My book, How to Fail as a Leader, hits the stores today. It’s officially released!
It only took me four and a half days to write the rough draft of my book, How to Fail as a Leader. I went on a week-long writing retreat and wrote for 14 hours a day. But that was four and a half years ago. Why did it take me so long to get from first draft to final release?
Partly, because it was a nights and weekends project. But mostly it was because I believe excellence matters. I rewrote the book eight times before it was ready to publish (and that doesn’t count the grammar/spelling revisions). Characters were cut, scenes added, discussion questions created…
More than once over the last 12 months I was tempted to publish one of the earlier versions. I have lot of other writing projects I want to do. Starting another version of this book meant delaying all other books. But I each time knew I could make the book a lot better with more work. Each time, I was faced with a choice between good enough and excellent. And, as you already know, I chose excellence.
Now, I’m not saying the book is a masterpiece. And don’t confuse doable excellence with impossible perfection. Excellence is my performance compared to my potential. My potential is never perfect. I hope I learn things that make the next book even better. But I can say this book I just released the best I can create with the leadership insights and writing skills I have now.
In the short-term, it was much harder to choose excellence. But in the end, I’m glad I did it. And I’ve never met anyone who chose excellence over expedience and regretted it. Tweet This Whether or not other love the book, I can hold my head high knowing I truly did my best.
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