CHAPTER 2WORK WITH WHAT YOU’VE GOT

GOOD IS THE FOUNDATION OF GREAT.

It’s a common notion in the working world today that good is the enemy of great—that embracing good work somehow puts us in danger of never achieving greatness. But the fact is good work has its place—an integral place at that. Good work is proven, understood, stable, tried, true, and tested. A lot of good work needs to get done just to keep our world running smoothly and profitably. Most important, good work is the starting point for adding something great.

Name a truly great product or service. If you look closely, you’ll see that great work stands on the shoulders of good work; that the human innovations we love are connected to a historical flux and flow of good into great ...

Get Great Work: How to Make a Difference People Love now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.