Good vs best

True innovators have a mantra: “The enemy of the best is the good.” They are constantly daring to make things better. What others call impossible they see as probable. They live out of their imaginations — not their memories. They live to challenge the commonly accepted. They assume nothing. They see no limits. To them, everything’s possible.

If you want to be a leader, I have a simple suggestion. Just keep innovating. Innovate at work. Innovate at home. Innovate in your relationships. Innovate in the way you run your life. Innovate in terms of the way you see the world. To become stagnant is to begin to die. Growth, evolution and reinvention sustain life.

There’s no safety in being the same person today that you were yesterday. That’s an illusion that ends up breaking your heart when you reach the end of your life and realise that you missed out on living it boldly. Lasting fulfilment lives out in the unknown. When I was a kid, my dad used to tell me: “Robin, it’s risky out on the limb. But, son — that’s where all the fruit is.” And to play out on the skinny branch, you need to innovate. Daily. Relentlessly.

Of course, the more you innovate, the more you will fail. Not every risk you take and not everything you try will work out as planned. Failure is essential to success. Failure has been so helpful to me. It’s taken me closer to my dreams, equipped me with more knowledge and toughened me up so I’m prepared. Success and failure go hand in hand. They are business partners.

One of pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline’s organising values is ‘disturb’. Makes me think of the words of Motorola CEO Ed Zander: “At the heights of success, ‘break’ your business. Companies that don’t innovate don’t survive. The lesson is especially important when things are going well. Though it’s counterintuitive, successful companies actually need to be more innovative than the competition. It’s like kids playing ‘king of the hill’ — everyone aims for the kid at the top. Leaders that don’t innovate are displaced by those willing to take risks.”

So go to work each day and refuse to do the same thing you did yesterday. Shake things up. Confront your limitations. Refuse to be average. Commit to being breathtakingly great in all you do. And that’s what you’ll be become.

Robin Sharma is the author of ‘The Greatness Guide’  (Jaico)