Success Quote by Henry S. Haskins

A businessman taking a swing at “good behavior” sounds like heresy until you hear the office-door slam behind it. Haskins’ line weaponizes manners as an accusation: if you’re leaning on propriety, you’re probably out of ideas. The phrasing is calibrated to sting. “Last refuge” borrows the moral weight of a desperate retreat, recasting virtue as a hiding place rather than a standard. “Mediocrity” is the real target word - a branding iron in a world where being merely competent is a quiet career death.

The intent isn’t to celebrate cruelty or chaos; it’s to puncture the self-protective myth that playing by the rules equals merit. In business culture, “good behavior” often means risk aversion dressed up as professionalism: never challenging the boss in a meeting, never shipping the bold product, never saying the uncomfortable thing that could prevent a slow-motion failure. Haskins is pointing at the way institutions reward the appearance of reliability while quietly penalizing originality. If you can’t win on vision, you can still win on compliance.

The subtext is also revealing about power. “Good behavior” becomes a tool for gatekeeping - a standard enforced most strictly on newcomers and dissenters. Those with status are allowed to be “difficult,” “intense,” “driven.” Everyone else is advised to be “professional.” Haskins flips that script: sometimes the rule-followers aren’t the adults in the room; they’re the people protecting their place in it.