It’s good enough, flying right below the radar of the CXO… the program, or team, or individual is doing - OK. It’s not doing well, and it certainly isn’t that bad enough to draw unnecessary attention.

If It Ain’t Broke…

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” the saying goes.

Well, rubbish.

Let me tell you friends, ‘good enough’ is a dangerous place to be, and if you are asking yourself “Why?”, then you should really read this.

In a past post, Culture is King, I spelled out human behavior in a nutshell:

People by their very nature are experiential. This is to say that they must generally experience a great deal of pain or pleasure to enable the catalysts for change to take root. It is my submission that change only occurs in any form of permanence with the former as it takes an increasing amount of pleasure to perpetuate lasting change (see economics 101: the law of diminishing returns).

Just good enough can lull you into a false sense of security, thinking that everything is alright. You should be constantly running through SWOT analysis on a regular basis. If not, it’s like figuring out your tape backup routine wasn’t working so well after the fire, or realizing you should have had a security system when the burglar is standing in your living room.

Simple truth… look at Pearl Harbor and 9-11, both very shocking and close-to-home events that shocked America into action. While the very truth of these actions are not pretty to behold, and the world we faced after these events seemed much more dangerous than before - at least now we know what we face. At least we have opened our eyes and seen our enemy standing before us.

The [Brutal] Truth Shall Set You Free…

How else are you going to know how to deal with your fears, your weaknesses, those evil things in the world wishing you harm unless you get brutally honest with yourself?

Jim Collins, in his book Good to Great, coined that phrase, “brutally honest”. What is it that we fear about the truth, about facing what is real and many times ugly?

Folks, get real with yourself and be honest. Don’t get down on yourself or beat yourself up - just be honest.

In so doing, you will find that you have the resolve to deal with issues, or know what you are not able to accomplish and bring other resources to bear in achieving your goal.

Apathy IS the Real Enemy…

Apathy is one of the worst things a leader can deal with. In a previous post, Apathy, The Culture-Killer, I said:

Much like darkness is the absence of light and cold is the absence of heat, apathy is the absence of concern. … It shows a total disregard for you as a person and for the ideas you are attempting to convey if you encounter this in one of your presentations. Worse, it can mean poison to your company culture if it is allowed to fester and spread.

If you think terrorists are evil, apathetic employees are worse. At least terrorists believe in something, whereas the apathetic simply glaze the day away - going through the motions - warming a seat.

The only way to deal with apathy is to cut it out, like cancer - and make sure you are giving your people something to believe in… People need a cause to fight for. That’s what Pearl Harbor and 9-11 have in common - they created a sharp spear to be pointed at our attackers.

Are you sharpening your spear, or are you lazily watching the trees roll by?

Image courtesy of Fir0002 & Wikimedia Commons

Ken Stewart’s blog, ChangeForge.com, focuses on the collision between the constantly changing worlds of business and technology. Ken is also the Director of Technology at Kearns Business Solutions.

Tags: Culture-Killer, Good to Great, Jim Collins, SWOT analysis