her future in-laws visiting from Ghana and Liberia — for the curtain to go up…
                    • Was our New Jersey son involved in that skyscraper helicopter crash, his Mom wants to know? (nope)…
                      • Our daughter working with the Minnesota Conservation Corps has made a surprise visit to her younger brother in Duluth (not the same brother with the cat) and the brother has sent a photo of the sighting since we haven’t seen her in three weeks and probably won’t for the rest of the summer…
                        • The opera curtain goes up with a flourish — and the kids don’t disappoint, none of them, not even the visitor from Liberia!
• Throughout my life I’ve not been blessed with money, talent, athleticism, or good looks — and so I’ve had to make do with what I could scrounge and leverage.
  • On the importance of healthy relationships I would tell you to not make the same mistakes I made, but I’m not sure what they are.
    • I’ve been blessed with thousands of acquaintances, but alas, very few friends.
      • Recently I became aware of research reported in The New York Times suggesting a large circle of acquaintances might be just as important — or more so — than a small number of primary relationships… in which case, I’d be well-positioned.
• Mediocrity abhors excellence.
  • Stay far away from one if you want the other.

---

Looking for help on your next capital campaign, leadership training, or any number of other services? Contact us today!