You Haven't Hit Your Peak Yet!

17Quality/Values

Good enough never is

There’s a good reason why Debbi Fields of cookie fame is so successful, and she summed it up in an aphorism I’ll never forget: “Good enough never is.”

Debbi told me how she coined that phrase after she visited one of her first stores. She walked in unannounced and saw a large crowd of customers in line. The problem was she noticed the most recent batch of cookies was overcooked, and she didn’t want those cookies sold. When she confronted the manager he said, “They are good enough.” Debbi responded with her now famous line, “Good enough never is.” And she threw the entire batch in the trash and made the staff start over. She went through the line explaining what had happened. After apologizing to everyone, she said their orders would be free, if they came back and gave them another chance to show they were the best cookies in the world.

I can attest to how good they are because Debbi made a batch for my wife and me when we visited her at her Aspen home. What a cookie, and what a lesson!

I also learned another valuable lesson from Debbi. She started cooking at an early age because her mother’s cooking was just “good enough,” and Debbi wanted better. Initially her mother was not in favor of Debbi starting her cookie business because she thought it would fail.

That made Debbi realize that there are two sides of life. There is the negative side that points out the risks and wants to rain on your parade. Then there is the positive side that ...