“You've seen what mediocrity looks like. Now escape it!" - Futurist Jim Carroll
It's a special thrill every time you see one of your books in print for the very first time.
This happened again yesterday for the 41st - or is it the 42nd? - a time when my proof copy of Escaping Mediocrity arrived from the printer! And holding both books in my hands for the first time - all flowing from a blog post I wrote on December 15 - was even more special.
I would be super happy if you were to buy a copy of one or the other right now! You can do so on the Mediocrity Web site.
Now that I've got both books in hand, the story begins in earnest. The two books play extremely well against each other. I've been fooling around in ChatGPT with some marketing messages that tie into the idea I'm working with. (The problem is that while it's great at generating the image, it's not staying true to the cover design!)
So .. Step 1. Recognize the rut. Get the hell out of it.
"One will make you laugh. The other will make you move!"
"You'll see yourself in one. You'll want to become the other."
"You're either embracing mediocrity... or escaping it."
The contrast works so well, even in a simple image!
Here's what you need to think about - the idea of embracing and escaping your mediocrity is a powerful innovation theme.
Mediocrity can be the killer of all great initiative and is often hidden - as I like to say, it doesn’t show up wearing a name tag. It hides in routines. It masks itself as caution. It pretends to be "best practice" while quietly draining momentum, ambition, and creativity. It's happening all around you. Maybe it's embedded in your DNA.
That's why you need to escape it!
When I first had the idea of putting together Embracing Mediocrity, it was never meant to be just a humorous read - but people have told me that its satirical take on self-sabotaging behavior certainly sparked laughter. It was designed as a mirror. A brutally honest reflection of how individuals, teams, and organizations justify underperformance. The office drama, the passive meetings, the strategic inaction, the excuses - we’ve all seen it. Some of us have even lived it.
But recognizing mediocrity is only the first step. Now comes the real work: escaping it. And that's the mindset established by the second book. It's why I pulled together Escaping Mediocrity. It's the perfect direct companion to the first book and the essential roadmap for what comes next.
Where one exposes the excuses, the other ignites action.
Where Embracing offers the diagnosis, Escaping is your treatment plan.
One’s a mirror. The other’s a map.
One will sting. The other will spark!
If you're leading a team through uncertainty or trying to reignite stalled innovation, these books deliver clarity. Embracing Mediocrity reveals the cultural cracks. Escaping Mediocrity gives you the strategy to rebuild stronger.
Because culture doesn’t shift with slogans — it shifts with hard truth followed by bold action.
Read them together. Lead what’s next.
You’ve coasted long enough.
Time to escape.
Buy my books! I'd be thrilled if you did that right now!
Futurist Jim Carroll was inspired to write Escaping Mediocrity after feedback from someone who read Embracing Mediocrity.