Too Few Competent People

I wrote past blogs there are too few opportunities to satisfy the too many people. Here are three blogs on the topic: The Size Of The Pie Is Still The Same on Jun 23, 2016, Expect More Sad Days For More People on Feb 16, 2019, and Too Many People on Jul 19, 2019.

A different perspective on too few opportunities to satisfy the too many people is too few competent people out of the too many people. Be honest. 90% of all circle of friends, 95% of workplace departments, 92.5% of all families, 95% of small businesses--almost every groups of people professional, family, acquaintances, friendships, and gatherings--there is at least one incompetent person. The reader knows them. The reader identifies them. Frustrations are arisen. Headaches are caused. The reader wishes they're out of his or her life.

More managers and leaders should adapt the NASA astronaut recruitment process. There are no minimum or maximum recruits to become astronauts for every recruitment class. If there is one recruit competent to become an astronaut, then he or she is recruited. If all recruits are competent to become astronauts, then all recruits become astronauts. If no recruits are competent to become astronauts, then the recruiting class recruits zero astronauts. More managers and leaders should adapt the late Steve Jobs' accountability is strictly enforced. Jobs fired 25% of the senior managers and executives when he went back to Apple in 1997. Anyone on Jobs' bozo list was fired.

On the contrary, most companies and organizations need people. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Desperation moves rarely work such as professional sports. Workers are needed to fulfill responsibilities. Many companies and organizations accept the bare minimums. Get the job done is top priority. Anything else is secondary. Anything else is ignored. Sometimes less than the bare minimums are acceptable; for example, retail jobs and customer service. A sixth grader can direct a customer to the correct aisle. A high school student can document a customer's complaint. There are plenty bare minimum people for companies and organizations to hire. The reason explains why their hourly wages are low. Basic economics. The supply exceeds the demand. Unfortunately, there are incompetent people at white-collar jobs including jobs requiring the highest education in medicine and law. How? Don't ask me. They slipped through the cracks. The hiring manager smoked something. The executive played the politics card. God only knows the truth.

Who's at fault for more incompetent people? One answer is blame the system. Today's Information Age more time, more learning, more training, more resources, and more expenses are required to complete more jobs and more responsibilities. It's nobody's fault. Life is getting harder. Another answer is blame the past generation. I wrote a blog on Did The Greatest Human Generation Doom Their Grandchildren And Their Future? on Mar 14, 2019 saying our parents and grandparents focused more on making our lives easier and focused less on teaching us hard work and determination. Timing and luck are a third answer. Were we at the right place and at the right time to meet a person, read an article, or watch a show to inspire us, to teach us, or to awaken us to find our strengths to become competent and successful? A fourth answer is the Information Age lifestyle. There are more people in the present compared to the people in the past lacking social communication skills, eating unhealthy meals, practicing poor work habits, and spending too much on the screens. The last possible answer is clique and obvious. People change for the worse.