As a child of a perfectionist parent–and grandparent, for that matter–I grew up under the mantra that anything worth doing was worth doing well. I didn't always live up to the expectation, but trying to achieve something like perfection served me well in school and later in my fledgling career as a journalist. It soon became clear, however, that perfection in the business world isn't easy to achieve while still making a profit. There was never time to do every possible interview. There was never space to write every interesting word. (Though editing to length became a perfectionist pursuit in its own right.)
