Superbly Average: How We Got Here—and Why It’s Time to Push Back
There’s a strange moment happening in society right now, one that my wife Nelli and I have talked about countless times over coffee, long drives, and quiet dinners. It’s the kind of conversation that starts with, “Why does everything feel just so... average?”
We’ll go to a restaurant where the food is fine, but not memorable. The service is passable, but not attentive. The atmosphere is okay, but not thoughtful, and what amazes us most is that the room is full of people who seem content, if not thrilled.
It’s not that we’re being overly critical. It’s that we remember a time, not all that long ago, when doing a good job was the baseline, not the standout.
Lately, I’ve been seeing this same shift play out online, most recently in the form of TikTok comments accusing me of being an AI simulation! My go to joke of course is if I were AI, I would certainly have chosen an upgraded hairline but that’s a whole other topic!
It’s not because I’m using filters, voice changers, or deepfakes—I’m not. I’m just professionally dressed, speaking in a single take with no jump-cuts, clean audio, studio lighting, and a message I’ve rehearsed and delivered clearly, without filler words. But for some people, that level of preparation has become so rare… it doesn’t even register as human anymore.
That’s not a criticism of the viewers, it’s a reflection of how the culture has shifted.
So what is it that has led us to a point where everything is just so superbly average?
The Age of “Good Enough”
We’re living in a time where convenience has replaced craftsmanship, and speed has dethroned skill. A time where “relatable” has more market power than “respectable.” Where people celebrate doing the bare minimum as if it’s a flex.
Look around and you’ll see it:
Online courses that cost hundreds but offer nothing you couldn’t find on YouTube for free.
Customer service that makes you feel like a nuisance instead of a guest.
Social media “experts” whose strategy is to ramble into their front-facing camera without a plan or a point.
And even the things we buy, once built to last, are now designed for replacement instead of repair. Manufacturers aim for “just good enough” to hit a price point, knowing full well the product won’t endure. They cut corners on materials and longevity, but not on the price tag.
And on social media, it feels like every other video falls into one of two categories: someone proclaiming they’ve unlocked the secret to becoming the next big YouTuber, or someone walking you through all the gear you supposedly need to do it. These videos become their own self-perpetuating ecosystem, no one’s actually teaching anything meaningful. It’s just more videos about how to make more videos, in a loop of recycled advice with very little depth.
We’ve all experienced it. And we’ve slowly adapted to it. Excellence has stopped being the expectation, it’s become the outlier.
It used to be that everyone was striving to do a good job, their absolute best in fact. So to stand out, you had to be different, not just better. There was a saying that floated around for a while: “Different is better than better.” And at the time, it made sense because when everyone is doing a really good job, being a little bit better is a game of diminishing returns, very few people will notice a fractional improvement on something that is already outstanding, but being different sure might.
That was a world where excellence was everywhere, and novelty was the only remaining edge that people had to stand out.
But now? It’s almost completely reversed.
Now, the way to stand out is to actually be better, because so few people are trying to be excellent anymore.
When “Polished” Feels Like Pretending
Here’s where it gets personal.
I film my short-form leadership content in a professional style home studio with carefully calibrated lighting—two powerful softboxes, a hair light, and two backlights to warm up the background. I record audio with an Electro-Voice RE20 broadcast mic and a Zoom F6 field recorder, the kind of gear used in top-tier studios and broadcast environments. And I rehearse, deeply, so that my delivery, my breathing, my tone, is tight, clear, and free of filler.
These short videos are not pieced together from cuts. They’re filmed in a single take because, they are less than 60 seconds!
There’s no magic. No hidden earpiece, no AI voiceover, no post-production voice tuning, aside from standard cleanup . Just practice, preparation, and performance.
And yet... a humorously common comment I get on TikTok is…
“AI!” “This is definitely an AI!”
Not “Great delivery.”
Not “Wow your lighting and sound are on point!”
Not “This made me think.”
Not even “Who are you and where can I learn more?”
Just… “AI.”
At first, I thought it was a joke, but then it became a pattern. It didn’t matter what the video was about, leadership under pressure, psychological safety, decision-making frameworks. If it looked and sounded too good for TikTok’s scroll, it got flagged by viewers as “AI.”
That’s when it hit me.
We’ve entered a cultural moment where people are so accustomed to mediocrity, that talent, real, prepared, human talent, is interpreted as artificial And if I’m being perfectly honest we’re not really even taking about talent here, we are talking about being able to talk about a topic, to a camera, by yourself!
This isn’t a tech problem. This is a values problem.
The Decline of Professionalism
Somewhere along the line, we stopped aspiring to sound like we knew what we were talking about. We started celebrating “keeping it real” as a kind of shortcut for not preparing at all, and instead of learning from those with high standards, we started mocking them for being “too polished.”
This shift didn’t happen overnight. It came in waves, fueled by trends like:
Authenticity over authority: We confused vulnerability with a lack of preparation, and started devaluing expertise.
Speed over structure: We got so obsessed with posting often that we stopped thinking about whether we were posting anything of value.
Relatability over rigor: We told ourselves people just want “someone like them,” not someone ahead of them who can actually lead.
But what gets lost in that sea of relatability is the fact that real growth, real transformation, real leadership, it still comes from people who care enough to prepare.
Why This Matters in Leadership
I teach leadership. I don’t just mean in a classroom or on video, I mean I’ve lived it for two decades in the Marine Corps, in combat zones and embassies and operations where the cost of failure wasn’t a bad comment or a missed email. It was lives, and trust, and legacy.
In that world, preparation isn’t optional. It’s survival.
And so I’ve carried that mindset into the civilian world, into my business, my content, my courses. Because I still believe in being excellent. I still believe in putting in the reps before you hit record. I still believe that the leader should be the most prepared person in the room, not just the most charismatic.
But the more I share that philosophy online, the more I realize how rare it’s become.
Which means it’s also, ironically, how I stand out.
Better Is the New Different
Let’s go back to that saying: “Different is better than better.”
That may have been true in a world where excellence was the norm. Where restaurants competed on who had the best steak, not the biggest social media following. Where courses were judged by the depth of insight, not the slickness of the sales funnel.
But in a world where the standard has dropped?
Better IS different.
Better IS the disruption.
Better IS showing up on TikTok with a studio mic and a full lighting rig and not stuttering through your thoughts.
Better IS structuring your content to make people think, not just swipe.
Better IS refusing to dumb down your delivery for an audience that’s forgotten what clarity sounds like.
Better IS your edge.
Final Thought: Keep the Standard
If you’ve ever found yourself wondering if maybe you’re “too polished,” “too rehearsed,” or “too professional” for today’s attention economy…
Don’t change.
Don’t chase the chaos to blend in.
Keep your standard.
Because the people who matter, the ones who actually want to learn, grow, and lead, they will notice. They’re hungry for substance. They’re starving for someone who takes this seriously.
And even if the comments say “AI,” the clients, readers, and followers who are actually ready for real leadership… will say “Finally.”
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