“Good is the enemy of great. And that is one of the key reasons why we have so little that becomes great.”
~James C. Collins, “Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t“
You may be coming off a good fundraiser, a good monthly, or a good station event that makes you feel pretty good about your station. Well, you now have the challenge of making those good things great.
While listening to the radio recently, I heard how an NHL coach doesn’t consider good to be… well… good enough.
The Columbus Blue Jackets skated their way into the Stanley Cup Playoffs for just the third time in their 17-year history. They learned the hard way that getting there and going to the next round are two different things.
Their record-setting season had a brutal reward, drawing the defending (and eventual) champion Pittsburgh Penguins in the first-round.
Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella knows that if they want to continue improving, they can’t be happy with just making the playoffs.
After losing the series, I listened to his post game interview. He quoted James C. Collins, “Good To Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t.”
“Good is the enemy of great,” he said repeatedly. “It is going to be more difficult because it takes more layers of skin. It takes more layers of mental toughness. Listen, I’m thrilled we had an opportunity to play in the playoffs… the toughest part is coming because we had some guys that had great regular season. We better be really careful to say, ‘We had a really good year. We made the playoffs.’ Yeah, we were out in five games. It’s not good enough.”
Our format is still young in most markets and still unfamiliar to many folks. Thankfully, many stations aren’t settling with where they are. Many CCM stations are becoming good, and a few are becoming great.
What we notice with those great stations is that they aren’t happy just making the playoffs!
The good stations sound personable and execute the basics well. The great stations emotionally connect with her consistently.
The good stations put in a hard days work. The great ones know the workload can keep them late some nights, but they know that extra effort will payoff.
The good stations keep their talent “in the loop.” The great ones invest in growing their talent. They give their talent the coaching they need, because their development is critical.
The good stations’ audio… well… they sound “good.” The great ones won’t accept that they can’t be the best sounding station in their market. They become great by investing in engineering and technology that makes them a market leader.
The great operators know there are plenty of good stations, but not enough great ones!
Greatness will impact lives.
Greatness will change minds.
Greatness will change the world.
We need your greatness!
Please reach out to me if you have any questions or suggestions at tj@goodratings.com.
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