Good is the enemy of Great!

A few years ago, working on a complex problem with a leader, he told me the phrase, good is the enemy of great, telling me that I shouldn't be looking for the ideal solution, that a good solution was enough, even though I knew it could be better.

For many years I took this expression in this sense, don't keep looking for the great because you will waste the good, but it worried me because internally, I felt this vision was limiting and ordinary. Still, as I heard from someone with a high leadership position, I understood this was how things worked. Just look for the good.

But after some years of maturing, studying a lot, and reading about great leaders, I realized that they use this same expression in a totally different sense, where they put it not to be satisfied with the good but to look for the great because it is in the great that will be the actual realization.

What is very curious, the same expression, so common in the business world, has two very different meanings. Each person sees a motivation for them, and I don't think either of the two interpretations is wrong. They reflect the ambitions of each one.

Last week, you saw a fascinating passage that said that a company's sustainable growth means saying no to several good ideas to put the focus and resources on the great ones.

And for you, what is your understanding of this saying?