Do you know the definition of an expert? It’s someone fifty miles from home with a briefcase. Hopefully that elicited a bit of a snicker from you. However, I’m trying to make a point here — experts are pretty easy to come by and rarely as infallible as they are made out to be. And once someone establishes themselves as an expert, woe to the soul that questions them.
So I may get in trouble today for taking issue with Jim Collins and his book “Good to Great”. Don’t get me wrong, there’s some outstanding stuff in the book and it’s well worth the read. You’d be well served by putting in place a number of the ideas he puts forward in the book. The problem I have is that by promoting the concept of “great” and in some ways trivializing “good”, Collins suggests that you have to be in some sense “perfect” to be exceptional. Here I disagree. Unfortunately, Collins emphasis on “great” has become all to pervasive in our society. If you can’t see this, you must not have been around very many kids in high school these days. We’ve got to have the best electronic device, the best clothes, be in the best clubs, be in the best classes, have the best personal trainers, and be on the best travel team. We’re all going to be awesome! Amazingly, in spite of this perfect upbringing, little Johnny is not running his own fortune 100 company five years after he graduates. Further, little Johnny isn’t likely in too good of a mindset when he graduates and faces reality.
Folks, life is hard and failure is all too common. Perfection is an illusion. That doesn’t mean we should not all look for ways to learn, grow, and live more fully — hell, this blog’s all about that idea! But it does mean that we need to recognize that the pursuit of greatness or perfection for their own sake is often hollow. The real satisfaction often comes in the journey. It comes from making the exceptional effort. It comes from overcoming the seemingly insurmountable obstacles. It comes from being the best that we can be. It comes from within and not from some external measurement of greatness or perfection.
With that in mind:
Are you too focused on perfection?
As always, thanks for the time.
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