Last week, I was listening to an interview on the podcast How I Built This with Todd Graves, CEO of Raising Cane’s.
Raising Cane’s is interesting because they have a very focused menu and per location, are one of the most profitable restaurants in business today.
The interviewer, Guy Raz, asked Todd that if he could go back in time and give himself advice when he was starting off, what would he say.
Todd said he was too hung up on perfection versus progress. He gave an example of a new hire training that was in the works, but he refused to approve it because it wasn’t perfect.
He admitted that he held up the business at times in his quest to be perfect.
As a co-founder myself, I get it. We want to provide the best possible option for our clients to grow our reputation and in turn, the business.
What I now understand with my clients is you must make a choice, do you want progress or perfection. You can’t have both.
The challenge is we are wired early on to strive for perfection throughout our education. We strive for an A or a perfect score in school.
But in business if you strive for a perfect product or service, you may never be ready because everything can be improved. Nothing is ever perfect.
