Mediocre Emergency

Seth Godin has a blog where he talks about Mediocre Emergency. Companies on the rise know when there is an emergency and they do something about it. Companies in trouble respond with mediocrity, Godin's expample is GM.

Link to Godin's article.

Let's say you work at eBay.

Your site goes down. How many people will drop what they are doing and figure out how to get it back up and running?

Everyone from PR to server guys will be on the case.

Or let's say you work at Aetna. A fire rips through a warehouse and destroys a million policy records.

How many people, from the CEO to the actuaries will get on the stick and make something happen?

Now, imagine you work at GM. I know, it's hard, but imagine.

For years, you've been designing, making and marketing stuff in a mediocre way. No one dropped what they were doing to fix the problem. It's not an emergency.

Of course, it is an emergency. It's a bigger emergency than the things you can buy insurance against, because it's endemic, hard to measure and ultimately fatal.

Have a nice long weekend if it's a long weekend where you live. And when you get back to work, figure out where the mediocre emergency lies and stamp it out. Even better, start today. After all, it's an emergency.