Why good is not enough

Keith Wyche has had the kind of career that looks clean from the outside.
Bell. IBM. Pitney Bowes. Grocery. Walmart. Board seats. Books. Big jobs. Big teams. The sort of resume that makes people assume there was always a plan and that the climb was smooth.
It was not.
Wyche told me something on Keep Going that I think a lot of ambitious people need to hear. Early in his career, he was getting results, but he was not getting promoted. He was young, talented, and frustrated. So he gave his boss an ultimatum. Promote me in three months, or I will promote myself.
Three months later, he…