Good Enough Can Be Enough - Grim Implications for National Brands As Well As Elite Professional Services

Those in academia too long or in old-line corporations get shoe-horned into the cult of excellence. That is, perfectionism. Good enough is unthinkable. 

Yet, experience and research prove out that it's often those focused on good enough who get to the top and stay there. 

Remember the adage: The "C" students (who handed in the good-enough papers) become the leaders and the bosses of the "A" students (who chased the "A" for the over-the-top paper). A slouch at a number of his presidential duties and before that only a "B" actor Ronald Reagan surpassed so many of the grinds in access to life's goodies. 

And, Boomers might recall that in the early 1950s children's medical doctor and psychologist Donald Winnicott saved us from helicopter moms. He presented the data that the good-enough mother turned out more balanced, grounded in reality, problem-solving children than the supposed perfect mother.  Both mom and the kid escaped the pressure of toxic perfectionism.

Drill this good-enough reality down to national brands as well as elite professional services firms and there are monster implications. None of them good, at least for the time being.

Inflation has accelerated the embrace of good enough. 

The only diet cola I currently purchase is private label.


In Walmart (yes, I now only go to good-enough grocery stores) that goes for a buck. The national brands go for three dollars. Soon will come the day when I don't purchase the national brand to showcase and pour when guests come over. Maybe that will be the coming SuperBowl Sunday. Meanwhile, though, in tarot readings I give "permission" to clients to unbundle from national brands. I am blunt: You can't afford status.

Manufacturers/marketers like P&G will continue to feel the pain of sales decline. Ironically, P&G invented brand management in the 1930s. Now those brands are reducing revenues. At the Dollar stores laundry detergent sells for a buck-fifty. Even in Walmart the same size Tide costs $12.97. No, the no-brand hasn't destroyed my clothes. 

Let's now extend the good-enough concept to elite professional services, increasingly driven by AI. The disruption could be profound. 

For example, in a 2025 interview with Lawyer Monthly, elite law firm Paul, Weiss partner/thought leader Brad Karp projected that, because of AI, some practices could become commodities. Think generic. Will the law firms in the near future have to structure two tiers of service: the complex strategy kind and the off-the-shelf solution one. Or, drop the latter service offering from the menu and shrink into a highly specialized boutique? Already Paul, Weiss' London office primarily is focused on high-value financial assignments. 

In addition, bots such as ChatGPT facilitate plenty of DIY for not only legal issues but also what used to be handled by MBB (McKinsey Boston Bain), pricey public relations agencies and financial advisors. The bot is becoming the first stop and often that's all we need. We don't want an award-winning solution. Just a good-enough one.

Isn't the takeaway here: It's okay to get by. That is, if it's good enough. Resist the compulsion to apologize. Good enough is evolving into the new order of things. 

You deserve success, deep connections and inner peace.

Let’s Remove what's blocking that with an Inspired Tarot Reading. 

Yes, You Can Ask One Free Question To Find Out More about my psychic Gift.

Jane Genova, 3rd Generation Psychic 203-468-8579, janEgenova374@gmail.com

 




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