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Every day, millions of talented people wake up, go to work, excel at their jobs, collect their paychecks, and die a little inside.
They’re successfully stuck.
Maybe you’re one of them.
Here’s what makes this especially dangerous: You’re not just wasting your potential. You’re modeling mediocrity for your team. You’re contributing to the 70% of employees who are disengaged at work. You’re part of the reason innovation dies in organizations.
Because when talented people operate below their potential, everyone loses.
The $500 Billion Problem Nobody Talks About
Mike was miserable.
And I had no idea.
Who is Mike? My best friend, co-founder of our improv group “Polywumpus” (yup, that was our name, and I grew to love it…), and in 2001, my roommate who had a well-paying, stable job as a consultant.
On paper, his life was perfect. Good salary. Smart colleagues. Interesting projects. The kind of job parents brag about at dinner parties (unlike telling your doctor friends that your son was going to be a “professional improv comedian”).
But Mike graduated with a degree in music. He was (and still is) one of the most talented musicians I know - the kind who could hear a song once and play it back on piano perfectly. As a kid. Musical prodigy stuff.
Like so many of us, he tucked his gift away after graduation and took the “sensible” path.
Here’s what his company never calculated: The cost of having a musical genius doing PowerPoints. The innovation they lost. The energy drain on his team. The ripple effect of one brilliant person operating at 40% capacity.
Gallup estimates that disengaged employees cost U.S. companies up to $550 billion annually. But that only counts the obvious costs. What about the symphonies never written? The innovations never sparked? The inspiration never shared?
The Day Everything Changed
I was watching TV on the couch when Mike walked in with an announcement that would change both our lives:
“I realized I am really unhappy and I need to go back to grad school for music.”
Boom.
No drama. No emotion. Just quiet, firm certainty - the kind you only get when you finally stop lying to yourself.
The selfish part of me immediately panicked: My best friend is moving away. I’m losing my roommate. Our improv group is losing its musical genius.
But the bigger part of me? Thrilled. Because Mike had just done what most of us never do - he’d said “Yes, And” to his true self.
(Try explaining to your mother why you're celebrating your best friend becoming unemployed. “But he had such a good job!” “Yes, Mom, that was the problem.” “Are you on drugs?” “No, Mom, just improv.")
Why Being “Good Enough” Is Killing Your Organization
Here’s what nobody tells you about being good at the wrong thing:
It’s actually worse than being bad at it.
When you’re bad at something, you quit. When you’re good at it? You get promoted. You get raises. You get comfortable.
You become successfully stuck.
And here’s the organizational impact: When your top performers are successfully stuck, they:
- Stop innovating (why bother?)
- Model disengagement (it’s contagious)
- Block positions that could be filled by people who actually want them
- Create a culture where “fine” becomes the standard
Mike was a great consultant. Clients loved him. Colleagues respected him. His bank account grew steadily.
But every day he spent being good at consulting was a day the world lost his musical genius. Every PowerPoint he perfected was a symphony that would never be written.
I know because I lived this same lie. I was a good computer programmer. My boss loved me. My code was clean. My paychecks were reliable.
But I wasn’t meant to debug software. I was meant to help organizations debug their cultures through humor and improvisation.
Now I help companies save millions by teaching their people to say “Yes, And” to change instead of “Yes, But” to the status quo.
The Exercise That Changed Everything
So how did Mike go from successfully miserable to courageously authentic?
Three pages. Every morning.
A few years earlier, during one of my obsessive book-buying sprees at Borders (remember those? There was literally one on my drive home from work. Goodbye, paycheck...), I’d discovered Julia Cameron’s “The Artist’s Way” and its core practice: Morning Pages.
The concept is deceptively simple: First thing each morning, before your mind fills with the day’s noise, write three pages longhand. Don’t stop. Don’t edit. Don’t think. Just write until all three pages are full.
The first page or so will be top of mind stuff, like what you have to do that day or how annoying you find Gary in accounting (sorry Gary. And sorry accountants, it’s not personal. If you knew Gary, you’d agree…).
By page three, your subconscious starts whispering truths your conscious mind has been drowning out.
I introduced Mike to the practice. Within weeks, those whispers became impossible to ignore.
The ROI of Aligned Talent
By summer 2001, Mike was accepted into Duke’s PhD program in music composition.
(Side note: he ended up leaving after getting his Masters ‘cuz it turns out that music was at his core, but not “academic/PhD” music - but that’s another story)
Fast forward 25 years:
- Emmy winner for his orchestration work on Wonder Pets
- Composed music for a number of video games
- Co-founded his own game studio
- Music director at his church for over a decade
- University professor inspiring the next generation of composers
But here’s what matters for your organization: Mike’s not just fulfilled. He’s creating exponential value. He’s mentoring others. He’s innovating in his field. He’s modeling what authentic success looks like.
On an individual level, Mike has embraced and leveraged this idea of “expressing his core.”
But this principle can have an impact at a team or organizational level as well.
Imagine if his consulting firm had found a way to tap into his musical genius. What innovative solutions might have emerged? What clients might have been attracted to such creative thinking? What talent might have been retained by a culture that celebrated core gifts?
Okay, sure, they probably wouldn’t have him playing a lute at client meetings like a strolling troubadour, but could they have helped him explore his creative skills to help him be more productive and aligned? Perhaps. Should they have tried? Definitely, Did they? No. Do most companies? Probably not…
The Apathy Epidemic: When Good Enough Becomes Never Enough
Mike wasn't depressed. He was apathetic.
And apathy - that soul-numbing indifference that comes from not expressing your core - is far more dangerous than active unhappiness. At least unhappy people are feeling something.
This is what the YES AND Framework™ is designed to fix: transforming apathy into excitement by reconnecting people with their core genius.
How do you know if apathy has infected your organization? Look for these symptoms:
The "Fine" Flatline. Everything is fine. Always fine. Fine is apathy's favorite word. It’s also meaningless. A placeholder we use to avoid engaging.
The Whatever Wave. A whole bunch of “yeses” or “okays” or “sure, whatevers.” Acceptance and compliance without additional ideas and without pushback. Pushback can be annoying, but apathetic people don’t push back because they just don’t care.
Innovation Anesthesia. You have to care if you want to come up with new ideas. Why suggest new ideas when good enough is... good enough?
Here's the kicker: Apathetic employees don't quit. They stay. They become the walking dead of your workforce - performing their roles, collecting their checks, slowly draining the life from everyone around them.
But when you transform apathy into excitement by helping people express their core? That's when ordinary teams do extraordinary things.
Your Turn to Say “Yes, And” to Your Core (And Your Team’s)
The E in my YES AND Framework™ stands for “Explore and Express Your Core.” It’s about discovering what you’re meant for, not just what you’re good at.
But here’s what I need you to understand: This isn’t just personal development. This is organizational transformation.
When leaders create space for people to express their core:
- Engagement skyrockets
- Innovation explodes
- Retention improves
- Performance multiplies
Whether you’re leading a team or leading yourself, you can start today. Maybe it’s incorporating your gift into your current role. Maybe it’s creating space for your team to do the same. Maybe it’s just asking different questions in your next one-on-one.
The size of the step doesn’t matter. The direction does.
One Question to Transform Your Team
Tonight, ask yourself this:
"If I had to go to work tomorrow, but I could make it feel like play, what would I do?"
This is a variation on the cliched question, “if you won the lottery and money was no object, what would you do?” But this one is better because the things we equate to “playing” are usually the things that are closer to our core.
Then ask your team the same question.
Watch what happens when people start connecting their work to their core. It's not just personal transformation - it's organizational revolution.
Because somewhere between what you're good at and what you're meant for lies the performance your organization desperately needs.
Mike found his. I found mine.
What about you? What about your team?
Ready to Explore Your Core?
I'm finalizing a 30-day "Say Yes, And to Yourself" Challenge on October 20th. Just $47 because you'll be helping me test it for my new book. Want in? Email me with a "YES AND" and I will add you to the list to let you know when it is officially a “go!”
P.S. Mike's music appears in Rush Hour 3. So technically, Jackie Chan has fought bad guys to my best friend's soundtrack. Consider this, then imagine what hidden talents are sitting in your next meeting.