In Leadership, the Enemy Is the Perfect of the Good

There is a quiet killer in the military that rarely gets named in after-action reports.

It isn’t fear.
It isn’t incompetence.
It isn’t even cowardice.

It’s perfection.

Or more accurately, the pursuit of it.

“The enemy of the good is the perfect” is a phrase most often attributed to Voltaire, though its roots trace back earlier to Enlightenment political thought. The meaning is simple: chasing an ideal outcome can prevent a workable one from ever happening.

For a military audience, that idea isn’t academic. It’s operational.

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War Is Not a Controlled Environment

The military loves standards for good reason. Checklists save lives. Rehearsals prevent mistakes. Precision matters when the margin for error is measured in inches and seconds.

But war—real war, real operations, real leadership—is not a laboratory.

Plans degrade on first contact. Intelligence is incomplete. Weather changes. People get tired, emotional, injured, distracted. The friction Clausewitz wrote about isn’t theoretical; it’s daily reality.

And yet, too often, we delay action because something isn’t perfect:

• The briefing needs one more slide.
• The plan needs one more approval.
• The squad needs one more rehearsal.
• The product needs one more revision.
• The leader needs one more piece of information before deciding.

Meanwhile, time passes. Opportunity closes. Initiative shifts.

Good enough, executed on time, beats perfect, executed too late.

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“Good Enough” Is Not Laziness

Let’s be clear: “good enough” does not mean careless.

It does not mean sloppy planning, ignored standards, or cutting corners that matter.

It means recognizing when diminishing returns have set in.

There is a point where additional refinement adds comfort, not capability. Where extra meetings exist to soothe anxiety, not improve outcomes. Where perfection becomes a shield against accountability: If we never act, we never fail.

In combat arms, this truth is obvious:

• A 70% solution now beats a 100% solution tomorrow.
• A clear order beats a brilliant one delivered too late.
• Momentum often matters more than elegance.

Professionals know when a task is ready. Amateurs hide behind endless preparation.

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Leaders Who Chase Perfection Paralyze Their Units

Perfectionism at the leadership level is corrosive.

Leaders who demand flawless execution before action:

• Teach subordinates to wait instead of think.
• Create risk-averse cultures where initiative dies.
• Punish honest effort while rewarding hesitation.
• Burn time and morale chasing ideals that don’t exist.

Worse, they often confuse control with competence.

A leader who cannot tolerate imperfection will never build resilient teams—because resilience requires exposure to mistakes, adaptation, and recovery.

Units don’t learn by getting it perfect the first time. They learn by acting, adjusting, and improving under pressure.

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The Battlefield Rewards Decisiveness, Not Perfection

Every experienced operator knows this moment:

You’re missing information. The picture isn’t clean. Someone wants to wait. Someone wants more confirmation. Someone wants certainty.

But certainty isn’t coming.

So you decide anyway.

That decision—imperfect, informed, timely—is leadership.

Indecision kills initiative. Initiative wins fights.

The enemy doesn’t wait for your plan to mature. The environment doesn’t pause while you refine. The situation doesn’t care how elegant your solution is.

It only cares whether you acted.

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In Training, Administration, and Life

This lesson extends beyond combat.

• Training plans that never launch because they’re not “ideal”
• Counseling statements delayed because the wording isn’t perfect
• Fitness goals abandoned because progress isn’t fast enough
• Career moves postponed because conditions aren’t optimal

Perfection becomes the excuse not to start.

And nothing stagnates a force—or a person—faster than inaction disguised as high standards.

Progress comes from motion, not obsession.

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The Standard Is Effectiveness, Not Perfection

The military does not require flawless people. It requires effective ones.

Effective leaders:

• Make timely decisions.
• Accept calculated risk.
• Learn publicly from mistakes.
• Improve continuously instead of endlessly preparing.
• Understand that “good enough” today is often the path to “better” tomorrow.

Perfection is static. Excellence is iterative.

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Final Thought

“The enemy is the perfect of the good” isn’t a warning against high standards. It’s a warning against paralysis.

Sometimes the right answer isn’t more refinement—it’s execution.
Sometimes the best plan is the one you actually use.
Sometimes “good enough” is good enough—because it moves you forward.

In the military, forward movement matters.

Because the only thing worse than an imperfect decision is no decision at all.

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Charles served over 27 years in the US Army, which included seven combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan with various Special Operations Forces units and two stints as an instructor at the United States Military Academy at West Point. He also completed operational tours in Egypt, the Philippines, and the Republic of Korea and earned a Doctor of Business Administration from Temple University as well as a Master of Arts in International Relations from Yale University. He is the owner of The Havok Journal, and the views expressed herein are his own and do not reflect those of the US Government or any other person or entity.

As the Voice of the Veteran Community, The Havok Journal seeks to publish a variety of perspectives on a number of sensitive subjects. Unless specifically noted otherwise, nothing we publish is an official point of view of The Havok Journal or any part of the U.S. government.