Great Expectations

I don't know if you can see it in this photo, but someone has added masking tape to this motivational poster, attributing the quote to Lex Luthor.  Also, that metal box you see on the bottom right is a toilet paper dispenser. That's right, this sign is in a washroom, hanging over the toilet. Specifically, it's a washroom at Communitech, an organization for promoting tech companies in KW.  If you're in Canada, you may have seen the Communitech offices this week on The National when they went looking for reaction to Blackberry's troubles and found surprising optimism that the influx of laid-off tech workers would be a boon for other local companies.

I could ask what motivated someone at a non-profit organization to put up such a Type-A motivational slogan.  Or I could use this as an example of the male-bias of the tech industry - the sign is over the toilet, not on the wall opposite. But instead, I'd like to talk about the idea itself.

I have no idea if Lex Luthor actually coined the phrase or if someone was just commenting that the over-bearing demand sounded like something from a supervillain.  But I'm pretty sure the first time I heard the phrase it was from Bono a few years ago, when discussing a recent album. And then by am astonishing coincidence, he was on Letterman just a few days after I took this picture, and made the same point again.

Well I'm not sure the sentiment it's so true. Yes I get the basic point about having high standards, but I think the reverse is equally true: "great" is also the enemy of "good."  And I say this based on Bono's own example: listening to U2's recent output, they do sound like they're trying hard to be great, and I think it's to their detriment. A lot of critics haven't been too excited by their recent albums, but I think they do have some good music on them, it's just buried under gratuitous vocal flourishes, and ornate fragments of melodies.  They'd be better off with a more stripped-down, simpler production.  In other words, I wish they would aim for good rather than great. It's a principle you sometimes hear in baseball, "if trying harder doesn't help, try easier."

Really, I suspect that most truly "great" accomplishments come from people who were trying to be neither good nor great.  Great things are usually original, and created by people who weren't measuring themselves against any established standards.