Good Is The Enemy Of Great

A couple of days ago, a friend made a comment that one of the things that stops us from being all we can be is "being fine." This reminded me of one of the books on our reading list at business school called 'Good to Great' by Jim Collins. Collins had previously written a book, Built to Last: , that was a successful seller. One day having dinner with a group of business leaders one remarked that he loved his previous book, but that it was useless. Asked to explain, the individual commented that the companies talked about where ones that had always been great companies. He wanted to know what the majority of companies should do that are good, but not great.

The comment led the author to research and write the follow up book, Good to Great. The opening chapter of the book is entitled "Good is the Enemy of Great." The fact was that most great companies had always been great. It raised the question 'Can a good company become a great company and, if so how? Or is the disease of ''just being good" incurable?' Thankfully, he found it was not incurable and the book goes on to outline how a number of good companies did become great.

This idea of 'good is the enemy of great' seems to pop up not just in the corporate world but in our personal lives too. When there is something wrong in our lives, we generally take note and do something to improve it. However, when something in our life is just "ok," often we simply accept it, and make no effort to improve. We may not have a great job, but it is ok, and so we do not seek something better. We may not have great health, but it is ok, and so the incentive may not be there to improve it to what it could be. Our relationships may not be great, but generally they are ok, and so we get by. In effect being simply ok or good stops us from really shining and becoming what we truly have the potential to be. It makes us complacent.

How often has someone in greeting you asked "How are you?" and you have replied "Ok," or "I'm good" but not really meant it? A number of years ago I bumped into an acquaintance and asked him how he was. His reply is one I have never forgotten and often thinking about. His response was an enthusiastic "I'm wonderful, how else is there to be?" Each of us has the potential to be truly wonderful. Indeed why should we be anything but wonderful?

A quote I have come across a number of times recently seems apt here. It is from the book A Return to Love by Marianne Williamson:

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate; our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

Each of us needs to believe that we can indeed be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous. Becoming so though generally does not happen overnight. But just because it does not happen by a certain date, do not lose faith that it can indeed happen.

Collins in his book talks about confronting the brutal facts. He shares what he calls 'The Stockdale Paradox.' Collins had the opportunity to meet with Admiral Jim Stockdale who had been taken prisoner during the Vietnam War. He was repeatedly tortured, had no rights, no release date, and was unknowing as to whether he would survive to see his family again. Collins asked him how he had dealt with it. Stockdale answered that he never doubted he would eventually get out. Collins also asked about who did not get out and was taken aback when Stockdale replied "The optimists." The optimists were those that said "We're going to be out by Christmas." And when that did not happen that "We're going to be out by Easter." Eventually they gave up and died of a broken heart. Stockdale explained an important lesson, "You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end - which you can never afford to lose - with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be."

Each of us needs to confront the reality of our current situation. We need to be truthful about where we really are. What in our life is not perfect? What is just mediocre? What are we settling for? But the other reality is that what we hope to achieve may not happen by a certain date, or even in a certain way. There will be disappointments, there will be setbacks. But what will make the difference in you becoming what you can be is not the absence of difficulty, but how you deal with those difficulties.

Each of us has the potential to be great. Have faith in that fact, do not get discouraged when the going gets tough, and above all do not allow yourself to become complacent. Good is indeed the enemy of Great. Let us stop being just good and rise to the greatness we all have the potential to become.