POV: You’re a leader. Not just by title—but with the authority to promote, hire, and build a team. You’ve earned your way here. You’ve climbed the ranks, survived the politics, and maybe even sacrificed a bit of your soul along the way.
Now you sit in a chair that comes with the power to shape the future of your organization. Your decisions ripple—up, down, and across.
And today, you’re faced with a choice.
Someone on your executive team is leaving. The bench is shallow, and you need a replacement. You’ve got two viable candidates:
- One is a doer. Operationally sound. Strategic. He challenges you in meetings. He’ll make you better and elevate the team.
- The other is your buddy. Loyal. Charming. You trust him implicitly. He knows the unwritten rules, the skeletons, the back channels. But deep down, you know he won’t push the organization forward—he’ll keep things just as they are.
And so the question echoes: Is good enough good enough?
Because let’s not pretend this isn’t a temptation. We’re wired for comfort. The path of least resistance is human nature. Research from Daniel Kahneman’s work on cognitive ease shows we prefer what feels familiar and predictable—even if it’s not optimal. It’s why we reach for the same worn-out strategies, promote our clones, and label it loyalty or culture fit.
But here’s the thing: leaders don’t get to choose what’s best for them. They’re supposed to choose what’s best for the organization. And too many don’t.
We protect our egos. We surround ourselves with people who agree with us. We call it “alignment,” but often it’s just intellectual laziness or insecurity in disguise.
I’ve seen this play out a hundred different ways in a hundred different rooms. Promotions made for proximity, not performance. Leadership teams built on chemistry, not competency. And here’s what always follows: a plateau in performance, a stagnation in innovation, and a culture of coasting.
“Never hire or promote in your own image. It’s foolish to replicate your strengths and idiotic to replicate your weaknesses.”– Dee Hock
Allow me to translate: stop surrounding yourself with your clones and calling it leadership.
The boldest leaders are the ones who build teams of truth-tellers. The ones who intentionally bring in people who challenge, stretch, and expand the collective IQ of the room. Because you don’t need more yes-men or women. You need the person who tells you that your favorite idea is trash—respectfully, of course.
Let me say this louder for the people in the back: you can like someone and still know they’re not the right choice.
That tension is the crucible where real leadership is forged. Choosing someone who might make your job harder—but make the organization stronger—isn’t a failure. It’s a flex.
We have to fight the urge to surround ourselves with comfort. That’s not leadership—it’s self-preservation in a power suit. And if you keep choosing what’s best for you, you’ll eventually become the bottleneck in a system that needed you to be the catalyst.
We’ve got to look at people differently. They’re not chess pieces to be positioned for our convenience. They’re not “resources” to be optimized. They’re not cogs in a machine. They are entire human beings—limitless until we start limiting them.
Let’s stop labeling people like they belong in filing cabinets. Instead of asking, “Will this person make my life easier?” ask, “Will this person make the organization better?”
Because if your answer to “is good enough good enough?” is yes…
You’re not leading.
You’re maintaining.
And disruption doesn’t live in maintenance mode.
So here’s your mirror moment:
Are you the leader choosing what’s best for the organization—or just what’s best for yourself?
Or maybe… maybe you’re the one who keeps getting chosen for comfort—not for competence.
Both truths are hard. But disruption lives in hard truths.
Visit: https://kristenziman.com/is-good-enough-good-enough/