“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” — John 15:13
Memorial Day is about memory.
The memory of the ultimate sacrifice made by our fallen heroes. Average people doing extraordinary things.
We are all average in some way.
The problem starts when the average stops describing where we are and starts dictating who we are. It pulls the standout down. It protects the underperformer. It opens the door for tyranny. And the smallest form of tyranny is still tyranny.
Both sides on a battlefield are filled with average people. But the enemy was never the average person. It was the average itself.
The average lets us accept the status quo. Reward mediocrity. Look away. “I worked hard. I deserve more.”
Our fallen war heroes pushed back on that. So did the people who stayed home.
Rosie went to the rivet line. She’d never held the gun before. Her hands bled the first shift. She came back the next morning. A foreman somewhere taught a kid half his age how to weld. The kid taught his crew.
That program — Training Within Industry (TWI) — still underwrites how the best companies in the world operate today through the principles of lean management. It’s the principle Trakwell is built on. Our founder Brad and his team won a Shingo Prize honorable mention for applying the traditional manufacturing system to the sales process, and they’re working toward the full prize now.
After the war, the US turned around and helped rebuild the countries that lost — through the Marshall Plan and through TWI. The same system used to defeat them.
Every player on your team has the potential to be more than the average, and so do you. The question is how you’re tracking performance to maximize growth at every opportunity.
So this weekend, honor the fallen and enjoy the freedom they sacrificed for — with friends and family.
And on Tuesday, look beyond the average to the greater love for your fellow man and for yourself too.
P.S. — Trakwell helps high-ticket retailers look beyond the average and uncover what performance is really saying. We make sure every location is counting what walks in, capturing missed opportunities, and developing the people behind the numbers — because growth doesn’t come from protecting the status quo, it comes from maximizing the potential of every team member and every interaction.
If you haven’t experienced the newest—soon to be released—version of Trakwell.ai, talk to a performance tech.
