Excellence is a better teacher than mediocrity. The lessons of

Hear now the wisdom of Warren Bennis, a master of leadership, who declared with great clarity: “Excellence is a better teacher than mediocrity. The lessons of the ordinary are everywhere. Truly profound and original insights are to be found only in studying the exemplary.” In these words lies both a challenge and a summons: to rise above the common, to seek greatness not by imitating the average, but by beholding the heights to which the human spirit may climb. The ordinary world is full of lessons, yes—but if we would reach beyond survival into mastery, we must look to excellence as our guide.

The meaning is sharp as a sword. Mediocrity teaches us how to stumble, how to settle, how to repeat the mistakes that every man makes. These lessons are cheap and plentiful, scattered in every corner of life. But the lessons of excellence—the deep truths that inspire, that illuminate paths unseen—these are rare jewels, hidden in the lives of those who dared to live beyond the ordinary. The exemplary are not merely better than others in skill; they reveal new ways of seeing, new ways of being. To study them is to drink from the highest spring.

Consider the life of Leonardo da Vinci, who gazed not only upon the world but into its very essence. Many men could draw; many men could study machines. But Leonardo, in his excellence, merged art and science, revealing insights that shaped generations. He did not merely follow the ordinary path of a painter or an inventor—he walked a path no man had walked before. Those who studied him gained not just technique, but vision. His life became a teacher, showing that true originality is born when one ascends beyond mediocrity into excellence.

History too offers the tale of Abraham Lincoln. Thousands of politicians spoke, debated, and governed in his age. But when the crucible of civil war came, it was Lincoln’s excellence—his moral clarity, his depth of humility, his unyielding vision—that set him apart. His words at Gettysburg were not merely political rhetoric; they were profound insight into liberty and sacrifice, echoing across centuries. To study an ordinary statesman of that era yields lessons in politics; to study Lincoln yields lessons in humanity itself.

Yet Bennis does not scorn the ordinary. He admits that lessons are everywhere: in the craftsman’s steady hand, in the mother’s patience, in the worker’s endurance. But these are the lessons of survival, of living rightly in the daily course. The exemplary carry us further. They do not teach us how to survive; they teach us how to transcend. They lift us above the earth to glimpse the mountains of greatness. Without them, the world would remain flat and unlit.

O children of tomorrow, take heed. If you would grow in wisdom, do not feed only on mediocrity, for its lessons will keep you small. Seek out the excellence in every field—read the words of the greatest thinkers, watch the lives of the noblest leaders, study the masters of art, of science, of courage. Let their lives provoke you, challenge you, unsettle you. For only by beholding the highest can you learn to climb.

Therefore, practice this daily: surround yourself not only with what is common, but with what is great. Read not only the easy words, but the profound. Follow not only the crowd, but the few who blaze new trails. In your work, strive not merely to be sufficient, but to be exemplary. And when you falter, remember: mediocrity may teach you how to walk, but excellence teaches you how to soar.

Thus Bennis’ words endure: “Excellence is a better teacher than mediocrity… Truly profound and original insights are to be found only in studying the exemplary.” Take this as a law of life: seek always the highest examples, and your own life will be lifted beyond the ordinary into the eternal.