The Ashimmy Blog: Reach for the stars, if you only make it to the planets you are still way up there.

I was reading a blog post from Don Dodge today that reminded me of something an assistant principal in Junior High School used to tell us when I was a kid. She used to say “reach for the stars children, if you only make it to the planets, think of how far you have come”. I still remember her. Her name was Mrs. Smith. She was a very tall, African-American woman. Mrs. Smith was always well dressed, well spoken and always pushing us to reach higher than we thought possible.

Don’s article describes just this attitude that is a fundamental mindset at Google. For those of you who may not know Don Doge, Don was one of the chief liaisons’ from Microsoft to the start up and VC community. Great guy, he was tireless in promoting Microsoft to a very highly skeptical community. Over the years, Don was a great friend to the start up scene. My friend Brad Feld introduced me to Don and I always enjoy reading his blog. A few months back, Don was laid off by Microsoft (a terrible move by Microsoft in my opinion). He was quickly picked up by Google with a similar mission. Anyway, enough about Don, you can read his blog if you want to know more.

The idea at Google is to over achieve beyond anything you think possible. Set goals and objectives on a quarterly, not annual basis. Don’t worry about whether you actually achieved them. Don says it best, “Achieving 65% of the impossible is better than 100% of the ordinary“. That is the key to me. That kind of shoot for the stars attitude and working with brilliant people is what is driving Google’s rise to prominence.

Too many companies judge worth based upon completing 100% of goals. So the goals start to get set low to give a feeling of accomplishment and the illusion of progress. Then what happens is you wake up 2 years later and realize that though short term goals were met, they were lay ups. In the big picture, you did not move the ball where it has to go. A culture of mediocrity replaces the shooting for the stars attitude.

One of the things I love about start ups is the drive, the passion to set high impossible goals. You may not achieve them, but if you stretch beyond what you think you could, you still have accomplished something to be proud of. Losing site of that objective can signal the beginning of the end for many start ups.

I guess after all these years, I still remember the lessons of Mrs. Smith. Maybe the Google guys had a Mrs, Smith too. Keep reaching for those stars!