Hey high performer! Listen up. There is a problem with your performance. It. Is. Good. Enough.
Jim Collins got it right back in 2000. He wrote his best book Good to Great. The opening sentence is freakin’ magic. “Good is the enemy of great.” Damn. Talk about ccd, he could have stopped there and it would have been a mike drop moment. The norm is to accept good enough. The default? Do nothing. The hope is it will somehow lead us to the promised land without the forty year pilgrimage. We buy the lie.
Good enough is not enough.
If you are chasing excellence, the enemy is accepting good enough. Imagine if BUD’s lowered the bar and allowed those who came close to the mark to, you know, make it as SEAL’s. Nobody elite wants to look to their left and right and see good enough. The problem I’ve seen firsthand doing this work of BBTL, is many of the leaders we build into have lowered the standard for those around ‘em. They’ve settled for good enough. Eventually they wake up and good enough is not enough. They ring the bell for the not good enough teammate. Shocker. Not good.
Your job, leader, is to hold people to high standards – namely, your own. Your job is to keep raising the bar. Good is the enemy of great. I mean c’mon man, who get’s fired up for chasing good enough? Chase greatness. Chase excellence. Your few will thank you with more. More effort. More excellence. More creativity. More innovation. More ideas. More greatness.
Good enough is not enough.
Where are you settling for good enough? Why do so many of you BBTL believe those around you can’t hit your standard? Change your belief. Change your behavior. Conflict within and with another is rooted in misalignment between belief and behavior. Slow down. Reflect. Think. Write. Choose a baby step to align beliefs and behaviors. Never, freakin’ stop. Good. Check that. Great.
Live hard. Love harder…
BUILT TO LEAD 