Mediocrity in the Extreme

Mediocrity + Sycophancy = Disaster

Valhalla on fire by Max Brückner, 1894 (public domain - Wikimedia Commons)

“When small men attempt great enterprises, they always end by reducing them to the level of their mediocrity.” — Napoleon Bonaparte

The fragility of an insecure leader is a sad spectacle.

You know the type — they tend to overcompensate for their own lack of skills or intelligence by bullying, insulting, and controlling others.

These leaders, desperate for what soothes their damaged souls, welcome and even encourage a Potemkin village, ignoring or oblivious to the challenges evident to everyone around them.

Rather than surround themselves with talented and intelligent people, they prefer the company of sycophants, lickspittles, and yes-men who will tell the leader what he wants to hear and do his bidding while robotically nodding in approval.