Why ‘Good Enough’ Is the Enemy of Great Leaders

Regardless of industry or field, there’s one thing that distinguishes great leaders from good ones: the mindset of making something better versus just getting it done.

Good leaders complete a task, great leaders improve upon it.

When running a company, it can be tempting to check the box on certain projects or initiatives. After all, time isn’t a luxury most leaders have. But I’d argue that doing consistently great work often comes down to your mindset, not how many hours you have in a day. It’s about pushing for excellence and approaching every task, project, or decision as an opportunity to make an impact for your customers, employees, or candidates.

Below are three ways I’ve seen great leaders leave something better than they found it that any leader can learn from.

As a leader, you set the tone for how ownership and autonomy show up in practice. If you regularly say, “that’s not my job” or “someone else should handle that issue,” then you’re sending a message to your team or organization that it’s okay to pass the buck. Instead, consider acting like an owner.

As an example, if you wish your company had more onboarding support for new hires, consider creating a template or resource yourself instead of continuing to ask your HR team to add it to their list. (I promise you that they are as busy as they say they are, especially over the past year.) Or, another example, if you want to see your team publish more content externally, then publish some yourself first.

If you act like nothing is someone else’s problem, you’ll be amazed by the impact you can have on your organization and the example you’ll set for your team to take ownership of their own work.

For my first project at HubSpot, I worked on a slide deck for our CEO, Brain Halligan. I did exactly what he asked me to do in the email and nothing more. When we met to review the deck, he asked me if I thought it was great. I admitted I didn’t, and he agreed. My mistake was waiting for him to tell me to take it to the next level.

Lesson learned: doing just what is asked of you with no innovation or creativity won’t cost you your job, but it certainly won’t get you recognized, either. When you have the opportunity to improve upon something with creativity, take it.

As an example, let’s say you’re leading a cross-collaborative effort. You could send 1000 emails and data requests to get it over the line, making it a joyless process for everyone involved. Alternatively, you could identify a creative way to kick off the project to help everyone feel connected to its success, and find small ways to celebrate contributions along the way. The former approach will get you a checkmark, but the second will earn the trust of your team and stakeholders, and make the project a lot more fun for everyone.

Good leaders focus on what went well about a given project or launch, but the best leaders I know reflect on their mistakes and share those learnings openly with others. To me, knowing the difference between good and great starts with acknowledging your own imperfection and being willing to identify where you can improve for next time.

Soccer star Abby Wambach has shared how hard it was to get criticism from a former coach who cut her, but how owning the challenging feedback and using it to improve her game transformed her career. Similarly, be willing to share with people what’s working alongside with what isn’t; doing so creates the psychological safety people need to share their own ideas to improve your next effort and sets the tone that progress, not perfection, is the goal of any great leader.