The Award Goes to... Mr. Mediocre

In the modern workplace, there seems to be an unspoken rule: it’s not what you do, but how well you talk about it. And those who have mastered this art—outgoing, extroverted, smooth talkers—often get the recognition, even when their actual performance is, well... mediocre. These are the folks who know how to mingle with managers, charm their way through meetings, and create an illusion of competence. They talk like they know, and surprisingly, that seems to be enough.

Meanwhile, those of us who focus on doing the actual work, delivering real results, somehow get sidelined. Managers, often not fully in the know, get swayed by the ones who are good at making noise rather than those who are good at making progress. It’s a strange system, where performance no longer means what it should. Instead, performance = mediocrity wrapped in charisma.

The real kicker? There’s no fair pay. The ones doing the hard work are often overlooked, while the talkers climb the ladder. It’s subjective, based on surface-level impressions made by people who don’t really understand the depth of the work being done.

How do we fix this? Maybe the first step is realizing that the system rewards appearances over substance. Fairness should mean recognizing genuine contributions and value, not just rewarding those who are great at self-promotion.

So, here’s to the quiet achievers—the ones doing the real work. Even if the award goes to Mr. Mediocre, we know who’s truly getting things done.