Good is the enemy of great.
And that is one of the key reasons why we have so little that becomes
great.
We don't have great schools, principally because we have good schools.
We don't have great government, principally because we have good government.
Few people attain great lives, in large part because it is just so
easy to settle for a good life. The vast majority of companies never become
great, precisely because the vast majority become quite good-and that is
their main problem.
This point became piercingly clear to me in 1996, when I was having
dinner with a group of thought leaders gathered for a discussion about
organizational performance. Bill Meehan, the managing director of the
San Francisco office of McKinsey & Company, leaned over and casually
confided, "You know, Jim, we love Built to Last around here. You and
your coauthor did a very fine job on the research and writing. Unfortunately,
it's useless."
Curious, I asked him to explain.
"The companies you wrote about were, for the most part, always great,"
he said. "They never had to turn themselves from good companies into
great companies. They had parents like David Packard and George
Merck, who shaped the character of greatness from early on. But what
about the vast majority of companies that wake up partway through life
and realize that they're good, but not great?"
I now realize that Meehan was exaggerating for effect with his "useless"
comment, but his essential observation was correct- that truly great com