Is It Just Me? #2: Unhappy Presidents' Day
2012/02/25
We recently observed Presidents’ Day which honors every President of the United States. Back in the day, there were designated holidays for the birthdays of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Now we equally honor Millard Fillmore, James Buchanan, and James Garfield. Why?
Why are we unwilling or even unable to differentiate between great Presidents who made outstanding contributions to American and even world history, and those who were at best undistinguished? Are we afraid of hurting someone’s feelings?Or even more insidiously, do we think there is no way to distinguish between accomplishment and just serving time?At this point, you might be thinking: “interesting point . . .” or “not so interesting point . . . but I thought I was going to read something about insurance IT.”
How many IT groups and IT vendors settle for “I show up, and do my job, and that’s enough”? How many set their sights higher, and strive to change their company and the industry for the better? How many people think about the difference, and how to make that difference real?