A Hall of Fame for the Rest of Us

Few things are as exciting for a baseball fan as the selection of this year's class of Hall of Fame inductees. I'm sure that it's the same in football and soccer and other similar activities, including Rock and Roll,  although without as much press, given the age and allure of Cooperstown. This year's Hall of Fame selection promises to be among the most contentious, as a surge of great candidates has appeared on the already-cluttered ballots of those fortunate enough to vote. But, however well-deserved such notoriety is, in truth, it's once again a case of the rich getting richer! When you follow these athletes, or candidates for the Academy Awards, National Book Awards/Man-Booker Prizes,  Michelin Stars or even Nobel Prizes, day in and day out in the contemporary press, and you realize the value that they've already won in the marketplace for their talent because of the visibility of their skills, there is often little surprise when, yet once again, they are rewarded.

But, what about the rest of us?  What about the doormen and staff at our New York apartment; several of whom have had "hall of fame" careers, if only it was noticed. What about my retired Lausanne physician? Surely, a hall of famer was he, if only more than a few of us knew. What about that coffee shop barista, who makes your order perfectly each day? What about your colleague down the hall, who can always be counted on for a good idea to move the rest of us forward, while she/he remains  invisible, buried under multiple layers of corporate hierarchy?  Sure, they all  receive the admiration and respect of the few of us fortunate to appreciate their virtuosity, but not the visibility and recognition that they truly deserve. Everyday, in each of our lives, we witness all-star performance in a multitude of invisible roles. If only there was a Hall of Fame for the rest of us, such accomplishment, sustained over a career, might gain some small piece of the celebration that the already overly-celebrated receive on a nearly constant basis.

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Bill Fischer is the co-author of  Reinventing Giants (with Umberto Lago & Fang Liu) (Jossey-Bass, 2013), as well as The Idea Hunter (with Andy Boynton & Bill Bole)  (Jossey-Bass, 2011) and Virtuoso Teams (with Andy Boynton, FT/Prentice Hall, 2005)).  Bill can be followed on Twitter at @bill_fischer