{"id":1454,"date":"2012-03-09T08:04:14","date_gmt":"2012-03-09T14:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/?p=1454"},"modified":"2024-05-27T13:39:00","modified_gmt":"2024-05-27T18:39:00","slug":"is-good-the-enemy-of-great-or-the-reverse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/is-good-the-enemy-of-great-or-the-reverse\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Good the Enemy of Great? Or The Reverse?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"bsf_rt_marker\"><\/div>\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"1454\" class=\"elementor elementor-1454\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-dceb656 elementor-section-full_width elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"dceb656\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-2050d1d\" data-id=\"2050d1d\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-208809b elementor-widget elementor-widget-template\" data-id=\"208809b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"template.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-template\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"section\" data-elementor-id=\"12411\" class=\"elementor elementor-12411\" data-elementor-post-type=\"elementor_library\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-1255d61 elementor-section-full_width elementor-section-content-middle elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"1255d61\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-66 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-6264de3\" data-id=\"6264de3\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-61125fc elementor-widget elementor-widget-theme-post-title elementor-page-title elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"61125fc\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"theme-post-title.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Is Good the Enemy of Great? Or The Reverse?<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-2c1117e elementor-align-center elementor-widget elementor-widget-post-info\" data-id=\"2c1117e\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"post-info.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul class=\"elementor-inline-items elementor-icon-list-items elementor-post-info\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"elementor-icon-list-item elementor-repeater-item-fcfa45b elementor-inline-item\" itemprop=\"author\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/author\/lbwebmaster\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-icon-list-icon\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<svg aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"e-font-icon-svg e-far-user-circle\" viewBox=\"0 0 496 512\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"M248 104c-53 0-96 43-96 96s43 96 96 96 96-43 96-96-43-96-96-96zm0 144c-26.5 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208-160s208 71.8 208 160-93.3 160-208 160z\"><\/path><\/svg>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-icon-list-text elementor-post-info__item elementor-post-info__item--type-comments\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNo Comments\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-a17d19d elementor-widget elementor-widget-html\" data-id=\"a17d19d\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"html.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div style=\"text-align:center;\u201d>\r\n<span class=\"bsf-rt-reading-time\"><span class=\"bsf-rt-display-label\" prefix=\"Reading Time\">\n\t\t<\/span> <span class=\"bsf-rt-display-time\" reading_time=\"2\"><\/span> \n\t\t<span class=\"bsf-rt-display-postfix\" postfix=\"mins\"><\/span><\/span>\r\n<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-33 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-70a0327\" data-id=\"70a0327\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-228f411 elementor-widget elementor-widget-theme-post-featured-image elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"228f411\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"theme-post-featured-image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-content\/uploads\/elementor\/thumbs\/G2Gcover350-qon9icg6aef5x4qma1zgvuytktgvlrkjyewv9b7k00.png\" title=\"G2Gcover350\" alt=\"Good To Great Cover\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-6f06ef2f elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"6f06ef2f\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-ec444be\" data-id=\"ec444be\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1a7bcf1f elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"1a7bcf1f\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0066620996\/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=0066620996&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=chicaexecuc0b-20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" title=\"G2Gcover\" src=\"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/G2Gcover.jpg\" alt=\"Good To Great\" width=\"140\" height=\"210\"><\/a>&#8220;Good Is the Enemy of Great&#8221;<\/strong><\/h3>\nThat quote is the <a href=\"https:\/\/vista-development.com\/good-enemy-great\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">first sentence of the opening paragraph<\/a> of the business best seller, <strong><em>Good To Great<\/em><\/strong> by Jim Collins. Mr. Collins goes on to explain how the complacency mindset that comes from with being very good is an obstacle to pursuing greatness. The noble concept of pursuing greatness has inspired leaders, followers and book sales. Does that mean we should pursue greatness in every thing we do?\n<h3><strong>Can GREAT Be The Enemy of GOOD?<\/strong><\/h3>\nWe can agree that the biggest obstacle to becoming <em>great<\/em> is the natural tendency to settle for being &#8220;good enough&#8221;. The Good To Great companies in the book succeeded by being better than their competition. However their greatness was selective. <a href=\"https:\/\/vista-development.com\/strategic-pursuit-greatness-step-1\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">&gt;&gt; more on the Strategic Pursuit of Greatness &gt;&gt;<\/a>\n\nPursuing greatness in <em>every<\/em> aspect of <em>every<\/em> activity is guaranteed to set you up for failure and\/or burnout. To avoid that potential for failure, you need a clear idea of when to <strong><em>Leave Well Enough Alone<\/em><\/strong>.\n<h3><strong>3 Times to &#8220;Leave Well Enough Alone&#8221;<\/strong><\/h3>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/stop-ms.gif\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-1469\" title=\"stop-ms\" src=\"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/stop-ms.gif\" alt=\"stop sign\" width=\"144\" height=\"144\"><\/a>When you recognize these pointless pursuits of perfection, it&#8217;s a signal to stop:\n<ul>\n \t<li>Are you trying to be great with all things to all people?<\/li>\n \t<li>Are you trying to be great at all things to <strong>some<\/strong> people?<\/li>\n \t<li>Are you proceeding without specific, measurable goals that clearly provide a compass for your pursuit of greatness?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/compass-ms.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-1475\" title=\"compass-ms\" src=\"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/compass-ms.jpg\" alt=\"Compas\" width=\"144\" height=\"155\"><\/a>If you do have a compass for greatness, you should then approach each activity or opportunity by asking&#8230;\n<ul>\n \t<li>Is this activity critical to my pursuit of my goals for greatness<\/li>\n \t<li>If not, what is par or this task or activity?<\/li>\n \t<li>What do I need to do to avoid doing sub-par work?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nIf your activity doesn&#8217;t qualify as <strong><em>Great Mission Critical<\/em><\/strong> and your work is <strong><em>at-par<\/em><\/strong>, it&#8217;s time leave well enough alone.\n\nTo apply that thought, it&#8217;s time for me to end this briefing.\n<h3><strong>Related Articles and References<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n \t<li>For strategic thinking purposes, I recommend the book: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0609810014?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=vistadevel-20&amp;link_code=as3&amp;camp=211189&amp;creative=373489&amp;creativeASIN=0609810014\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>The Myth of Excellence:<\/strong><\/a> Why Great Companies Never Try to Be the Best at Everything<\/li>\n \t<li>My Original Article: <a href=\"https:\/\/vista-development.com\/good-enemy-great\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Good is the Enemy of Great <\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n \t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/vista-development.com\/strategic-pursuit-greatness-step-1\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Strategic Pursuit of Greatness \u2013 Step 1<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n \t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/vista-development.com\/good-great-gone\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>From Good To Great To Gone<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n \t<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/successor-good-great-conscious-capitalism\/\">The Successor to Good To Great: Conscious Capitalism<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>That quote is the first sentence of the opening paragraph of the business best seller, Good To Great by Jim Collins. Mr. Collins goes on to explain how complacency with being good is an obstacle to pursuing greatness.  The noble pursuit of greatness concept has inspired leaders, followers and book sales.  Does that mean we should pursue greatness in every thing we do?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7681,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":null,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[390],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-strategy"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-content\/uploads\/G2Gcover350.png","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1I2Yr-ns","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1454\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoexecutivecoaching.com\/smartleadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}